Orthodontic wire-bending robot for lingual orthodontic technique

An orthodontic wire bender robot to be used in the manufacture of lingual orthodontic wires, comprising:

• a bending head (A) having a base with a motor coupled to a vertical lifting spindle that moves the head in the “Z” axis;
• an extrusion mechanism, which controls the advance and retreat of the orthodontic wire, with a pair of parallel motors with rollers, which are separated from each other by a variable distance between 0.3 to 0.5 mm;
• a wire holder (1), located in front of the extrusion mechanism, having at its tip a guide loop (2) through which the wire is passed;
• a bending mechanism (3) located in front of the wire holder (1), with a stepper motor whose shaft has a coupling for the reception of a pair of dental diamond burs for drilling (4) being separated from each other by a distance of 0.6 mm and;
• a pair of twisting grippers (5) with an opening mechanism controlled by servomotors, located in front of the bending mechanism, which are used to twist the wire;
• a displacement mechanism in the “Y” axis (B) that has a pair of horizontal parallel guides (6), which rest on terminal supports (7), each of which has a central bearing in which it is received an endless screw (8) coupled at one of its ends to a motor (9) and;
• a displacement base (10), to which the bending head (A) is attached, with slides on its ends that run along the pair of parallel guides (6) and, a guide nut (11) located in its central part, which receives inside the endless screw (8), in such a way that when the motor is activated, the endless screw (8) moves the nut (11) forward or backward, controlling the movement of the bending head in the “Y” axis with a travel up to 320 mm;
• a shifting mechanism in the “X” axis (C), which has two pairs of vertical lateral guides (12), separated from each other by a distance equal to the total length of the shifting mechanism in the “Y” axis (B), each of which rests on a pair of bases (13) with central bearings, which receive a pair of endless screws (15), each one coupled to a motor and;
• a pair of shifting plates (16), which receive the end supports of the shifting mechanism on the “Y” axis (B), each with a pair of slides that run along each of the pair of vertical lateral guides (12) and, a guide nut (17) located in its central part, which receives inside each one of the endless screws (15), in such a way that when the motors are actuated in a synchronized way, allows the movement of the bending head (A) together with the shifting mechanism on the “Y” axis (B) with a travel up to 320 mm;
• a support frame (D), made up of a perforated plate (18), which has two plates with 90° ends (19) welded at its ends, in which the pair of bases are anchored with central bearings of the shifting mechanism in the “X” axis (C) and;
• a controller with a central processing card for the conversion of the input information provided by a three-dimensional scanner, to robot control instructions;
• a motor advance control card, which controls the advance movements of the robot in the X axis and in the Y axis;
• a double stepper motor control card, which controls the movement in the Z axis of the bending head (A) and the rotation of the bending mechanism stepper motor and;
• a wire handling card in charge of clamping and extruding the wire to be processed;
• said cards being connected to a central battery such that said cards control the delivery of electric current to the motor of the shifting mechanism on the “Y” axis and the motors of the shifting mechanism on the “X” axis;
• the motors of the bending mechanism and the motor in charge of the movement in the “Z” axis and;
• the servo motors of the grippers and the extrusion mechanism respectively.