Incremental forming equipment capable of achieving large-angle machining

Abstract

The incremental forming equipment comprises a supporting mechanism, a workpiece clamping mechanism, an XYZ motion control mechanism and a machining tool mechanism, the supporting mechanism is of an aluminum frame structure, an XYZ three-axis transmission mechanism in the XYZ motion control mechanism is of a transmission mode that a stepping motor drives a lead screw to rotate, and the machining tool mechanism is connected with the X-axis transmission mechanism, the Y-axis transmission mechanism and the Z-axis transmission mechanism. The electromagnetic clutch is installed on a Y-axis transmission mechanism, independent control over the two-direction rotation freedom degree of a machining tool through a single motor is achieved through a closing and separating mechanism of the electromagnetic clutch, multi-angle free tilting of the tool is achieved, the disadvantage that a tool head of traditional incremental forming equipment is fixed and vertically downward is broken through, and thin-wall parts with obtuse wall angles can be machined; and the overall size of the cutter is reduced, and the machining arm of force is shortened. In addition, the Y-axis transmission mechanism enables the cutter to stretch across the lead screw and the guide rail, machining torque is further reduced, and stability is improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention belongs to the field of incremental forming of metal sheet materials, and particularly relates to the structure and usage method of incremental forming equipment, and more particularly to an equipment and usage method capable of performing large-angle processing on sheet materials. Background Art

[0002] Metal sheet products are widely used in industries such as aerospace, automotive, and military equipment. Most sheet products are obtained by stamping. However, stamping forming requires mold support, and the mold manufacturing cycle is long, the cost is high, and it is only suitable for mass production, with great limitations in the processing of small-batch personalized products. Therefore, a moldless forming method has been invented, and incremental forming is one of the moldless forming methods.

[0003] As a new moldless production process, the incremental forming technology is based on the principle of "layered manufacturing". The target part is discretized into two-dimensional cross-sectional layers along a specific axis. The spherical tool exerts a local extrusion effect on the sheet material according to a pre-set processing trajectory. The sheet material subjected to the extrusion effect undergoes local plastic deformation. Whenever the tool head finishes one layer, the sheet material generates corresponding deformation. Subsequently, the spherical tool feeds down by a layer feed amount and completes the forming of a new layer of the sheet material according to the processing path of the next layer. The above process is repeated until the forming of the entire part is completed. It can be seen that incremental forming is a flexible forming method.

[0004] Incremental forming processing has high flexibility, but this process also has limitations. It can only process thin-walled parts in the shape of pits, and there are still limitations in processing parts with a forming angle greater than 90°. In order to form obtuse-angle parts, the tool needs to have a certain tilting angle to process the inner concave side wall, that is, the equipment needs to have the ability of large-angle processing. At present, most of the research and development of incremental forming equipment are innovated in the field of special incremental forming processing. For example, the publication number is CN119259798A, and the name is "A Knocking-Type Dual-Electric Incremental Forming Device and Method Combining Induction Heating", the publication number is CN118341877A, and the name is "Incremental Forming Device, Method and Product Based on Heating Gas Back Pressure", the publication number is CN222288556U, and the name is "Movable Temperature-Controlled Incremental Forming Equipment", and the publication number is CN113941650A, and the name is "Sheet Metal Electromagnetic Heating Incremental Forming Method and Device", etc. The above equipment has realized the thermal incremental forming processing of sheet materials through various methods, effectively improving the forming limit and quality. However, the forming tool is always perpendicular and cannot be tilted for processing, so the processing of obtuse-angle wall parts still cannot be realized. Summary of the Invention

[0005] The purpose of the present invention is to provide an incremental forming equipment and usage method capable of large-angle processing, aiming to process thin-walled parts with a forming angle greater than 90°.

