Cutter unit for a wood planing machine

Information

  • Patent Grant
  • 6644369
  • Patent Number
    6,644,369
  • Date Filed
    Thursday, November 7, 2002
    22 years ago
  • Date Issued
    Tuesday, November 11, 2003
    21 years ago
  • Inventors
  • Examiners
    • Bray; W. Donald
    Agents
    • Trop, Pruner & Hu, P.C.
Abstract
A cutter unit includes two positioning bars mounted securely in a retaining groove of a rotating axle to define a cutter-receiving chamber therebetween. A cutter positioning block is disposed in the chamber. A first side face of the cutter positioning block is formed with a cutter-holding recess to receive a cutter. The recess is defined by a recess-confining wall with two opposing wall portions abutting against two end faces of the cutter. A side face of the cutter is disposed outwardly of the recess. An adjusting unit is disposed between and abuts against a second side face of the cutter positioning block and one of two wall portions of the retaining groove, and is adjustable to move the cutter positioning block and the cutter so as to press the cutter against the other one of the wall portions of the retaining groove.
Description




CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION




This application claims priority of Taiwanese Application No. 091211223, filed on Jul. 23, 2002.




BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION




1. Field of the Invention




The present invention relates to a cutter unit, more particularly to a cutter unit for a wood planing machine.




2. Description of the Related Art




Referring to

FIGS. 1 and 2

, a conventional cutter unit for a wood planing machine is shown to include a rotating axle


13


, a planing cutter


17


, two positioning bars


14


, and a forming cutter set.




As illustrated, the axle


13


includes an axle body


131


formed with an axially extending retaining groove


132


confined by a groove-confining wall


133


W that has two opposing inclined wall portions


134


,


135


and a bottom wall portion


133


interconnecting the inclined wall portions


134


,


135


. The planing cutter


17


is disposed within the retaining groove


132


in the axle body


131


. The positioning bars


14


are disposed securely in the retaining groove


132


to press the planing cutter


17


against one of the inclined wall portions


134


,


135


of the retaining groove


132


so as to prevent disengagement of the planing cutter


17


from the retaining groove


132


. The positioning bars


14


respectively have opposing end faces


140


that are spaced apart from each other to define a cutter receiving chamber


132


C therebetween. The forming cutter set is disposed in the cutter receiving chamber


132


C, and includes a forming cutter


1


with a cutting edge


11


, a cutter positioning block


15


, and two fastener screws


16


. The cutter positioning block


15


is disposed in the cutter receiving chamber


132


C, and has two opposite end faces


151


respectively abutting against the opposing end faces


140


of the positioning bars


14


, and two opposite inclined side faces


152


,


153


. The forming cutter


1


is disposed in the cutter receiving chamber


132


C between the cutter positioning block


15


and the planing cutter


17


. The fastener screws


16


extend respectively through two threaded holes


156


in the cutter positioning block


15


, and are threadedly engaged within two threaded holes


136


in the bottom wall portion


133


of the groove-confining wall


133


W, respectively, such that tightening of the fastener screws


16


results in an upward movement of the cutter positioning block


15


relative to the retaining groove


132


, which, in turn, results in pressing of the forming cutter


1


against the planing cutter


17


, thereby securing the forming cutter


1


in the cutter receiving chamber


132


C.




Some disadvantages resulting from the use of the aforesaid conventional cutter unit are as follows:




(1) Since the forming cutter


1


is juxtaposed with the planing cutter


17


, the user is exposed to injury during mounting and dismantling of the forming cutter


1


into and from the cutter receiving chamber


132


C.




(2) During tightening operation of the fastener screws


16


, the forming cutter


1


may wobble and move upwardly and downwardly in the cutter receiving chamber


132


C, thereby resulting in an inaccurate positioning of the forming cutter


1


within the cutter receiving chamber


132


C.




SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION




Therefore, the object of this invention is to provide a cutter unit for use in a wood planing machine, the cutter unit having a cutter positioning block by the use of which the aforementioned disadvantages can be avoided.




