In a pallet exchange apparatus for a machine tool, a rotary member carried to be rotatable in a horizontal plane mounts thereon a pallet support means which in turn supports a pallet unloaded from the machine tool and a pallet to be loaded into the machine tool. Each pallet is provided with an engaging hook. A transfer member is provided with a transfer hook engageable with the engaging hook to move the pallet to be loaded on the machine tool toward the machine tool. A fixed hook is provided to be engageable with the engaging hook. The rotary member is rotated to move the engaging hook of the pallet to be loaded on the machine tool into engagement with the transfer hook and to move the engaging hook of the pallet unloaded from the machine tool into engagement with the fixed hook.
A machine tool has a pallet transfer system comprising a rotary deck having a pair of pallets oppositely disposed about a vertical rotary transfer axis, wherein at the transfer position, the pallets are further movable along a horizontal linear transfer axis toward and away from the pallet transfer system. A vertical guard plate is affixed to the rotatable section or deck of the transfer system, and the plane of the guard plate passes through the rotary transfer axis at an oblique angle to the linear transfer axis. The rotatable guard plate interacts with an elastomeric seal at the interface of a guard opening in a stationary guard assembly on a machine tool to substantially confine coolant overspray and the like within the machine guard enclosure. By passing obliquely across the linear transfer axes of the pair of parallel pallets, substantially full access of a stationary pallet lying outside the machine guard enclosure may be had.
A machine tool is provided with a double actuation hydraulic cylinder incorporated into a pallet clamp member, which is vertically movable for clamping and unclamping a work pallet onto and releasing it from a work table of the machine tool. The cylinder, in an extension operation, outwardly extends a first hollow rod and further extends a second rod telescopically from the first rod so as to present a first engaging member secured to the outer end of the second rod under a second engaging member of a work pallet on a pallet support. The pallet clamp member, when upwardly moved, establishes engagement of the first engaging member with the second engaging member, so that the subsequent retraction operation of the cylinder causes the work pallet to be transferred from the pallet support onto the work table.
A hand-operated work pallet changer for changing work pallets to be fed onto a pallet mounting portion of a machine tool, comprises a turntable (58) rotatably supported on a base unit and having at least two supporting portions (62, 63) for supporting thereon work pallets (2), respectively, and a table-indexing unit (67) for stopping a rotational movement of the turntable and locking the turntable when each of the supporting portions of the turntable arrives at a predetermined position (C) in which each of the supporting portions is in alignment with the pallet mounting portion of the machine tool. A movable hook (68) is provided on the base unit to prevent a rebound of the work pallet fed from the pallet mounting portion of the machine tool onto one of the supporting portions located at the predetermined position.
A pallet with a workpiece mounted thereon is delivered on a pallet carriage, and transferred onto the table of a machine tool which has a different height from the pallet carriage. Lifting mechanisms on the pallet carriage are engaged by respective positioning members in front of the machine tool. The lifting mechanisms are actuated to lift the pallet carriage to position the pallet carriage for transfer of the pallet onto the machine tool table. The pallet is transferred from the pallet carriage onto the machine tool table, half of a predetermined stroke by a first transfer mechanism on the pallet carriage and the remaining half of the stroke by a second transfer mechanism on the machine tool table. The table has vertically movable support rollers for supporting the pallet when it is transferred onto and from the table. When the pallet P is positioned on the table, the vertically movable support rollers are retracted downwardly. When the pallet is transferred onto the machine tool table, clamp units on the machine tool table enter T-shaped slots defined in the lower surface of the pallet, and are actuated to clamp the pallet directly on the table. Since the workpiece on the pallet thus clamped is held in a low position on the machine tool table, the workpiece can be machined by a machining tool that can move freely in a wide space.
The present relates to a machine tool for machining a workpiece by moving a tool and the workpiece relative to each other and to a pallet changer thereof. The machine tool is provided with a spindle for mounting the tool thereon, a table for a pallet (P) having the workpiece mounted thereon to be placed on the table, a pallet loading station for setting up the workpiece to the pallet (P) on the pallet loading station, and a pair of pallet change arms arranged to swivel about a vertical axis between the table and the pallet loading station, one pallet change arm (37) of which is arranged to be able to move independently of the other pallet change arm (37) in the vertical direction.
