This invention concerns a machine for smoothing printed-circuit plates. In this machine, the plate is made to perform several transverse movements in relation to the lengthwise axis of the plate; at the end of each such transverse movement, the smoothing tool is made to perform an alternating lengthwise movement, covering a distance slightly greater than the length of the plate; each such lengthwise movement in one direction corresponds to a transverse movement with an uneven ordinal number, while each lengthwise movement in the opposite direction corresponds to a transverse movement with an even ordinal number; at the end of the final lengthwise movement, the plate is ejected, upon which the device that had moved the plate performs a backward movement to its original position. This machine is used in the manufacture of printed circuits.

An apparatus for trimming and profiling the edges of a metal plate comprises a table supporting the plate and at least one milling cutter unit guided laterally and parallel to a respective plate edge by at least two straight guide tracks for the milling cutter units. The guide tracks extend at right angles to each other and parallel to the plane of the plate. The milling cutter unit includes a milling cutter rotatable about an axis which is perpendicular to this plane.

A mechanical tool manipulating method and apparatus including apparatus and process for splitting axes of drive, wherein the drive means include preloaded lead screw nuts for minimal backlash, and "v" wheels and cylindrical slides for lineal tracking, as well as apparatus and process for precision clamping of the workpiece, and for recirculating exhaust air for clearing debris.

A method and apparatus for making a pattern from a blank in accordance with a set of coordinates defining a plurality of data points and collectively characterizing the size and shape of a lens opening in an eyeglass frame is presented. A controller includes an instruction set to control the operation of a router coupled to a carraige arranged for rectilinear movement toward and away from a work station and relative to the rotation of a blank fixtured at the work station whereby a pattern is cut with the desired size and shape. The apparatus further includes a sensor and light source in the feeding and staging area of the apparatus to advance a blank to a fixturing spindle located at the work station and to determine the nasal side orientation of the blank at the work station.

To reduce dead times and waste of dummy boards necessary for preparing individual packages of stacked boards to be drilled, the latter are loaded on the table in a single stack and are drilled from the top in groups formed of a predetermined limited number of boards, drilling only partially into the next board to be drilled. The drilled boards are carried out of the stack which is reapproached to the drilling head. The drilling restarts by following the impression left by the tool in the preceding cycle on the partially drilled board. The numerically controlled drilling machine includes a table vertically movable to bring the stack against a fixed stop. A slide transversely movable after each drilling cycle engages the already drilled boards and carries them to an unloading support external to the table. The numerical control corrects for the positions of the holes upon each cycle by sensing with an optical sensor the impressions left by the tool in the preceding cycle on the partially drilled board following those unloaded.