The invention relates to a hand-held power tool as recited in the preamble to claim 1 as well as an assembly process for it.
Hand-held power tools of the type mentioned above, with an output element that is guided in a bearing race, which is situated in an annular, encompassing bearing socket, are known from practical experience. The part of the bearing socket surrounding the bearing race is constituted by the free end of a neck of an intermediate flange through which the output element extends. A radial access to the output element, whether for drive purposes and/or in connection with the assembly process, is only possible outside the region of the bearing socket due to the closed embodiment of the bearing race and bearing socket. This has a negative impact on assembly options and on the possibilities for access to the output element on the drive side and requires a corresponding overall length for the intermediate flange in the positioning of the drive access in the region of the intermediate flange.
The as yet unpublished German patent application DE 10 2007 014 758 has already proposed having the bearing socket and bearing race for an output element in a hand-held power tool be embodied in the form of an open ring when cut-out ring segments are situated congruent to each other.
Based on a hand-held power tool of the type mentioned at the beginning, the object of the invention is to expand the possibilities for accessing the output element without thereby complicating the installation of the bearing race in the bearing socket and/or negatively impacting the guidance quality of the bearing race for the output element.
This object is attained according to the invention with a hand-held power tool as recited in claim 1 and by means of an assembly method for such a hand-held power tool as recited in claim 4.
In the hand-held power tool according to the invention, the bearing socket and the bearing race are embodied in the form of an open ring, with cut-out ring sectors that are situated congruent to each other and the cut-out ring sector of the bearing race is embodied so that a circumference segment—which is delimited by detachment points, in particular desired fracture points—is detached, in particular broken out.
This embodiment of the bearing race makes it possible not only to manufacture it as a closed bearing race, but also to insert it in a precisely fitting way into the surrounding circular or oval annular bearing socket so that regardless of manufacture-dictated and/or material-dictated inherent stresses, the bearing race is in its desired shape for the insertion into the bearing socket and due to the support of the bearing socket, maintains the manufactured shape that is designed for being supported in a dimensionally stable fashion in the bearing socket even when the open ring form is produced by removing, in particular breaking out, the circumference section delimited by detachment points, in particular desired fracture points.
As a result, the same installation prerequisites exist as for a closed bearing race and, in accordance with matching dimensional ratios, the bearing race can be inserted without hindrance into the bearing socket in accordance with the respective fit conditions present. Any material-dictated and/or manufacture-dictated inherent stresses in the bearing race that could result in deviations from the predetermined desired shape in the case of the open ring form thus continue to have no effect on the installation and lastly, have no negative effect on the guidance quality of the bearing race for the output element even after the breaking-out of the circumference section delimited by the desired fracture points, since for the bearing race that is now open, the bearing socket constitutes a dimensionally stable support that is also sufficient for the optional form-locked anchoring of the bearing race in the bearing socket. For such an anchoring, in particular a rotationally-fixed mounting, of the bearing race, it is also optionally possible for grooves to be additionally provided, preferably on the end surface, which cooperate with corresponding counterpart elements provided in the bearing socket to assure the required fixing and possibly also axial positioning of the bearing race.
The assembly method according to the invention is particularly suitable for bearing races that are preferably embodied in the form of slide bearing races composed of brittle materials, primarily brittle-fracturing materials. These materials particularly include sintered materials or other materials prone to brittle fracturing in which inherent stresses also arise during manufacture, which can result in deviations from the desired shape when the bearing race is in the broken-open state.
Furthermore, the invention also relates to a bearing race as such that has a ring section—which is delimited by detachment points, in particular desired fracture points, and is to be detached, in particular broken out—that can in particular be used in hand-held power tools of the above-mentioned type as well as in connection with an above-mentioned assembly method and which, despite its provided use as an open bearing race, is to be produced in a closed form and thus can also be composed of materials in which, as in sintered materials, inherent stresses can arise during their manufacture and could result in deformations in the discontinuous, i.e. open, bearing race.
In the scope of the invention, the desired fracture points can be embodied in the form of notches provided in the inner and/or outer circumference of the bearing race, possibly notches that are situated congruent to each other, so that only comparatively thin bridge pieces remain.
In connection with notches provided on one side, in particular on the inside, it can be useful to provide a thickened region on the outer circumference of the bearing race in the region coinciding with each notch in order, during the manufacture, to achieve a continuous, essentially uniform material cross section regardless of the presence of the notch. The thickened region can be easily removed after the manufacture, for example after the pressing procedure when using sintered materials, by means of grinding, stripping, or similar machining procedures.
With regard to the rotary securing of the bearing race, it can be useful to also provide it with notches in the end surface, which are associated with corresponding counterpart elements on the respective bearing socket.
Other advantages and suitable embodiments can be inferred from the claims, from the description of the figures, and from the drawings.
The hand-held power tool is schematically depicted in
With regard to the intermediate flange 9, the cut-out of the circumference section corresponding to the ring sector 17 can be embodied in the usual way during manufacture, for example by means of the die-casting method. However, it is also possible for a circumference section—which corresponds to the ring sector 17 to be cut out—to be removed, in particular machined out or broken out, from the neck 8 of the intermediate flange 9, which is initially closed.
The bearing race 19 is inserted axially into the bearing socket 18 that is opened by means of the cut-out ring sector 17, in fact in the form of a closed bearing race whose circumference section 22 situated congruent to the cut-out circumference section of the bearing socket 18 is delimited by detachment points, in particular desired fracture points 20, as shown in a closed bearing race in
The bearing race 19, which like the bearing socket can have a circular or oval shape, is first inserted into the bearing socket 18 in the form of a closed ring and with the circumference section 22 to be broken out positioned congruent to the cut-out ring sector 17 of the bearing race 18, preferably in a precisely fitting way, so that a dimensionally stable support for the bearing race 19 is provided, which is only missing in the region of the ring sector 17 to be cut out, and the circumference section 22 of the bearing race 19 can be broken out along the desired fracture points 20 and detached from the ring piece without impairing the dimensional stability of the bearing race 19.
If such an embodiment of desired fracture points 20 by means of wedge-shaped notches 21 that significantly reduce the wall thickness of the bearing race 19 or in the form of channel-shaped, rounded, or groove-shaped rectangular recesses leads to difficulties in producing the bearing race 19, which can be the case particularly if the bearing race 19 is produced by casting or sintering, then according to the invention, the circumference region on the other side from the recess of each notch 21, which is in particular wedge-shaped, can be provided with a thickened region 23 as shown in
Basically, it is also possible to abrade away the thickened region 23 only in the region coinciding with the circumference region to be broken out and thus to embody projections in the transition from the cut-out circumference region 22 on the bearing race 19, which projections, by engaging radially over or in the bearing socket 18, assure a rotational fixing of the bearing race 19.
Such a rotational fixing can also be achieved in a different way, for example according to
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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10 2007 057 453.5 | Nov 2007 | DE | national |
This application is a divisional of co-pending application Ser. No. 12/745,422, filed on May 28, 2010 (now U.S. Pat. No. 8,561,714), which in turn is a 35 U.S.C. §371 National Stage Application of PCT/EP2008/063024, filed Sep. 29, 2008, which claims the benefit of priority to Serial No. 10 2007 057 453.5, filed Nov. 29, 2007 in Germany, the disclosures of the US application, the PCT application, and the DE application being incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 12745422 | May 2010 | US |
Child | 14060265 | US |