Accordingly, a cutter unit for a wood planing machine of the present invention includes: a rotating axle formed with an axially extending retaining groove confined by a groove-confining wall that has two opposing wall portions; two positioning bars mounted securely in the retaining groove and respectively having opposing end faces that are spaced apart from each other to define an axially extending cutter-receiving chamber therebetween; and a cutter set mounted detachably in the cutter-receiving chamber. The cutter set includes a cutter with two opposite end faces and two opposite abutting side faces, and a cutter positioning block having two opposite end faces respectively abutting against the opposing end faces of the positioning bars, and two opposite first and second side faces. The first side face of the cutter positioning block is indented to form a cutter-holding recess that receives the cutter therein and that is defined by a recess-confining wall with two opposing wall portions. The opposite end faces of the cutter respectively abut against the wall portions of the recess-confining wall of the cutter positioning block. One of the abutting side faces of the cutter is distal from the cutter positioning block, and is disposed outwardly of the cutter-holding recess. The other one of the abutting side faces of the cutter abuts against the recess-confining wall of the cutter positioning block. The cutter set further includes an adjusting unit that is disposed between and that abuts against the second side face of the cutter positioning block and one of the wall portions of the groove-confining wall of the retaining groove and that is adjustable to move the cutter positioning block and the cutter in a transverse direction relative to the wall portions of the groove-confining wall so as to press the one of the abutting side faces of the cutter against the other one of the wall portions of the groove-confining wall of the retaining groove, thereby securing the cutter in the cutter-receiving chamber.











BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS




Other features and advantages of this invention will become more apparent in the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment of this invention, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:





FIG. 1

is a perspective view of a conventional cutter unit for a wood planing machine;





FIG. 2

is a fragmentary sectional view of the conventional cutter unit;





FIG. 3

is a partly exploded view of a preferred embodiment of a cutter unit according to the present invention;





FIG. 4

is a sectional view of the preferred embodiment shown in

FIG. 3

; and





FIG. 5

illustrates how a cutter is retained securely in a cutter-receiving chamber of the preferred embodiment.











DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT




Referring to

FIGS. 3

to


5


, the preferred embodiment of a cutter unit for a wood planing machine according to the present invention is shown to include a rotating axle


3


, two pairs of positioning bars


4


, and two cutter sets.




As illustrated, the rotating axle


3


includes an axle body


31


formed with two axially extending retaining grooves


32


, each of which is confined by a groove-confining wall


32


W that has two opposing wall portions


322


,


323


and a bight portion


321


interconnecting the wall portions


322


,


323


.




The two pairs of the positioning bars


4


are mounted securely and respectively in the retaining grooves


32


via the screws


44


. The positioning bars


4


of each pair respectively have two opposing end faces


41


that are spaced apart from each other to define an axially extending cutter-receiving chamber


32


C therebetween.




Each of the cutter sets is mounted detachably in the respective cutter-receiving chamber


32


C, and includes a forming cutter


2


, a cutter positioning block


5


, and an adjusting unit


6


. The forming cutter


2


has two opposite end faces


22


and two opposite abutting side faces


23


,


24


. The cutter positioning block


5


has two opposite end faces


51


respectively abutting against the opposing end faces


41


of the respective pairs of the positioning bars


4


, and two opposite first and second side faces


56


. The first side face


56


of the cutter positioning block


5


is indented to form a cutter-holding recess


53


that receives the forming cutter


2


therein and that is defined by a recess-confining wall


54


with two opposing wall portions


54


W. When the forming cutter


2


is received in the cutter-holding recess


53


, the opposite end faces


22


of the forming cutter


2


respectively abut against the wall portions


54


W of the recess-confining wall


54


of the cutter positioning block


5


. At this time, the abutting side face


23


of the cutter


2


is distal from the cutter positioning block


5


, and is thus disposed outwardly of the cutter-holding recess


53


(see

FIG. 3

) while the abutting side face


24


of the forming cutter


2


abuts against the recess-confining wall


54


of the cutter positioning block


5


, as best shown in FIG.


