DEVICE FOR MACHINING A WORK-PIECE WITH A TOOL

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a device for machining a work-piece with a tool, including a tool receptacle for releasably clamping a tool, such as a hob peeling wheel, and a machining head, which is provided with the tool receptacle, and is designed to drive a tool clamped therein, and to move it relative to a work-piece to be machined, including an assessment unit for imaging and/or measuring a tool, or a part thereof, in order to detect the state of wear of the tool.

Claims

1. A method for machining a work-piece with a tool, including: a tool receptacle for releasably clamping a tool, a machining head, which is provided with the tool receptacle, and drives a tool clamped therein, and moves it relative to a work-piece to be machined, and at least one assessment unit for imaging or measuring a tool, or a part thereof, in order to detect the state of wear of the tool.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the at least one assessment unit images at least one of multiple cutting edges of the tool.

3. The method according to claim 1, further with a display unit, in order to display the image generated by the assessment unit.

4. The method according to claim 1, further with a storage unit, in order to store the image created of the tool.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the storage unit further stores a time of the recording, wearing information derived from the image, a tool life of the tool, and/or motor and control parameters of the machining head in a machining of a tool preceding the imaging.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the assessment unit is a camera, a microscope camera, or a laser scanner.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the assessment unit is arranged on a movement device, which makes a relative movement relative to a resting tool possible.

8. The method according to claim 1, further with a semi- or fully automatic tool changer, which receives a tool located in the tool receptacle, and to clamp a different tool in the tool receptacle, wherein: the assessment unit images the tool received by the tool changer or a part thereof.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the assessment unit is a measuring probe, and/or the assessment unit includes a measuring probe, as well as also a camera or a laser scanner.

10. The method according to claim 1, further including a computing unit for processing the recording of the wear image generated by the assessment unit, and for representing and/or emphasizing the state of wear of the recorded tool.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein the assessment unit is further carries out an image processing in order to automatically recognize the state of wear of the tool from an image of the tool, wherein, as samples, typical courses of wearing of the tool are stored as images, and the assessment unit searches for matches in the image of the tool.

12. A method for recognizing a tool wearing in a device according to claim 1, wherein, in the method: after a machining of a work-piece with a tool, the assessment unit creates an image of the tool, and the image is displayed via a display unit, and wherein a documentation of the wear and/or image generated by the assessment unit are stored in a storage unit, in order to be able to retrieve them at a later point in time, and further information in connection with the image are likewise stored in the storage unit.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the assessment unit, in the recording process of the tool, makes recordings from multiple perspectives in order to make a better evaluation of the wear of the tool possible.

14. The method according to claim 12, wherein the stored images of a tool and the further information standing in connection therewith, including the time of the recording, wear information derived from the image, the tool life of the tool, and/or motor and control parameters of the machining head, are assessed using statistical methods, in order to determine the machine behavior and the material behavior of the tool employed.

15. The method according to claim 12, wherein, on the basis of the image of a tool, the state of wear thereof is determined, through a computing unit, and depending thereupon a regrinding or an exchanging of the tool is undertaken through a tool changer automatically.

16. A method for machining a work-piece with a tool, including: a tool receptacle for releasably clamping a hob peeling wheel, and a machining head, which is provided with the tool receptacle, and drives a tool clamped therein, moves it relative to a work-piece to be machined, an assessment unit for imaging and measuring a tool, or a part thereof, detecting the state of wear of the tool.

17. The method according to claim 16, further with a storage unit, in order to store the image created of the tool, as well as further information in connection therewith.

18. The method according to claim 4, wherein the further information are the time of the recording, wearing information derived from the image, the tool life of the tool, and/or motor and control parameters of the machining head in a machining of a tool preceding the imaging, wherein the motor and control parameters are a current consumption, or power input, an input voltage, and/or a lag distance.

19. The method according to claim 16, further with a semi- or fully automatic tool changer, which receives a tool located in the tool receptacle, and to clamp a different tool in the tool receptacle, wherein: the assessment unit images the tool received by the tool changer or a part thereof, and the assessment unit is arranged on the tool changer.

