Automated smart vise system
AssigneeHurco Companies, Inc.
InventorsPaul J. Gray, Matthew H. Tinkle, David G. Coffman, Donald J. Hammer
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An automated vise is disclosed. A gross moveable jaw drive has a stroke longer than the stroke of a fine moveable jaw drive. With this construction, the gross moveable jaw drive can be utilized to actuate the one or more moveable jaws of the vise over a distance greater than the fine moveable jaw drive stroke to a position in which actuation of the fine moveable jaw drive is capable of positioning the one or more moveable jaws in a clamp position to apply pressure to hold the workpiece for machining by, e.g., a CNC machine. In this way, the automated vise can account for workpieces of differing size.
Claims27
A vise for holding a workpiece in a forming machine, comprising:
- a moveable jaw moveable between an open position and a clamp position, whereby the moveable jaw allows a workpiece to be positioned in the vise in the open position and the moveable jaw clamps the workpiece in the vise in the clamp position;
- a gross moveable jaw drive connected to the moveable jaw and operable to actuate the moveable jaw between the open position and the clamp position, the gross moveable jaw drive comprising a lock selectively restricting a movement of the moveable jaw toward the open position;
- and
- a fine moveable jaw drive connected to the moveable jaw and operable to actuate the moveable jaw between the open position and the clamp position, whereby the gross moveable jaw drive is operable to actuate the moveable jaw to a near clamp position and the fine moveable jaw drive is operable to actuate the moveable jaw from the near clamp position to the clamp position to hold the workpiece during a forming operation.
A method of machining a plurality of workpieces, comprising:
- placing one of the plurality of workpieces in a vise having a moveable jaw and a fine moveable jaw drive operable to actuate the moveable jaw within a fine moveable jaw drive travel distance;
- grossly actuating the moveable jaw to a near clamp position spaced a distance less than the fine moveable jaw drive travel distance from a dimension of the one of the plurality of workpieces;
- locking the moveable jaw to prevent the moveable jaw from moving away from the dimension of the one of the plurality of workpieces to a distance of more than the fine moveable jaw drive travel distance, whereby the locking step positions the moveable jaw so that actuation of the moveable jaw by the fine moveable jaw drive within the fine moveable jaw drive travel distance will position the moveable jaw to clamp the one of the plurality of workpieces along the dimension of the one of the plurality of workpieces;
- and
- clamping the workpiece with the moveable jaw by actuating the fine moveable jaw drive to actuate the moveable jaw from the near clamp position to a clamp position where the moveable jaw clamps the workpiece.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.