Gear cutting – milling – or planing – Milling – Means to trim edge
Reexamination Certificate
2000-02-25
2001-10-30
Briggs, William (Department: 3722)
Gear cutting, milling, or planing
Milling
Means to trim edge
C409S140000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06309152
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention concerns a tool unit which can be mounted to a handling unit, e.g. a robot, controlled NC shafts or the like, and which can be moved preferably in several planes to de-bur work-pieces made from plastic, rubber, aluminum, textiles (compositions), felt, wood, porcelain or other materials, with a tool guided along the contours of the work-piece, e.g. a de-burring cutter mounted, by means of a cutter support, to a support arm disposed for rotation about a central axis, and with an adjustable spring arrangement, disposed on each of the opposing sides of the support arm which can deflect the support arm in both directions through a predetermined angular or spring path to press onto the work-piece, and to return the tool unit and cutter head to its original position.
DE-GM 297 10 727.5 discloses a unit with a cutter head having a very limited pivoting range, wherein the cutter axis has a central bearing only, without end positioning or defined zero position, which does not permit radial movement of the cutter, and which cannot be adjusted to softer or harder materials so that only relatively large bores or recesses can be de-burred.
With plastic molded parts, the de-burring process usually has to be carried out directly after removal from the mold. However, the work-piece shrinks considerably within a relatively short cooling period, such that size changes due to shrinking have to be taken into consideration for de-burring and the cutter tool has to be positioned and guided in a correspondingly flexible fashion.
It is the purpose of the invention to further develop a tool unit cutter head of this type in such a fashion that it can be used in an increased plurality of applications with improved efficiency.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This is achieved in accordance with the invention in that
a) tensioned pressure springs are disposed on opposing sides of the support arm,
b) the cutter support is borne on the support arm by means of ball bearings,
c) a stop is disposed on the casing for centering the support arm in its zero position, and
d) a stop pin is pivotably secured to the cutter support and is acted upon symmetrically at both ends by limiting spring pins which allow limited rotary movement of the cutter support on the work-piece through an adjustment angle of the tool, and
e) the tool and work-piece can be adjusted relative to one another.
Further embodiments of the invention are the subject of the dependent claims.
A tool unit cutter head in accordance with the invention facilitates cutting out and de-burring of recesses, bores and the like on work-pieces of plastic, aluminum, wood, rubber, composite textiles, porcelain or similar materials, with one single tool unit or cutter tool and in one single operating step. Both large as well as small recesses and bores having diameters of only approximately 3 to 4 mm can be precisely cut out and de-burred. In accordance with the invention, the bearing of the tool facilitates automatic adjustment of the cutting angle via the pressing force, and radial movement or rotation of the cutter is possible through a small adjustment angle to automatically adjust an optimum cutting angle. The cutter is preferably provided with a cutting edge angled to achieve exact positioning.
The pressure springs on both sides of the support arm are preferably disposed to provide a relatively long spring path.
The springs can be replaced to change the response characteristics and to adjust the spring pressure to various conditions of use. The spherical or spherical segment shaped design of the bolt seating on one side of the support arm facilitates, in a particularly simple and useful manner, precise restoring force resilience and soft deflection of the tool to always allow perfect adaptation to the outer shape of the work-piece. This adjustment of the tool or cutter is enhanced by the spring pressure pins acting on the bolt disposed in the cutter support.
The use of a ball thrust member or a latching device between the casing and the support arm creates final or zero positioning of the tool or of the tool support by the adjustable spring pins. In principle and in addition or alternatively thereto, an induction sensor can be disposed on the casing, the support arm, or the cutter to monitor the deflection of the support arm.
Moreover, programming of the proposed tool unit is easier than with the conventional unit. The work-piece can move relative to the tool with the tool stationary, or the tool can move relative to the work-piece with the work-piece stationary. A movable work-piece can be easily guided past a stationary tool and, e.g. past additional tools e.g. a thread cutter or the like.
The invention is described in more detail in embodiments with reference to the drawing.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4518307 (1985-05-01), Bloch
patent: 4979854 (1990-12-01), Kurita et al.
patent: 5312212 (1994-05-01), Naumel
patent: 3432773 (1985-01-01), None
patent: 90 16 465 (1991-02-01), None
patent: 4242874 (1993-11-01), None
patent: 44 10 762 (1995-10-01), None
patent: 297 10 727 (1997-10-01), None
patent: 0 845 440 (1998-06-01), None
patent: 2 510 029 (1983-01-01), None
patent: 6-179184 (1994-06-01), None
patent: 97 11 807 (1997-04-01), None
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