[0006] To achieve the above technical objectives, the technical solution of the present invention is: a progressive forming device capable of large-angle machining, including a support mechanism, a workpiece clamping mechanism, an XYZ motion control mechanism, and a machining tool mechanism. The support mechanism adopts an aluminum profile frame structure, which is used to support and install the XYZ motion control mechanism, the machining tool mechanism, and the workpiece clamping mechanism. In the XYZ three-axis transmission mechanism of the XYZ motion control mechanism, a transmission method of driving the lead screw to rotate by a stepping motor is adopted. Among them, the X-axis transmission mechanism drives the sheet material to move back and forth relative to the tool, the Z-axis transmission mechanism controls the synchronous movement of two modules to realize the vertical movement of the tool, and the Y-axis transmission mechanism is suspended between the Z-axis transmission mechanisms to drive the tool to move horizontally; the machining tool mechanism is installed on the Y-axis transmission mechanism, and realizes the independent control of the two-way rotation freedom of the machining tool by a single motor through the closing and separating mechanism of the electromagnetic clutch, realizes the multi-angle free tilting of the tool, and thus performs multi-angle tilting machining on the sheet material to realize the machining of obtuse wall angle parts.

[0007] Further, the aluminum profile frame structure of the support mechanism is made of aluminum profiles with a cross-sectional size of 40×40mm, and the structural size is 440×540×560mm.

[0008] Further, the workpiece clamping mechanism is installed on the X-axis transmission mechanism located at the bottom of the support mechanism, and is composed of a bottom plate, a horizontal quick clamp, and upper and lower pressure plates. Upper and lower pressure plates are arranged around the upper surface of the bottom plate, and the upper pressure plate is connected to the horizontal quick clamp.

[0009] Further, the bottom plate is made of 7075 aluminum alloy, with an opening of 100×100mm in the middle for convenient machining operation; the upper and lower pressure plates are made of 45 steel, and diamond-shaped anti-slip patterns are set on the pressing surfaces to enhance the friction force; the horizontal quick clamp adopts a GH-201-H model horizontal quick clamp, and the clamping force reaches 324kg. This horizontal clamping mechanism can quickly clamp sheet materials with dimensions of 150×150mm to 200×200mm.

[0010] Further, each axis in the XYZ three-axis transmission mechanism is driven by a 1605 ball screw and a 5776 stepping motor, generating an axial thrust of 2035.7N.

[0011] Further, the motor in the Y-axis transmission mechanism is placed above the lead screw and drives the lead screw to rotate through gear transmission, thereby shortening the overall lateral dimension of the Y-axis; the distance between the lead screw and the guide rail of the Y-axis transmission mechanism is expanded to 30mm, and the height of the lead screw is 5mm higher than that of the guide rail. The tool frame of the machining tool mechanism is fixed to the lead screw nut through the top M5 threaded hole and fixed to the guide rail slider through the bottom M5 threaded hole, so that the tool as a whole straddles between the lead screw and the guide rail.

[0012] Furthermore, the machining tool mechanism includes a double swivel head five-axis configured tool, which can rotate 360° around the Z-axis and swing 45° forward and backward around the X / Y-axis. The tool is a hard alloy steel round tool with a diameter of 6 mm and a length of 85 mm. The tool frame is made of aluminum alloy.

[0013] Furthermore, the double swivel head five-axis configured tool is controlled by a single motor, including: the motor and the electromagnetic clutch are fixed on both sides of the connecting plate; the output shaft of the motor is connected to the bevel gear by a key, and the output shaft of the motor is fixed to the connecting rod of the motor output shaft by means of key connection and tightened by a set screw. The upper half of the connecting rod is circumferentially fixed to the input end of the electromagnetic clutch by key connection, and the lower half is also synchronously rotated with the horizontal bevel gear by key connection; the output end of the electromagnetic clutch is circumferentially fixed to the bottom tool; when powered off, the electromagnetic clutch disengages, and the output shaft of the motor drives the bevel gear to rotate through the connecting rod, and drives the tool head to swing around the X / Y-axis through bevel gear meshing transmission; when powered on, the electromagnetic clutch locks, and the motor rotates to drive the whole electromagnetic clutch to rotate, thereby driving the whole tool to rotate around the Z-axis.

[0014] Furthermore, a snap ring is installed on the connecting rod for axial fixation of the output end of the clutch to prevent the tool displacement deviation from exceeding ±0.05 mm.

[0015] A machining method using the progressive forming equipment capable of large-angle machining described above includes the following steps:

[0016] (1) Clamp the sheet metal and tighten the horizontal quick clamp;

[0017] (2) Input the angle parameter of the obtuse part and control the tool to tilt to the target angle;

[0018] (3) Set the machining speed, layer feed amount and number of machining passes;

[0019] (4) Perform multi-pass progressive forming to complete the machining of the obtuse wall angle part.

