Claims
- 1. Apparatus for processing rough-surfaced steel billets or like workpieces to remove cracked or otherwise defective portions thereof, comprising: workpiece support means, material removal means for coacting with a portion of a workpiece supported by said support means to remove material therefrom, positioning means for effecting relative movement of said workpiece support means and said material removal means, control means for controlling said positioning means, signal means including probe means associated with said material removal means and operative during coaction of said material removal means with a portion of the workpiece to detect defects in said portion and to apply corresponding defect signals to said control means, said positioning means being controlled through said control means to move in a predetermined scan pattern over a surface portion of the workpiece and to remove a thin layer of rough surface material therefrom and facilitate coaction of said probe means with said workpiece to develop a defect signal from any defective portion thereof, said positioning means being controlled through said control means for operation in the absence of a defect signal from said signal means to limit the depth of material removed and remove only said thin layer of rough surface material, and said positioning means being controlled through said control means and from a defect signal developed at any point during movement in said predetermined scan pattern to interrupt movement in said pattern, to then initiate removal of a defective portion at said point and to then continue removal of said defective portion at said point until removed and to thereafter continue movement in said scan pattern, whereby to effect removal of a thin surface layer and detection and removal of all defective portions in a single complete movement in said predetermined scan pattern.
- 2. In apparatus as defined in claim 1, said material removal means comprising a material removal element for engagement with the workpiece, and means for rotating said element about a certain axis, said probe means being supported for rotation with said element about said axis.
- 3. In apparatus as defined in claim 2, said material removal element being a grinding wheel and said probe means including a probe in the periphery of said grinding wheel.
- 4. Apparatus for processing workpieces in the form of elongated steel billets or the like to remove cracked or otherwise defective portions thereof, workpiece support means comprising a carriage and means for securely clamping a billet on said carriage, material removal means comprising a material removal element and means for rotating said element about a certain axis, positioning means comprising means for effecting movement of said element relative to said carriage in a first direction parallel to the longitudinal axis of said billet and in a second direction toward and away from said axis in a plane transverse thereto, said positioning means further comprising means for effecting movement of said element relative to said carriage in a third direction in a plane transverse to said longitudinal axis of said billet for relative movement of said element transversely across one face of said billet, control means for controlling said positioning means, signal means including probe means associated with said material removal means and operative during coaction of said material removal means with a portion of the billet to detect defects in said portion and to apply corresponding defect signals to said control means, said positioning means being controlled through said control means to effect movement in said first direction to index said element from one longitudinal position to another along the length of the billet and to effect at each longitudinal position a relative transverse movement in said third direction across one side of the billet, said element being moved over the entire surface area of one side of the billet during a single series of longitudinal indexing movements along the length of the billet, said positioning means being controlled through said control means during each transverse movement and in response to defect signals developed from said probe means to control movement of said element in said second direction to remove defective portions of the workpiece, whereby to detect and control removal of all defective portions on one side of the billet during said one series of longitudinal indexing movement along the length of the billet, and said probe means being supported for rotation with said rotating element to detect defects during coaction of said rotating element and the billet.
- 5. In apparatus as defined in claim 4, said positioning means being controllable by said control means upon completion of series of longitudinal indexing movements to initiate another series of longitudinal indexing movements in an opposite longitudinal direction until completion of sequential treatment of the four faces of the billet for removal of defective portions thereof.
- 6. In apparatus as defined in claim 4, said element being a grinding wheel.
- 7. In apparatus as defined in claim 4, said certain axis being parallel to the longitudinal axis of said billet.
- 8. In apparatus as defined in claim 4, inspection means for inspection of billets prior to operation of said material removal means to detect defects proximate the surface of said billet, said signal means including detection means for developing position signals in accordance with the positions of detected defects, and signal storage means controlled by said control means to store said position signals, said positioning means being controlled through said control means to position said material removal element along the billet in accordance with said position signals.
- 9. In apparatus as defined in claim 8, said inspection means comprising billet magnetizing and magnetic particle applying means operative to develop defect indications on the surface of said billet and said detector means comprising means for detecting said indications on the surfaces of said billet to develop said signals.
- 10. An apparatus as defined in claim 8, means controlled by said control means for effecting transfer of billets from said inspection means to said carriage with said detector means being operated by said control means during said transfer.
- 11. In apparatus as defined in claim 10, said positioning means being controlled from said control means to operate prior to each of said longitudinal indexing movements to respond to any stored position signal corresponding to the longitudinal position of said material removal means relative to the billet and to initiate removal of any corresponding defective portion with removal of any defective portion being continued at each longitudinal position in response to said defect signals developed from said probe means.
- 12. In apparatus as defined in claim 4, movement in said second direction being effected in a series of material-removal indexing movements, each movement performed after initial engagement with the billet being effective to grind a certain additional depth of material and being performed only in response to development of a defect signal following the preceding material-removal indexing movement.
- 13. In apparatus as defined in claim 12, means limiting the number of additional material-removal indexing operations performed after initial engagement of the billet.
Parent Case Info
This application is a continuation of our prior application Ser. No. 531,165, filed Sept. 9, 1983 now abandoned, which was a continuation-in-part of our application Ser. No. 407,656, filed Aug. 12, 1982, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,502,253, issued Mar. 5, 1985.
US Referenced Citations (9)
Continuations (1)
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Date |
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Parent |
531165 |
Sep 1983 |
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Continuation in Parts (1)
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Number |
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407656 |
Aug 1982 |
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