RAIL OF A MACHINE APPARATUS WITH A TRAVELING CARRIAGE

Abstract

Disclosed is a rail of a machining apparatus having a traveling carriage, wherein rail members of a rail are connected at a rail member connecting portion in series such that running surfaces of adjacent rail members are in contact with each other, wherein the rack members are arranged in series on an attachment surface of the rail member such that an interval between teeth of adjacent rack members at a rack member opposing portion at which the adjacent rack members are opposed to each other is the same as a predetermined tooth pitch of the rack members, and wherein the rack members are attached to an attachment surface of the rail member by bolts which are inserted through the elongated holes formed on the attachment surface and which are screwed into the threaded holes of the rack member.

Claims

1. A rail of a machining apparatus having a traveling carriage on which a machining unit is mounted for performing a desired work on a workpiece, comprising: rack members each rack member of which has threaded holes at predetermined positions on one surface of each rack member; and rail members each rail member of which has a running surface formed on a head portion of each rack member with which running surface a traveling roller of the traveling carriage is in contact, guide surfaces formed on both sides of the running surface with which guide surfaces guide rollers of the traveling carriage are in contact, and an attachment surface formed below the guide surfaces for attaching each rack member, elongated holes being formed on the attachment surface at positions corresponding to those of the threaded holes, wherein the rail members are connected at a rail member connecting portion in series such that running surfaces of adjacent rail members are in contact with each other, wherein the rack members are arranged in series on the attachment surface such that an interval between teeth of adjacent rack members at a rack member opposing portion at which end portions of the adjacent rack members are opposed to each other is the same as a predetermined tooth pitch of the rack members, and wherein the rack members are attached to the attachment surface by bolts which are inserted through the elongated holes and which are screwed into the threaded holes.

2. The rail according to the claim 1, wherein the elongated holes formed on the attachment surface of each rail member are located at positions corresponding to those of the threaded holes formed on each rack member, the positions being determined based on one end of the running surface as a reference.

3. The rail according to the claim 1, wherein the rack members are attached to each rail member such that at least one of the rack members located at the rail member connecting portion traverses the rail connecting portion and straddles adjacent rail members.

4. The rail according to the claim 2, wherein the rack members are attached to each rail member such that at least one of the rack members located at the rail member connecting portion traverses the rail connecting portion and straddles adjacent rail members.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0042] FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically illustrating the relationship between a rail according to the embodiment of the present invention and a cutting apparatus.

[0043] FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the positional relationship among a rail, a traveling roller of a cutting apparatus, a guide roller of a cutting apparatus, and a pinion of a cutting apparatus in a cross-sectional direction.

[0044] FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the positional relationship among a rail, a traveling roller of a cutting apparatus, a guide roller of a cutting apparatus, and a pinion of a cutting apparatus in a planer direction.

[0045] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a sectional view of a rail.

[0046] FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining the configuration of a rail member.

[0047] FIGS. 6A and 6B are diagrams showing an enlarged explanatory view of both end portions of a rail member respectively.

[0048] FIGS. 7A and 7B are diagrams for explaining the configuration of a rack.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

[0049] Hereinafter, a rail according to the present invention will be described. A machine apparatus having a traveling carriage on which a machining unit for performing a desired work on a workpiece is mounted travels on the rail according to the present invention with horizontal accuracy and straight traveling accuracy. As such a machine apparatus, there are a welding apparatus for welding a workpiece, a printing apparatus for printing letters and lines on a workpiece, a heating apparatus for heating a workpiece, a peeling apparatus for peeling paint on a surface of a workpiece, a painting apparatus for painting a surface of a workpiece, and a conveying apparatus for conveying a workpiece.

[0050] However, the machine apparatus is not limited to only these apparatuses, but may be constituted so as to have a traveling carriage on which a machining unit which performs a desired work to a workpiece with the preset accuracy is mounted. In particular, the rail is installed corresponding to whether the structure of the gutter of traveling carriage of the machine apparatus is a gate type or a cantilever type. Further, the rail according to the present invention can secure high dimensional accuracy when the cutting apparatus is of a rack and pinion driving type. Moreover, with the rail according to the present invention, the installation period can be shortened.

