A cutting apparatus includes a blade changing apparatus. The blade changing apparatus includes a blade mounting and removal portion, which in turn includes: a holding portion that removably holds a circular base of a cutting blade; a moving support portion that supports the holding portion and moves the holding portion to a removal and mounting position at which an insertion hole in the blade faces a boss of a blade mount; and a coupling mechanism that couples the holding portion with the moving support portion such that the holding portion is freely tiltable with respect to the moving support portion. The coupling mechanism includes a plurality of elastic member pairs, each pair, while tensioning the holding portion in opposite directions, fixing the holding portion to the moving support portion. Forces acting from the elastic member pairs balance each other to thereby support the holding portion tiltably and aerially.

A machining apparatus for a curved plate includes a holder that holds a main surface of a curved plate having curved surfaces on both main surfaces; a machining device that machines an outer circumference of the curved plate held by the holder; a movable frame that retains the machining device; a driver that moves the movable frame to move a machining point of the curved plate held by the holder; a controller that controls the driver; and a guide that guides the movable frame along the outer circumference of the curved plate held by the holder.

Whether or not there is an abnormality in a holding surface is determined on the basis of a difference between initial holding surface height data as the height of the holding surface immediately after a holding surface grinding step and interim holding surface height data as the height of the holding surface after a grinding step and a holding surface cleaning step are performed a plurality of times. Hence, a wafer does not need to be ground in order to determine whether or not there is an abnormality in the holding surface. An amount of consumption of wafers can therefore be suppressed.

A holding jig has a plate shape and is interposed between a workpiece with a circular plate shape and a chuck table when the workpiece is held by the chuck table in a grinding apparatus including the chuck table and a grinding unit including a grinding wheel. The holding jig has a first surface, a second surface on the opposite side of the first surface, and an outer circumferential surface that connects the first surface and the second surface. An altered layer that reaches a central region of the second surface from a central region of the first surface is formed. The material of the main component of the holding jig is the same as the material of the main component of the workpiece.

A processing apparatus includes a rotatable turntable and four chuck tables disposed on the turntable. When the turntable with the four chuck tables disposed thereon is intermittently turned about its central axis, the wafer held on each of the chuck tables is moved to and positioned in a first processing position, a second processing position, and a third processing position where the wafer is processed. Three types of processing processes are able to be carried out on the wafers without the wafers being spaced from holding surfaces of the chuck tables.

A glass-plate working apparatus 1 includes: two grinding worktables 17A and 17B which undergo NC controlled movement or angularly controlled rotation independently of each other and a grinding head 18 which undergoes NC controlled movement in correspondence with the grinding worktables 17A and 17B, wherein the grinding worktables 17A and 17B are adapted to alternately move in a planar coordinate system in cooperation with the grinding head 18 and alternately repeat operation in which while one of the grinding worktables 17A and 17B, while holding a glass plate 2, is effecting the grinding of the glass plate 2 by the grinding head 18, the other one of the grinding worktables 17A and 17B effects an operation of discharging the glass plate 2 and receiving a next glass plate 2, to thereby allow the grinding head 18 to proceed with grinding on a continual basis.

A support base supports a plate-shaped workpiece. The support base includes a flat plate-shaped box member having a support face for supporting a workpiece and a placement face that is a face on the opposite side to the support face and is placed on a holding face of a chuck table, a temperature measurement unit accommodated in the box member, and a battery accommodated in the box member and serving as a power supply for the temperature measurement unit. The temperature measurement unit includes a temperature measuring instrument that measures a temperature at the support face, and a recording unit that records the temperature measured by the temperature measuring instrument.

A grinding machine includes a base having a plate and a movable device which is connected to the plate. A driving unit is connected to one end of the base and includes having a first motor which has a hollow shaft. An oval hole is defined in the hollow shaft. A grinding unit is located across the top of the plate and includes a body and a grinding part. The grinding part is slidably connected to a slot of the body and has a shaft unit which is located in the oval hole of the hollow shaft. A transverse moving unit is connected to the grinding part and has a second driving motor. A cam link is connected between the driving motor and the grinding part. The grinding part is moved transversely relative to the plate by the cam link driven by the second driving motor.

A cutting apparatus includes: a processing feeding unit that performs processing feeding of a chuck table adapted to hold a workpiece; and two cutting units in which rotational axes of two spindles coincide with each other and cutting blades mounted to the spindles face each other. Each cutting unit includes a flange mechanism in which the cutting blade having a cutting edge fixed to an outer peripheral edge of a one-side outer surface of a circular disk-shaped base is fixed to the spindle. The flange mechanism is fixed to a tip of the spindle, sucks an other-side outer surface of the base of the cutting blade, and fixes the cutting blade to the spindle with the one-side outer surface of the base exposed to the side of the tip of the spindle, and the one-side outer surfaces of the cutting blades fixed to the two cutting units.

The present invention concerns a piece of equipment (1) suited to process a glass sheet (L), comprising an edging device (8) and a workbench (4) suited to be mutually moved with respect to each other in order to allow an edging operation to be performed by the edging device (8) on at least one edge (B1, B2) of a piece resulting from a cutting step during which the glass sheet (L) has been cut, the workbench (4) being suited to define the workbench (4) for the cutting step.