A self-centring device for supporting and guiding bars to be fed to a machine tool, including: a guide body having a through opening, supported rotatably and rotating in a controlled manner around an axis perpendicular to an advancement direction of the bars to be guided, so as to vary the angular orientation thereof around the axis; the guide body is configured to receive and maintain in position the rotating and advancing bars, a return member configured to oppose a suitable preselectable resistance to the rotation of the guide body around the axis so as to maintain a firm coupling and contact of the guide body with the advancing bar, a manual selector member configured to adjust a position and control the angular movement of the guide body. The manual selector member includes a screw arrangement cooperating with an oscillation limiting element to set an angular rest position of the guide body in function of the geometry of the bar to be received and guided to said machine tool.

A machining apparatus for machining optical lenses has a horizontally aligned conveyor section for transporting containers containing at least one optical lens, the conveyor section extending between an entry and opposite exit side of a module. The machining apparatus has a container buffer store and a container transport device, the latter being designed to retrieve containers from the conveyor section and to store said containers in the container buffer store and to transport containers back onto the conveyor section. A workpiece handling station having at least one parking space is provided for one container. The container transport device transports containers from the container buffer store to at least one parking space. A handling device of workpiece handling station retrieves optical lenses from a container standing on a parking spaces and transfers said container to a machining station. Moreover, the invention relates to a manufacturing system having two such machining apparatuses.

Covering device suitable for an apparatus for feeding bars to a machine tool, includes: a support frame, rotatably connectable, by first hinge elements, to a frame structure of the feeding apparatus, a cover element rotatably connected, by second hinge elements, to the support frame. The first hinge elements and the second hinge elements are arranged on respective longitudinal sides, opposite one another, of the support frame and are configured to enable the covering device to be opened, at will, both from one side and the other side of the feeding apparatus. On the cover element a slit opening is obtained that extends longitudinally, configured to enable bars to move from external auxiliary storage to a drum of the feeding apparatus.

Centring device for centring bars, tubes or similar to supply to a spindle of a machine tool, includes: a support base body, along which a through opening is obtained for the passage of the bar, oblong centring elements, connected rotatably to the support base body and arranged circumferentially with respect thereto to maintain the bar axially aligned on the spindle of the machine tool, an elastic element arranged for urging elastically the oblong centring elements to a radial collecting and contraction position in which they are in mutual proximity.

An apparatus for feeding bars to a machine tool includes a rotary drum provided with a plurality of guide units distributed circumferentially and extending parallel to a longitudinal axis, each guide unit having two parts that are reciprocally movable and openable, by a respective lever to receive a respective bar to be advanced to the machine tool. An actuator element is provided and configured to act directly on a specific lever to open the corresponding guide unit. A support assembly is provided for receiving and supporting a plurality of bars in a position adjacent to the drum. A loading unit includes a lifting device that is movable from a lower position to an upper position to pick up one or more bars from the support assembly and lift the bars to the upper position. The loading unit further includes a selector unit for selecting a single bar at a time when the lifting device is in the upper position to transfer the bar to a respective guide unit.

A machine tool improving measurement accuracy of a machined workpiece diameter. A machine tool comprises a displacement sensor mounted on at least one of a guide bush and a spindle supporting unit. The machine tool further comprises a calculating unit which calculates a diameter of the machined workpiece based on a measurement value of the machined workpiece by the displacement sensor. The spindle is movable back and forth in an axial direction. The spindle is retracted after machining to bring a machined portion of the workpiece to a predetermined measurement position in the axial direction to allow the displacement sensor to measure the machined portion.

Method of producing a body (1) for bar feeders, wherein it comprises a first molding step (A) carried out with the aid of a first molding material (M1) in a mold (20) jointly with an overmolding step (B) of a countermold (50), the shape of the mold (20) and/or the shape impressions of the countermold being conceived to achieve in an integral way at least one structural and/or functional element of the said bar feeder.

A machine tool improving measurement accuracy of a machined workpiece diameter. A machine tool comprises a displacement sensor mounted on at least one of a guide bush and a spindle supporting unit. The machine tool further comprises a calculating unit which calculates a diameter of the machined workpiece based on a measurement value of the machined workpiece by the displacement sensor. The spindle is movable back and forth in an axial direction. The spindle is retracted after machining to bring a machined portion of the workpiece to a predetermined measurement position in the axial direction to allow the displacement sensor to measure the machined portion.

An apparatus includes a self-centring device for centring and guiding a bar, tube or the like to be advanced to a spindle of a machine tool, includes a hollow containing body with through opening having a longitudinal axis, for receiving a bar to be fed along an advancement direction to the spindle; in the body an inner sliding surface is defined that is tilted with respect to the longitudinal axis; centring and guiding elements are provided housed in the hollow body and shaped for coming into contact with the bar and exert thereupon a distributed centring and guiding action; the centring and guiding elements that are slidable along the inner surface for the distance thereof from the longitudinal axis to adapt to different bar diameters; in the body an elastic member is housed to urge the centring and guiding elements to the position of minimal reciprocal distance so as to induce and maintain, during operation, the centring and guiding elements in contact with the surface of the bar. An advancement device is further disclosed for the bar, having a supporting and guiding member configured for restingly receiving, from a first side, a bar and configured for guiding said bar along an advancement direction, a movable grasping member mobile from a disengaged position, further from the member to be separated from the bar, to a locking position, nearer said supporting member to press longitudinally the bar from a second opposite side against the supporting member; advancement motor device is configured for rotating the supporting and guiding member and/or the movable grasping member in the locking position to draggingly advance the bar along the advancement direction.

The present disclosure relates to a bar loader and machine tool equipped with such bar loader, wherein the machine tool includes at least one workpiece spindle configured to receive an elongated workpiece, and the bar loader apparatus comprises, for each workpiece spindle of the machine tool being configured to move in a longitudinal direction being axially arranged with respect to the spindle axis of the respective workpiece spindle, a respective associated workpiece guide channel assembly for receiving and guiding a respective one of the elongated workpieces, and each respective workpiece guide channel assembly includes a fixed guide channel portion and at least one slidable guide channel portion, the at least one slidable guide channel portion being movable into the longitudinal direction of the spindle axis of the respective associated workpiece spindle.