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US 9,649,695 B1Granted
Automated cross slide system
OwnerJeffery A. Smithinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An automated cross slide system having a cross slide with a back plate, a front plate and a saddle. The back plate can have a pair of end caps, a pair of linear guides, a first ball screw, a first gear box, a first servo motor, a first drive, and a first manual feed knob and the front plate can have a pair of end caps, a pair of linear guides, a second ball screw, a second gear box, a second servo motor, a second drive, and a second manual feed knob. The system can have a power supply, a communications hub with a processor and data storage connected to a network. The system can have a library of specification profiles and a human machine interface for accessing the library and controlling the first and second drives to cut a target piece in accordance with a selected specification profile.
Claims18
An automated cross slide system for cutting a target piece comprising:
- a. a cross slide comprising:
- (i) a back plate comprising:
- 1. a back plate support member;
- 2. a pair of back plate end caps disposed on opposite ends of the back plate support member;
- 3. a pair of back plate linear guides mounted longitudinally to the back plate support member;
- 4. a first ball screw;
- 5. a first gear box mounted to at least one of the pair of back plate end caps;
- 6. a first servo motor connected between the first gear box and a first drive;
- and
- (ii) a front plate mounted to the back plate comprising:
- 1. a front plate support member;
- 2. a pair of front plate end caps mounted to the front plate support member;
- 3. a pair of front plate linear guides mounted longitudinally to the front plate support member and traverse to the back plate support member;
- 4. a second ball screw;
- 5. a second gear box mounted to at least one of the pair of the front plate end caps;
- 6. a second servo motor connected between the second gear box and a second drive;
- and
- (iii) a saddle mounted between the back plate and the front plate;
- b. a power supply electrically connected to both the first drive and the second drive;
- c. a communications hub in communication with the first drive, the second drive, or both the first drive and the second drive, a communications hub processor, to communicate bidirectionally with a network;
- d. an administrative processor in communication with the communications hub and with an administrative data storage via the network, the administrative data storage comprising:
- (i) a library of API profiles comprising a plurality of specific profiles;
- (ii) a human machine interface for accessing the library of API profiles and selecting an at least one of the plurality of specific profiles;
- (iii) computer instructions configured to instruct the administrative processor to transmit the at least one of the plurality of specific profiles from the library of API profiles to the communications hub and the communications hub processor;
- and
- (iv) computer instructions to instruct the communications hub processor to control the first drive and the second drive simultaneously causing the cross slide to only cut the at least one of the plurality of specific profiles for the target piece;
- and
- e. a mount for supporting the cross slide on the target piece or in the target piece.
25 more elements
An automated cross slide system for cutting a target piece comprising:
- a. a cross slide comprising:
- (i) a back plate comprising:
- 1. a back plate support member;
- 2. a pair of back plate end caps mounted on opposite ends of the back plate support member;
- 3. a pair of back plate linear guides mounted longitudinally to the back plate support member;
- 4. a first ball screw mounted in parallel with the pair of back plate linear guides and projecting through the pair of back plate end caps;
- 5. a first gear box mounted to at least one of the pair of back plate end caps, and operatively engaged with the first ball screw;
- 6. a first servo motor connected between the first gear box and a first drive;
- and
- 7. a first manual feed knob connected to an end of the first ball screw that is opposite the first gear box;
- (ii) a front plate mounted to the back plate comprising:
- 1. a front plate support member;
- 2. a pair of front plate end caps mounted to the front plate support member;
- 3. a pair of front plate linear guides mounted longitudinally to the front plate support member and traverse to the back plate support member;
- 4. a second ball screw mounted in parallel with the pair of front plate linear guides, and projecting through the pair of front plate end caps;
- 5. a second gear box operatively connected to the second ball screw, and mounted to at least one of the pair of the front plate end caps;
- 6. a second servo motor connected between the second gear box and a second drive;
- and
- 7. a second manual feed knob protruding from the second gear box and operatively connected to the second ball screw;
- and
- (iii) a saddle mounted between the back plate and the front plate comprising:
- 1. a saddle support member;
- 2. a plurality of back plate linear bearings mounted to the saddle support member, and configured to engage the back plate support member;
- and
- 3. a plurality of front plate linear bearings mounted to the saddle support member on a side opposite the plurality of back plate linear bearings, and configured to engage the front plate support member;
- b. a power supply electrically connected to both the first drive and the second drive;
- c. a communications hub in communication with the first drive, the second drive, or both the first drive and the second drive, a communications hub processor, to communicate bidirectionally with a network;
- d. an administrative processor in communication with the communications hub and with an administrative data storage via the network, the administrative data storage comprising:
- (i) a library of a plurality of specification profiles;
- (ii) a human machine interface for accessing the library to retrieve one of the plurality of specification profiles;
- (iii) a first set of computer instructions to instruct the administrative processor to transmit at least one specification profile from the library to the communications hub and the communications hub processor;
- and
- (iv) a second set of computer instructions to instruct the communications hub processor to control at least one of the first drive and the second drive to cause the cross slide to only cut the specification profile for the target piece;
- and
- e. a mount for mounting the cross slide to the target piece.
32 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.