[0020] The beneficial effects of the present invention are:

[0021] The core advantage of this equipment is that through the closing and separating mechanism of the electromagnetic clutch, independent control of the two-way rotational degrees of freedom of the machining tool by a single motor is achieved. The tool can tilt freely at multiple angles, breaking through the disadvantage that the tool head of traditional progressive forming equipment is fixed vertically downward. It can machine thin-walled parts with obtuse wall angles, and this design reduces the overall size of the tool and shortens the machining force arm. In addition, the Y-axis transmission mechanism design enables the tool to span between the lead screw and the guide rail, further reducing the machining torque and improving stability. Specifically:

[0022] 1. The maximum tilting angle of the tool is 45°, and parts with wall angles >90° can be formed;

[0023] 2. The Y-axis force arm is shortened by 40%, and the machining vibration is reduced by 50%.

[0024] 3. Multi-pass path forming, and the surface roughness of the part is ≤ Ra1.6μm. Description of the Drawings

[0025] Figure 1 is the overall assembly drawing of the equipment;

[0026] Figure 2 is the aluminum profile frame structure of the support mechanism;

[0027] Figure 3 is the schematic diagram of the workpiece clamping mechanism;

[0028] Figure 4 is the partial enlarged view of the diamond-shaped anti-slip pattern of the pressure plate;

[0029] Figure 5 is the schematic diagram of the XYZ three-axis transmission module structure;

[0030] Figure 6 is the schematic diagram of the double swivel head tool drive principle;

[0031] Figure 7 is the schematic diagram of the optimization of the force arm of the Y-axis transmission mechanism. Detailed Embodiments

[0032] The present invention will be further described below in conjunction with the drawings and embodiments.

[0033] As Figure 1 shown, a progressive forming equipment capable of large-angle machining provided by an embodiment of the present invention is composed of a support mechanism 1, an XYZ motion control mechanism (2, 3, 4), a machining tool mechanism 5 and a workpiece clamping mechanism 6, and can perform multi-angle tilting machining on a sheet material to realize the machining of an obtuse wall angle part..

[0034] As Figure 2 shown, the outer frame of the support mechanism 1 is made of aluminum profiles with a cross-sectional size of 40×40 mm, and the frame size is 440×540×560 mm..

[0035] As Figure 3 shown, the workpiece clamping mechanism 6 is composed of a bottom plate 6-1, an upper pressure plate 6-2, a lower pressure plate 6-3 and a horizontal quick clamp 6-4. The bottom plate 6-1 is made of 7075 aluminum alloy, with an opening of 100×100 mm in the middle for convenient machining operation. The horizontal quick clamp 6-4 is selected as the GH-201-H model horizontal quick clamp, and the clamping force reaches 324 kg. The upper pressure plate 6-2 and the lower pressure plate 6-3 are made of 45 steel, and the pressing surface is provided with Figure 4 diamond-shaped anti-slip patterns to enhance the friction force. The workpiece clamping mechanism 6 can quickly clamp sheet materials with sizes ranging from 150×150 mm to 200×200 mm.

[0036] As Figure 5 shown, the XYZ three-axis transmission mechanism all adopts the transmission mode of driving the lead screw to rotate by a stepper motor. The 1605 model ball screw and the 5776 model stepper motor are selected, which can generate an axial thrust of 2035.7 N. The X-axis transmission mechanism 2 drives the sheet material to move back and forth relative to the tool. The Z-axis transmission mechanism 4 controls the synchronous movement of the two modules to realize the vertical movement of the tool. The Y-axis transmission mechanism 3 is suspended between the Z-axis transmission mechanisms 4 and drives the tool to move horizontally.

[0037] As Figure 6 shown in (a) and (b) of [], the machining tool mechanism 5 adopts a double swivel head five-axis configuration. The tool 5-9 can rotate 360° around the Z-axis and swing back and forth 45° around the X / Y axes 5-7, and can machine the sheet material from multiple angles. The tool 5-9 uses a round head tool with a diameter of 6 mm and a length of 85 mm, and the material is hard alloy steel. The materials of the external frame of the tool and other supporting parts are all 7075 aluminum alloy.

