Patent Application
20140065929
The field of the present invention is drawn to mass finishing machines, especially vibratory finishing machines.
Mass finishing is a group of manufacturing processes that allow large quantities of parts to be simultaneously finished. The goal of this type of finishing is to burnish, deburr, clean, radius, de-flash, descale, remove rust, polish, brighten, surface harden, prepare parts for further finishing, or break off die cast runners. The two main types of mass finishing are tumble finishing, also known as barrel finishing, and vibratory finishing. Both involve the use of a cyclical action to create grinding contact between surfaces. Sometimes the workpieces are finished against each other; however, usually a finishing medium is used. Mass finishing can be performed dry or wet, with wet processes having liquid lubricants, cleaners or abrasive, and dry processes not having such materials. Cycle times for running the parts through the finishing machines can be as short as a few minutes or as long as several hours.
Mass finishing processes can be configured as either batch systems, in which batches of workpieces are added, run, and removed before the next batch is run, or as continuous systems in which the workpieces enter at one end of the arrangement and exit at the other end in the finished state. The workpieces may also be sequenced, which involves running the workpieces through multiple different mass finishing processes. In sequential finishing, the finish usually becomes progressively finer.
An example of a prior art finishing machine can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,656,718 entitled METHOD OF PRODUCING A FINISHING CHAMBER FOR A VIBRATORY FINISHING MACHINE, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference.
A vibratory mass finishing machine of the present invention allows for faster finishing of parts along with better finishing of the parts (e.g., smoother finishing) compared to the prior art vibratory mass finishing machines. The vibratory mass finishing machine of the present invention allows the use of a motor with increased horsepower, incorporates a top eccentric weight located at a position below a line defined by a center of mass of the media, and has the top eccentric weight positioned close to a bottom eccentric weight.
For purposes of description herein, it is to be understood that the invention may assume various alternative orientations, except where expressly specified to the contrary. It is also to be understood that the specific devices and processes illustrated in the attached drawings, and described in the following specification, are simply exemplary embodiments of the inventive concepts defined herein. Hence, specific dimensions and other physical characteristics relating to the embodiments disclosed herein are not to be considered as limiting, unless expressly stated otherwise.
The base 12 of the vibratory mass finishing machine 10 includes a substantially hollow, and in the illustrated embodiment cylindrical, housing 18 and a floor panel 20. A plurality of spring mounting brackets 22 extend at a plurality of locations from an interior surface 23 of the housing 18. Each spring mounting bracket 22 supports a spring 24. It is contemplated that any number of spring mounting brackets 22 and springs 24 could be used. For example, 4, 6 or 8 equidistant spring mounting brackets 22 and springs 24 could be used. Each spring mounting bracket 22 includes an angled top plate 26 with a cylindrical spring lower guide 28 on a top surface thereof. A lower end of the spring 24 surrounds the cylindrical spring lower guide 28, with the cylindrical spring lower guide 28 maintaining the spring 24 in a fixed position on the spring mounting bracket 22. The vibration assembly 14 is supported by the springs 24 at tops thereof.
The vibration assembly 14 of the vibratory mass finishing machine 10 is configured to vibrate relative to the base 12. The vibration assembly 14 includes a finishing bowl 30 having a central opening 32 accommodating a center column 34 therein. The finishing bowl 30 includes a substantially vertical outer and upper side wall portion 36 and a lower inwardly curved side wall portion 38 which extends downwardly from upper side wall portion 36. The walls 36 and 38 extend in the illustrated embodiment annularly around the center column 34. A frustoconical gusset 40 extends between the center column 34 and an inner surface 42 of the lower inwardly curved side wall portion 38 of the finishing bowl 30 to form a part and media receiving area 44 which opens upwardly and extends annularly around column 34. Typically, a liner 46 (e.g., elastomeric) is located in the part and media receiving area 44 and adhered to the exterior surface of the center column 34 above the frustoconical gusset 40, on a top surface of the frustoconical gusset 40, on the lower inwardly curved side wall portion 38 of the finishing bowl 30 above the frustoconical gusset 40 and on the inner surface of the substantially vertical outer and upper side wall portion 36. As is well known to those skilled in the art, the liner 46 and the frustoconical gusset 40 can have a plurality of drains (not shown) therein for draining a finishing compound (typically an environmentally-safe, biodegradable liquid which meet most ferrous and nonferrous requirements in deburring, burnishing, cleaning, descaling, radiusing, and rust inhibiting). The part and media receiving area 44 can also include grates over the drains or elsewhere therein for supporting the parts and/or the media to prevent same from falling through the grates.