[0051] Hereinafter, the rail of the present invention will be described as a rail on which a cutting apparatus as a machine apparatus having a traveling carriage on which a cutting torch is mounted can travel horizontally while ensuring straightness. Prior to the description of the rail A, the relationship between the configuration of the cutting apparatus and the rail A will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3. The cutting apparatus shown in the drawings has a traveling carriage B configured to be able to travel while being placed on a pair of rails A installed in parallel, and is configured to obtain a product having a desired shape by cutting a workpiece (not shown) disposed between the rails A.

[0052] The traveling carriage B of the cutting apparatus includes the saddles 1a respectively arranged for the rails A laid in parallel and the garter 1b which arranged in the direction orthogonal to the installation direction of the rail A. Both ends of the garter 1b are connected to the saddles 1a respectively. The traveling carriage B is of a gate shape. On the garter 1b, the traversing carriage 2 configured to be able to traverse in the direction orthogonal to the installation direction of the rails A is disposed, and the cutting torch 3 is mounted on the traversing carriage 2.

[0053] The cutting torch 3 is selected from among a gas cutting torch, a plasma cutting torch, and a laser cutting torch in accordance with conditions such as the material of a workpiece, the thickness of a workpiece, the operating time of the cutting apparatus. Therefore, facilities such as a gas supply equipment, a power supply equipment and a water supply equipment are installed around the cutting apparatus corresponding to the selected cutting torch.

[0054] In each of the saddles 1a, two traveling rollers 4 and two pairs of guide rollers 5 are arranged along the installation direction of the rails A. The traveling roller 4 is configured to be rotatable while being in contact with the running surface 11a formed on the head portion 11 of the rail member 10 which will be described later. In accordance with the rotation of the traveling rollers 4, the traveling carriage B can travel while maintaining the installation level of the rail A. The guide rollers 5 are configured to be rotatable by nipping the guide surfaces 11b formed on both sides of the running surface 11a while being in contact with the guide surfaces lib. In accordance with the rotation of the guide rollers 5, the traveling carriage B can travel in the installation direction of the rail A.

[0055] Therefore, the traveling carriage B can maintain the installation level of the rails A and precisely travel in the installation direction of the rails A by the traveling rollers 4 and guide rollers 5 rotating while being in contact with the running surfaces 11a and the guide surfaces 11b respectively. Both the traveling rollers 4 and the guide rollers 5 are configured as following rollers to which no driving force is applied.

[0056] The pinion 6 is disposed below the traveling roller 4 and the guide roller 5 arranged along the rail A. The pinion 6 meshes with the rack 20 disposed below the guide surface 11b of the rail member 10. The pinion 6 is connected to the drive motor 7 arranged in the saddled 1a. By controlling the rotation direction and the rotation speed of the drive motor 7 with a numerical control (NC) apparatus (not shown), it is possible to control the running direction and the running speed of the traveling cart B.

[0057] A traversing motor (not shown) is arranged in the traversing carriage 2. By controlling the traverse direction and traverse speed with the NC apparatus, it is possible to control the traverse direction and traverse speed of the traversing carriage 2. Therefore, by simultaneously controlling the traveling direction and the traveling speed of the traveling carriage B and the traverse direction and the traverse speed of the traversing carriage 2, it is possible to move the mounted cutting torch 3 in a desired direction at a desired speed. By operating the cutting torch 3 in accordance with the movement of the cutting torch 3, it is possible to cut off a product having a desired shape from a workpiece.

[0058] Next, the configuration of the rail A will be described. A number corresponding to preset specifications of the cutting apparatus (for example, 30, 40) of the rail members 10 each having a unit length (for example, 3 m) shown in FIGS. 5, 6A and 6B are linearly connected to form the rail A. Further, a number (for example, 120, 160) of the rack members 20 each having a unit length (for example, 0.75 m) shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B are connected to the web portion of the rail A.

[0059] The cross-sectional shape of the rail member 10 is not limited as long as the traveling carriage B of the cutting apparatus can travel straight and horizontally on the rail member 10. In the present embodiment, a rail for railway is used. The rail member 10 is obtained by precisely machining the head portion 11, the web portion 12 and the bottom portion 13 of a rail used for railway.