[0038] The specific principle of the single-motor controlled multi-angle tilting machining of the tool is as follows: The outer frame 5-1 and the outer frame top plate 5-2 form the support structure of the whole tool. The motor 5-3 and the input end of the electromagnetic clutch 5-6 are respectively fixed on both sides of the motor-clutch connecting plate 5-4 by means of screwing. The output shaft of the motor 5-3 is fixed to the motor output shaft connecting rod 5-10 by means of key connection and tightening with set screws to achieve the purpose of extending the length of the output shaft. The upper half of the connecting rod 5-10 is circumferentially fixed to the input end of the electromagnetic clutch 5-6 by means of key connection, and the lower half is also synchronously rotated with the horizontal bevel gear 5-8 by means of key connection. The output end of the electromagnetic clutch 5-6 is circumferentially fixed to the bottom tool 5-9. A snap ring is installed at the end face position of the output end of the electromagnetic clutch 5-6 on the connecting rod 5-10 to achieve the axial fixation of the output end. When the power is off, the electromagnetic clutch 5-6 disengages, and the output shaft of the motor 5-3 drives the bevel gear to rotate through the connecting rod, and drives the tool 5-9 head to swing around the X / Y axes 5-7 through the meshing transmission of the bevel gear 5-8. When the power is on, the electromagnetic clutch 5-6 locks, and the motor 5-3 rotates to drive the whole electromagnetic clutch 5-6 to rotate, thereby driving the whole tool 5-9 to rotate around the Z-axis.

[0039] In the Y-axis transmission mechanism, the motor is placed above the lead screw and drives the lead screw to rotate through gear transmission, thereby shortening the overall lateral dimension of the Y-axis.

[0040] In order to further shorten the machining lever arm at the tool and improve machining stability, the specific structural design is as follows: increase the distance between the two side guide rails, and install pads at the bottoms of the bearing seats at both ends of the lead screw to raise the height of the lead screw so that its overall height is higher than that of the guide rails, thereby expanding the space between the lead screw and the two side guide rails. Machine multiple M5 threaded clearance holes at the top and bottom bosses of the tool frame, and fix the top of the tool frame to the lead screw nut and the bottom of the tool frame to the guide rail slider by means of threading, so that the whole tool straddles between the lead screw and the guide rails. This design enables the upper half mechanism of the tool not to participate in the lever arm calculation as a part vertically suspended below the Y-axis drive mechanism, thus greatly shortening the lever arm during the machining process and improving stability. The Y-axis drive mechanism is shown in Figure 7 .

[0041] When machining an obtuse forming angle part, the specific steps for machining the sheet metal are as follows: Place the sheet metal to be machined on the top surface of the lower pressing plate of the clamping device, and tighten the horizontal fixture wrench to clamp the sheet metal. Input the angle parameter to control the tool to tilt to a fixed angle, move to the machining starting point, input the parameters of speed, part shape, machining passes, and layer feed rate, and a multi-pass path can be used to machine the thin-walled part with an obtuse wall angle. After machining is completed, control the tool to withdraw from the concave side wall of the part, lift the tool to the specified height, loosen the fixture wrench to release the sheet metal, and take out the target part.

[0042] Example: The specific steps for machining the sheet metal are as follows:

[0043] (1) Clamp a 2-mm-thick aluminum alloy sheet between the pressing plates;

[0044] (2) Input the target angle (such as 110°), and the tool automatically tilts 35°;

[0045] (3) Set the machining speed at 200 mm / min, the layer feed rate at 0.3 mm, and complete it in 4 passes;

[0046] (4) After machining is completed, the tool vertically lifts 10 mm, and the fixture is loosened to take out the part.

[0047] Effect verification:

[0048] (1) The wall angle of the formed part is 112°, and there is no rupture on the surface;

[0049] (2) The vibration amplitude of the Y-axis drive is <0.02 mm, and the positioning accuracy is ±0.01 mm.