20. The method according to claim 16, further including a computing unit for processing the recording of the wear image generated by the assessment unit, and for representing and/or emphasizing the state of wear of the recorded tool, wherein the computing unit represents a wear limit of a cutting edge in the image, in order to, in an observation of the image, be able to recognize the degree of wear of the tool.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

[0038] FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a gear cutting machine with a tool changer according to the present disclosure.

[0039] FIG. 2 shows an enlarged representation of the tool changer with the assessment unit of the present disclosure,

[0040] FIG. 3 shows a lateral view of the tool changer with the assessment unit according to the present disclosure.

[0041] FIG. 4 shows imaging examples captured through an assessment unit, here an optical unit, which imaging examples show a different state of wear of a cutting edge of a hob peeling wheel.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0042] FIG. 1 shows a perspective representation of a gear cutting machine 1, and a tool changer 8 arranged adjacently thereto. The gear cutting machine 1 comprises a machine bed 11, on which the known elements of a gear cutting machine 1 are arranged. From the machine bed 11, the stand 12, which is displaceable in an axial direction relative to the machine bed 11, extends in a vertical direction. On the stand, via a further movement device, the machining head 5 is arranged, which, on its spindle axis, possesses a tool receptacle 4 for clamping a tool 3. By means of the movability of the stand 12, as well as the movability of the machining head, it is possible to move the tool to a desired position relative to the work-piece 2. The work-piece 2 here is drivable around a spindle axis.

[0043] As a person skilled in the art knows the mode of action and the capability of a gear cutting machine 1, a detailed description is avoided.

[0044] Next to the gear cutting machine 1, a tool changer 8 is arranged, which is in a position to automatically or semi-automatically change the tool 3 from the tool receptacle 4. To that end, the tool 3 is removed from the tool changer, and with the help of the movement device, is supplied to a tool magazine 9. According to the present disclosure, it is now provided that, on the way to the tool magazine 9, the state of wear of the tool 3 is detected by means of the optical unit 6. Upon completion of this procedure, the used tool 3 is then supplied to the tool magazine 9, in that is inserted in a tool holder 10 provided therefor.

[0045] Thus, it is possible to estimate and to judge the state of wear of the tools 3 located in the tool magazine 9, if a regrinding or an exchanging of the tool 3 is necessary. It is not necessary to rely upon an empirical tool life, which does not often hit the right juncture in time for changing or for regrinding the tool. Rather, for the evaluation of the state of wear, the actual wearing of the tool 3 is judged, based on the recording of the wear of assessment unit. The evaluation can here also be undertaken by means of a computing unit.

[0046] FIG. 2 shows an enlarged section of the tool changer 8, in which one can better recognize the assessment unit, which here is carried out as an optical unit 6. One sees a tool 3 on its way in the direction of the tool magazine 9, which tool is examined by the optical unit 6, which has a movement device 7. Further, one can see a measuring probe 13, which is designed to go over the cutting edge of the tool 3 with a small sphere, and thereby probes, if too great a wearing has already occurred. This operation by the measuring probe 13 can be triggered on the basis of the image captured by the optical unit 6. For example, if the optical unit 6 is configured as an image recording unit, and this recognizes a wearing of the tool 3 in an identified region, the measuring probe 13 is brought in for an exact determination of the wearing of the tool 13. Alternatively, the optical unit can 6 can also be configured as a laser scanner, and thus directly document the amount of the wear.

[0047] FIG. 3 is a lateral view of the section of the tool changer 8 represented in the FIG. 2. Here, one also recognizes that the optical unit 6, with the help of the movement device 7, can be moved into a corresponding position for image capturing of the tool 3, or a part of the tool 3. Sometimes, for the clean detection of the state of wear of the tool 3, it can also be necessary, to make multiple images, from different positions, of the same tool. Here, the tool to be examined can also be received in a rotatable mounting, in order to be able to rapidly be able to twist the cutting edges into an imaging area.

[0048] FIG. 4 shows a cutting edge of a tool in different states of wear. On the left side of the FIG. 4, including in total three illustrations, one recognizes the cutting edge of a tool, which is newly or freshly reground. The middle image shows the cutting edge of a tool, which comprises a wearing. The right of the three images also shows a worn tool. This can be recognized by the rounding of the cutting edges, as well as the wear on the flanks, the tip portion of which cutting edge comprises a fillet.