[0060] The running surface 11a serving as a reference surface is formed on the top surface of the head portion 11 of the rail member 10. The guide surfaces lib which are vertical surfaces are formed on both sides of the running surface 11a. The running surface 11a and the guide surface lib are formed as smooth surfaces with surface roughness Rz 6.3, respectively. Therefore, the traveling roller 4 traveling on the running surface 11a and the guide rollers 5 nipping the guide surfaces 11b can rotate smoothly and quietly.

[0061] The attachment surface 12a for attaching the rack member 20 is formed on the web portion 12 of the rail member 10 under the guide surface lib formed on the head portion 11. On the attachment surface 12a, a plurality of elongated holes 14 with preset intervals are formed. The intervals between the adjacent elongated holes 14 are set to be equal to those between the adjacent threaded holes 23 formed on the rack member 20 which will be described later. The number of the elongated holes 14 is set corresponding to the number of the threaded holes 23 formed in the rack member 20 and the number of the rack members 20 to be attached.

[0062] As shown in FIG. 5, the elongated hole 14 is positioned with respect to the connection surface 11c, which is the end surface on one side of the rail member 10. The connection surface 11c serves as a reference position (b, c, d are dimensions set for the threaded holes 23 of the rack member 20 which will be described later). Therefore, although the distance from the connecting surface 11c on one side to each elongated hole 14 has a preset allowable tolerance, the error does not accumulate even for an elongated hole at the position most distant from the connecting surface 11c.

[0063] The length of the elongated hole 14 is not particularly limited. It is preferable to appropriately set the length of the elongated hole 14 based on the diameter of the threaded hole 23 formed in the rack member 20 and the cumulative errors based on the allowable tolerances in the rail member 10 and the rack member 20. In the present embodiment, the size of the threaded hole 23 is set to M10 and the center-center distance between the long holes 14 is set to 6 mm.

[0064] The end surface of the rail member 10 in the longitudinal direction includes the connection surface 11c of the head portion 11 and the flank surface 12b. The flank surface 12b is formed on the web portion 12 and the bottom portion 13 below the connection surface d11c. The flank surface 12b has a step with respect to the connection surface 11c. The connection surface 11c is formed as a smooth surface having a surface roughness Rz 6.3 and is formed at a right angle or somewhat acute angle with respect to the running surface 11a. That is, an allowable tolerance of 90+010 is set for the right angle between the connecting surface 11c and the running surface 11a.

[0065] When connecting the rail members 10 to each other, a force is applied in the direction in which the rail members 10 are brought close to each other to fix the connecting surfaces 11c with the connecting surfaces 11c pressed to each other. Therefore, when the connecting surfaces 11c of the two rail members 10 are opposed and connected to each other, the running surfaces 11a of the two rail members 10 are brought into contact with each other without a gap, but the web portion 12 and the bottom portion 13 are not in contact with each other and a gap is formed between them.

[0066] Therefore, when the rail members 10 are connected in series, the running surfaces 11a integrally and continuously forms a flat surface. When the travelling roller 4 of the traveling carriage B of the cutting apparatus goes over the connecting portion of the rail members 10, no rattling occurs.

[0067] As described above, the rail members 10 are fixed with the connecting surfaces 11c being pressed against each other. Therefore, the error in the allowable tolerance range occurring in each rail member 10 accumulates more as the number of connections increases.

[0068] The threaded holes 13a are formed on the bottom portion 13 of the rail member 10 for the level adjusting bolts 34 to be screwed for adjusting the horizontal of the running surface 11a when the rail A is installed.

[0069] The rack member 20 has teeth 21 having a pitch between the teeth 21 and a number of teeth 21 is set in advance. The length of the rack member 20 corresponds to the pitch between the teeth 21 and the number of the teeth 21. In the present embodiment, the rack member 20 has the pitch 10 and 75 teeth. Further, the tooth bottom having half the size of the tooth bottom 22 (about 0.5 mm) is disposed at both ends in the longitudinal direction. For this reason, the length of the rack member 20 is about 749 mm.

[0070] Therefore, as shown in FIG. 7B, when connecting the rack members 20 to each other, the gap 25 of about 1 mm is formed at the connecting portion. Namely, the end portions of the rack members 20 are opposed to each other with the gap 25 of about 1 mm. The dimensional error based on the allowable tolerance due to processing can be absorbed.

