The present application is based on and claims priority of Japanese patent application No. 2005-249695 filed on Aug. 30, 2005, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention provides means for unattended operation for a long time of period by removing contaminants with a cutting tool such as a grinding tool when contaminants adhere to a nozzle of a laser processing machine.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a conventional laser processing machine, predetermined standard processing conditions defined by materials and thicknesses are registered in a numeral count device (NC device). During a laser processing according to the processing conditions, any trouble in the function of a nozzle mounted to the tip of a processing torch causes imperfections in the processing such as dross forming. In order to maintain the optimal processing conditions, an operator needs to detect such a trouble of a nozzle in ahead, stop a machine, and examine the nozzle for abnormality, and when a trouble is recognized, the nozzle should be manually changed or be cleaned, any deformation of the nozzle should be adjusted, or the processing conditions should be changed. Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-150173 Publication (Patent Document 1) discloses a machine having a brush for removing dross which adheres to a nozzle.
During a laser processing, some melt (sputtered material) in the processing flies above a work surface, due to the pressure of an assist gas for example, and adheres to a bottom surface of a nozzle, which makes a gap between the bottom surface of the nozzle and the upper work surface non-uniform. The patent document above described discloses a copy operation to control the position of a laser processing tool in the Z axis direction which records a Z axis coordinate by bring a nozzle into contact with a touch sensor. The patent document also discloses a method for removing contaminants such as dross adhering to a nozzle by bringing a nozzle tip to a brush so that a circular motion of the nozzle removes the contaminants. The present invention provides a device having a polishing device to polish a nozzle without moving the nozzle.
A laser processing machine according to the present invention comprises: a bed; a pellet disposed on the bed to support a work; a column which is controlled to move along the X axis, the X axis being the longitudinal axis of the bed; a saddle which is supported by the column and is controlled to move along the Y axis, the Y axis being perpendicularly crossing the X axis; a processing head which is supported by the saddle and is controlled to move along the Z axis, the Z axis being perpendicular to a plane defined by the X axis and the Y axis. The present invention provides a nozzle polishing device comprising a melt removing device for removing melt with a grinding tool, the melt adhering to a tip nozzle of a laser processing tool mounted to the processing head as basic means.
According to the present invention, because a copy function is stabilized so that a gap between a bottom surface of a nozzle and an upper work surface becomes uniform, imperfections in a processing such as dross forming are not caused, which stabilizes the processing and makes an unattended operation for a long time of period possible.
A pair of guide rails 34 are provided along both of the longitudinal sides of the bed 10, and a column 30 is mounted on the guide rails 34 to be movable in the X axis direction.
The column 30 may move in the X axis direction driven by for example a linear motor which is formed with a stator provided to the guide rails 34 and movers provided to translation guides 32.
The column 30 includes a guide rail 44 provided along the Y axis which is perpendicularly crossing the X axis to mount a saddle 40 movable in the Y axis direction. The saddle 40 includes a translation guide 42 which engages with the guide rail 44, which forms a linear motor between the guide rail 44 and the translation guide 42.
The saddle 40 includes a guide rail in the Z axis direction which is perpendicular to a plane defined by the X axis and the Y axis, and a processing head 50 is mounted to the guide rail movable along the Z axis. The processing head 50 includes an optical system into which a laser beam is introduced from a laser emitting device 72.
To the processing head 50, a laser processing tool 60 is exchangeably mounted. A processing area is covered with a cover 90 for safety. An electric cabinet 70 and the laser emitting device 72 are arranged adjacent to the bed 10. A control panel 80 through which an operator issues commands for various operations is disposed at one end of a longitudinal side of the bed 10. At one end of the bed 10 which is close to the control panel 80, a setup station 100 for a laser processing tool is equipped with.
In the above examples, a grindstone is used as a polishing tool for a nozzle, but of course, other tools such as a carbide tool may be used as needed.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2005-249695 | Aug 2005 | JP | national |