Full access pallet shuttle guarding

Abstract

A machine tool has a pallet transfer system comprising a rotary deck having a pair of pallets oppositely disposed about a vertical rotary transfer axis, wherein at the transfer position, the pallets are further movable along a horizontal linear transfer axis toward and away from the pallet transfer system. A vertical guard plate is affixed to the rotatable section or deck of the transfer system, and the plane of the guard plate passes through the rotary transfer axis at an oblique angle to the linear transfer axis. The rotatable guard plate interacts with an elastomeric seal at the interface of a guard opening in a stationary guard assembly on a machine tool to substantially confine coolant overspray and the like within the machine guard enclosure. By passing obliquely across the linear transfer axes of the pair of parallel pallets, substantially full access of a stationary pallet lying outside the machine guard enclosure may be had.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.