[0071] The threaded holes 23 are formed with preset intervals on the surface of the rack member 20 opposite to the surface on which the teeth 21 are formed. The number and the intervals of the threaded holes 23 are not limited. It is preferable to suitably set the number and the intervals of the threaded holes 23 in accordance with the conditions such as the length of the rack member 20. In the present embodiment, four threaded holes 23 of M10 are formed at the intervals of b (mm), d (mm) and b (mm). The threaded holes 23 located at both ends of the four threaded holes 23 are positioned at c (mm) from the ends of the rack member 20. These dimensions are measured based on the center of the rack member 20 as a reference.

[0072] Next, the procedures for installing the rail A will be described. As shown in FIG. 4, the adjustment block 31 is previously arranged on the foundation portion 30. A plurality of adjustment blocks 31 are used for a single rail member 10. The positions of the adjustment blocks 31 in the longitudinal direction of the rail corresponds to those of the threaded holes 13a formed on the bottom portion 13 of the rail member 10. The anchor bolt 32 and the adjustment bolt 33 for adjusting the position of the rail member 10 in a horizontal plane are provided on the adjustment block 31.

[0073] The level adjusting bolt 34 is screwed into the threaded hole 13a formed on the bottom portion 13 of the rail member 10 in advance. Then, the rail member 10 with level adjusting bolt 34 being screwed is arranged on the adjustment block 31. The adjustment bolt 33 and the level adjustment bolt 34 are operated with reference to the laser beam irradiated along the installation position of the rail A in advance to adjust the position of the rail member 10 in the horizontal plane and the position f the rail member 10 in the vertical plane.

[0074] After adjusting the positions of the individual rail members 10, a force in the direction in which the adjacent rail members 10 are brought close to each other is applied to bring the running surfaces 11a into pressure contact. While keeping this state, the lock nut 33a for the adjusting bolt 33 is fastened to fix the position of the rail member 10 in the horizontal plane. Further, the anchor bolt 32 is inserted into the fixing plate 32a. With one end of the fixing plate 32a being engaged with the bottom portion 13 of the rail member 10, the nut 32b is fastened to fix the position of the rail member 10 in the vertical plane.

[0075] By installing the rail members 10 as described above, it is possible to secure the horizontal level of the running surface 11a and the straightness of the guide surfaces 11b. However, errors based on the allowable tolerances set for the individual rail members 10 accumulate, and there is a possibility that larger dimensional difference may be made on the vicinity of end portion opposite to end portion of the reference side.

[0076] When the rail members 10 are installed, the attachment surfaces 12a provided on the web portion 12 of the rail member 10 is formed as a continuous concave portion. Then, the rack member 20 is attached with one end portion of the installed rail members 10 as a reference. When connecting the rack members 20 to each other (when opposing the end portions of the rack members 20 to each other), the pitch of the teeth 21 is precisely defined using a jig (not shown).

[0077] When attaching the rack members 20 to the continuous rail members 10 from the reference side as described above, the error based on the allowable tolerance set in the rack member 20 can be absorbed by adjusting the gap 25 provided at the connecting portion (opposing portion) of the rack member 20. However, it is impossible to absorb the accumulated error as the rail members 10 are connected.

[0078] At this time, since the elongated hole 14 is formed on the attachment surface 12a of the rail member 10, it is possible to absorb the error within the range of the elongated hole 14. That is, when attaching the rack members 20 to the rail members 10, the threaded holes 23 formed in the rack members 20 are positioned within the ranges of the elongated holes 14.

[0079] Therefore, by inserting the bolts 24 into the elongated holes 14 and tightening the rack member 20, the rail A including the rail members 10 and the rack members 20 is produced.

[0080] It is preferable that at the connecting portion of the rail members 10 on which the running surfaces 11a are connected in series with each other, the rack member 20 transverses the connecting portion and is arranged to straddle the adjacent two rail members 10, and this rack member 20 is fixed to the adjacent two rail members 10. Thus, this rack member 20 functions as a connection plate of the rail members 10, and a rail in which the rail members arranged in series are integrated can be configured.

[0081] A rail of the machine apparatus according to the present invention can be applicable for a machine apparatus with a traveling carriage on which a machining unit for performing a desired work is mounted is required to travel with high dimensional accuracy.