The vibration assembly 14 includes an eccentric spinning assembly 48 for causing the vibration assembly 14 to vibrate. The eccentric spinning assembly 48 is connected to a top bearing plate 50 and a bottom bearing plate 52 within the interior of the housing 18, with the bottom bearing plate 52 being located at a bottom of the center column 34. The eccentric spinning assembly 48 includes a central tube 54 having a vertical shaft 56 extending vertically therethrough which defines a central axis of rotation 57. A top eccentric weight 58 is connected to a top end of the vertical shaft 56 and a bottom eccentric weight 60 is connected to a bottom end of the vertical shaft 56. Centers of mass of the top eccentric weight 58 and the bottom eccentric weight 60 are both located off of, and in one embodiment the weights 58 and 60 are laterally spaced from, the axis 57 of the vertical shaft 56. As is well known to those skilled in the art, rotation of the vertical shaft 56 having the top eccentric weight 58 and the bottom eccentric weight 60 will cause the vertical shaft 56, and therefore the eccentric spinning assembly 48 and the entire vibration assembly 14 to rotate. It is contemplated that the central tube 54 containing the vertical shaft 56 with the top eccentric weight 58 and the bottom eccentric weight 60 can be inserted into the vibration assembly 14 as a pre-assembled unit, with the central tube 54 having a top bearing 62 connected to the top bearing plate 50 and a bottom bearing 64 connected to the bottom bearing plate 52. Alternatively, the vertical shaft 56 can be directly connected to the top bearing plate 50 and the bottom bearing plate 52 without the central tube 54.
A motor 66 having a rotating output shaft 68 serves to rotate the vertical shaft 56 of the eccentric spinning assembly 48. As illustrated in
For several decades, the vertical shaft 56 of the eccentric spinning assembly 48 has been run at a speed of approximately 1200 to 1500 revolutions per minute (RPMs). In this speed range, the media would circle about a center of mass 76 of the media 16 in a circular motion and the media would substantially form a circle 78 as illustrated in
As illustrated in
The present invention is a vibratory finishing machine 10, such as those used for grinding, deburring, descaling, edge-breaking, polishing, bright-honing, burnishing, and any other surface finishing of parts or workpieces, which may, and generally do, be comprised of wood, metal, ceramic, glass, or the like. Such vibratory finishing machines 10 include a finishing bowl 30 having a liner 46 as an elastomer and such elastomer usually has a Shore A Hardness of at least 50, usually 50 to 100, and preferably about 65 to about 90. Further details and characteristics of such elastomeric linings are well known in the art, and reference is made to U.S. Pat. No. 4,162,900, representatively illustrating a vibratory finishing machine embodying a finishing chamber with an elastomeric lining, and U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,161,993; 3,981,693; 3,990,188; 4,012,869; 4,022,012; 4,172,339; 4,177,608; 4,307,544; 4,329,817, and U.S. Pat. No. Re. 27 084, as well as U.S. Pat. No. 4,480,411, for various other types of finishing machines.
By the term “media” as used herein, or its equivalent terms “finishing media,” “finishing material” or “finishing medium”, it is intended to include loose, comminuted, granular, or particulate, and in any event solid finishing materials of the type presently employed in the trade and others of a similar nature. Although liquid finishing materials or “compound” may also be used in conjunction with solid finishing materials, these are considered to be ancillary, since most finishing processes employ some solid finishing medium. Moreover, the terms first set forth in this paragraph are used generally and herein to designate such solid materials which are used to impart all types of finishes, including those finishes acquired with abrading materials as well as polishing materials and the like, “polishing”, “burnishing”, and so on being terms considered in their usual sense as species of “finishing”. Such suitable finishing media include, inter alia, porcelain, ceramic, aluminum, steel, zinc, stainless steel, and grainite chips, and the like, all as well-known in the art, and in various sizes and configurations, also as well-known in the art, such configurations representatively being cones, bars, cylinders, squares, stars, triangles, wedges, balls, spheres and the like.
In operation, finishing machines 10a assembled in accord with
This application claims priority to co-pending U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/694,945, filed Aug. 30, 2012, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61694945 | Aug 2012 | US |