4


. The adjusting unit


6


is disposed between and abuts against the second side face


56


of the cutter positioning block


5


and the wall portion


322


of the retaining groove


32


. The adjusting unit


6


is adjustable to move the cutter positioning block


5


and the forming cutter


2


in a transverse direction relative to the wall portions


322


,


323


of the retaining groove


32


so as to press the abutting side face


23


of the forming cutter


2


against the wall portion


323


of the groove-confining wall


32


W of the retaining groove


32


, thereby securing the forming cutter


2


in the cutter-receiving chamber


32


C. Under this condition, a cutting edge


21


of the forming cutter


2


is exposed outwardly from the respective cutter receiving chamber


32


C.




In this preferred embodiment, the second side face


56


of each of the cutter positioning blocks


5


is formed with two threaded holes


58


that extend in the transverse direction. Each of the adjusting units


6


includes two headed screws


60


that have two threaded shanks


61


extending threadedly and respectively into the threaded holes


58


in the respective cutter positioning block


5


, and two enlarged heads


62


abutting against the wall portion


322


of the respective groove-confining wall


32


W.




Note that the cutter-holding recess


53


in each cutter positioning block


5


is intended for a particular forming cutter. When it is desired to use another forming cutter of a different size, a matching cutter positioning block has to be utilized so as to prevent wobbling or movement of the forming cutter therewithin during the tightening of the headed screws


60


in the threaded holes


58


in the cutter positioning block


5


, thereby maintaining the correct position of the forming cutter


2


in the respective cutter receiving chamber


32


C.




Preferably, the axle body


31


of the rotating axle


3


is further formed with two axially extending retaining grooves


33


. Two planing cutters


7


are respectively disposed in the retaining grooves


33


, and are secured therein by the use of cutter positioning blocks


8


and adjusting units


9


that are similar in constructions to the cutter positioning block


5


and the adjusting unit


6


described hereinabove.




Since the forming cutters


2


and the planing cutters


7


are separately mounted on the rotating axle


3


, when it is desired to use the planing cutters


7


, the forming cutters


2


can be removed from the rotating axle


3


, thereby ensuring the safety of the operator.




With this invention thus explained, it is apparent that numerous modifications and variations can be made without departing from the scope and spirit of this invention. It is therefore intended that the invention be limited only as indicated in the appended claims.



Claims
  • 1. A cutter unit for a wood planing machine, comprising:a rotating axle formed with an axially extending retaining groove confined by a groove-confining wall that has two opposing wall portions; two positioning bars mounted securely in said retaining groove, and respectively having opposing end faces that are spaced apart from each other to define an axially extending cutter-receiving chamber therebetween; and a cutter set mounted detachably in said cutter-receiving chamber, and including a cutter with two opposite end faces and two opposite abutting side faces, and a cutter positioning block having two opposite end faces respectively abutting against said opposing end faces of said positioning bars, and two opposite first and second side faces, said first side face of said cutter positioning block being indented to form a cutter-holding recess that receives said cutter therein and that is defined by a recess-confining wall with two opposing wall portions, said opposite end faces of said cutter respectively abutting against said wall portions of said recess-confining wall of said cutter positioning block, one of said abutting side faces of said cutter being distal from said cutter positioning block and being disposed outwardly of said cutter-holding recess, the other one of said abutting side faces of said cutter abutting against said recess-confining wall of said cutter positioning block, said cutter set further including an adjusting unit that is disposed between and that abuts against said second side face of said cutter positioning block and one of said wall portions of said groove-confining wall of said retaining groove and that is adjustable to move said cutter positioning block and said cutter in a transverse direction relative to said wall portions of said groove-confining wall so as to press said one of said abutting side faces of said cutter against the other one of said wall portions of said groove-confining wall of said retaining groove, thereby securing said cutter in said cutter-receiving chamber.
  • 2. The cutter unit as defined in claim 1, wherein said second side face of said cutter positioning block is formed with two threaded holes extending in said transverse direction, said adjusting unit including two headed screws respectively and threadedly extending into said threaded holes in said positioning block and abutting against said one of said wall portions of said groove-confining wall.
Priority Claims (1)
Number Date Country Kind
91211223 U Jul 2002 TW
US Referenced Citations (5)
Number Name Date Kind
4429726 Betzler Feb 1984 A
5163490 Meis Nov 1992 A
6092571 Liao Jul 2000 A
6095211 Chiang Aug 2000 A
6119741 Rowe et al. Sep 2000 A