System and Method For Rotational Position Tracking Of Brake Lathe Adjustment Assembly

An on-car brake lathe system for resurfacing a brake rotor of a vehicle brake assembly, the brake lathe system having an output spindle, said output spindle adapted for coupling to a vehicle wheel hub and rotationally driven about a drive axis, comprising:

• an aligning joint associated with the output spindle, said aligning joint including a plurality of slant surfaces inclined at an angle relative to an axis of said aligning joint, at least one of said slant surfaces being rotationally adjustable relative to the other, whereby an orientation of said output spindle relative to the vehicle wheel hub is determined by relative rotational positions of each of said slant surfaces;
• a means for determining said relative rotational position of said slant surfaces;
• an actuation mechanism for selectively altering said relative rotational positions of said slant surfaces;
• and
• a control system responsive to said determining means to selectively activate said actuation mechanism to adjust said output spindle relative orientation.

An on-car disc brake lathe system for resurfacing a brake disc of a vehicle brake rotor assembly, the brake lathe system comprising:

• a lathe body with a driving motor;
• an input adapter configured for attachment to the vehicle brake assembly, said input adapter rotationally driven by said driving motor;
• an alignment mechanism including a plurality of sensors, the alignment mechanism operable to generate a first measurement signal indicative of an orientation of a lathe axis of rotation with respect to a brake rotor assembly axis of rotation, and at least a second measurement signal indicative of a rotational position of at least one rotationally adjustable slant surface associated with the orientation the lathe axis of rotation, the alignment mechanism further operable to adjust the orientation of the lathe axis of rotation with respect to the brake rotor assembly axis of rotation;
• and
• a microprocessor coupled to the alignment mechanism to electronically generate at least one control signal in response to the first and second measurement signals, the at least one control signal used by the alignment mechanism to alter the rotational position of said slant surface to achieve a selected change in the alignment of the lathe axis of rotation with respect to the brake rotor assembly axis of rotation.

A method of resurfacing a brake disc of a vehicle brake rotor assembly, the method comprising:

• providing an on-vehicle brake lathe system having a lathe body with a driving motor, at least one cutting head operably attached to the lathe body, an input adaptor, and a rotatable drive shaft;
• attaching the input adapter of the on-vehicle brake lathe system to the vehicle brake assembly;
• using an alignment mechanism including a plurality of sensors, the alignment mechanism operable to align the lathe body of the brake lathe system, to generate a runout measurement signal indicative of an orientation of a lathe axis of rotation with respect to a brake rotor assembly axis of rotation, and to generate at least one orientation measurement signal indicative of a rotational position of a rotationally adjustable slant surface operable to adjust the orientation of the lathe axis of rotation with respect to the brake rotor assembly axis of rotation;
• using a microprocessor coupled to the alignment mechanism to electronically generate at least one control signal in response to said runout and orientation measurement signals;
• adjusting the orientation of the lathe axis of rotation with respect to the brake rotor assembly axis of orientation using said alignment mechanism in response to the at least one control signal so as to alter the rotational position of said slant surface to achieve a selected change in the alignment of the lathe axis of rotation with respect to the brake rotor assembly axis of rotation;
• and
• rotating the vehicle brake assembly with respect to the at least one cutting head to resurface the brake disc of the vehicle brake rotor assembly.

A method for compensating for axial runout between an output spindle of an on-car brake lathe system and a vehicle wheel hub to which the output spindle is coupled, comprising:

• measuring said axial runout between said output spindle and said vehicle wheel hub;
• rotationally driving the output spindle and an associated aligning joint in either a clockwise or counter-clockwise rotational direction;
• adjusting said associated aligning joint during either of said clockwise or counter-clockwise rotationally driven movements to alter an axial runout between said output spindle and said vehicle wheel hub;
• and
• wherein a magnitude of said adjustment to said associated aligning joint is responsive to said measured runout.

An on-car brake lathe system for resurfacing a brake rotor of a vehicle brake assembly, the brake lathe system having an output spindle, said output spindle rotationally driven about a drive axis and adapted for coupling to a vehicle wheel hub, comprising:

• an aligning joint associated with the output spindle, said aligning joint including a plurality of slant surfaces inclined at an angle relative to an axis of said aligning joint, at least one of said slant surfaces being rotationally adjustable relative to the other in both a clockwise direction and a counter-clockwise direction about said axis;
• an actuation mechanism configured to alter said relative rotational positions of said slant surfaces within said aligning joint via selective rotation of at least one of said slant surfaces in either said clockwise direction or said counter-clockwise direction;
• and
• a control system configured to activate said actuation mechanism to adjust said output spindle relative orientation by selectively altering said relative rotational positions of said slant surfaces while said aligning joint is rotating in either of a clockwise or counter-clockwise direction about said drive axis.