Claims

1. A progressive forming device capable of processing at large angles, characterized in that: It includes a supporting mechanism, a workpiece clamping mechanism, an XYZ motion control mechanism and a processing tool mechanism. The supporting mechanism adopts an aluminum frame structure to support and install the XYZ motion control mechanism, the processing tool mechanism and the workpiece clamping mechanism. The XYZ three-axis transmission mechanism in the XYZ motion control mechanism adopts a transmission method in which a stepper motor drives the lead screw to rotate, wherein the X-axis transmission mechanism drives the sheet metal to move forward and backward relative to the tool, the Z-axis transmission mechanism controls the synchronous movement of two modules to realize the vertical movement of the tool, and the Y-axis transmission mechanism is suspended between the Z-axis transmission mechanism to drive the tool to move horizontally; the processing tool mechanism is installed on the Y-axis transmission mechanism, and the closing and separation mechanism of the electromagnetic clutch realizes the independent control of the two-way rotation freedom of the processing tool by a single motor, thereby realizing the free tilting of the tool at multiple angles, thereby performing multi-angle tilt processing on the sheet metal and realizing the processing of obtuse wall angle parts.

2. The large-angle progressive forming equipment according to claim 1 is characterized in that: The aluminum frame structure of the supporting mechanism is made of aluminum profiles with a cross-sectional size of 40×40mm and a structural size of 440×540×560mm.

3. The large-angle progressive forming equipment according to claim 1 is characterized in that: The workpiece clamping mechanism is installed on the X-axis transmission mechanism located at the bottom of the supporting mechanism, and is composed of a base plate, a horizontal quick clamp and upper and lower pressure plates. The upper and lower pressure plates are arranged around the base plate, and the upper pressure plate is connected to the horizontal quick clamp.

4. The large-angle progressive forming equipment according to claim 3 is characterized in that: The base plate is made of 7075 aluminum alloy with a middle opening of 100×100mm for easy processing; the upper and lower pressure plates are made of 45 steel, with diamond anti-slip patterns on the pressing surface to enhance friction; the horizontal quick clamp uses the GH-201-H model horizontal quick clamp with a clamping force of 324kg. The horizontal clamping mechanism can quickly clamp sheets with sizes ranging from 150×150mm to 200×200mm.

5. The large-angle progressive forming equipment according to claim 1 is characterized in that: Each axis in the XYZ three-axis transmission mechanism is driven by a 1605 ball screw and a 5776 stepper motor, generating an axial thrust of 2035.7N.

6. The large-angle progressive forming equipment according to claim 5 is characterized in that: The motor in the Y-axis transmission mechanism is placed above the lead screw, and the lead screw is driven to rotate through gear transmission, thereby shortening the overall lateral dimension of the Y-axis; the distance between the lead screw and the guide rail of the Y-axis transmission mechanism is expanded to 30mm, and the lead screw height is 5mm higher than the guide rail. The tool frame of the machining tool mechanism is fixed to the lead screw nut through the top M5 threaded hole and fixed to the guide rail slider through the bottom M5 threaded hole, so that the tool as a whole spans between the lead screw and the guide rail.

7. The large-angle progressive forming equipment according to claim 1 is characterized in that: The machining tool mechanism includes a double-swing head five-axis configuration tool, which can rotate 360° around the Z axis and swing 45° forward and backward around the X / Y axis. The tool is a 6mm diameter carbide steel round head tool, 85mm long, and the tool frame is made of aluminum alloy.

8. The large-angle progressive forming equipment according to claim 7 is characterized in that: The double-swing head five-axis configuration tool is controlled by a single motor, including: the motor and the electromagnetic clutch are fixed on both sides of the connecting plate; the motor output shaft is connected to the bevel gear through a key, the motor output shaft is fixed to the motor output shaft connecting rod by key connection and tightening of the set screw, the upper part of the connecting rod is circumferentially fixed with the input end of the electromagnetic clutch by a key connection, and the lower part is also keyed to rotate synchronously with the horizontal bevel gear; the output end of the electromagnetic clutch is circumferentially fixed to the bottom tool; when the power is off, the electromagnetic clutch is separated, the motor output shaft drives the bevel gear to rotate through the connecting rod, and the tool head is driven to swing around the X / Y axis through the meshing transmission of the bevel gear; when the power is on, the electromagnetic clutch is locked, and the rotation of the motor drives the electromagnetic clutch to rotate as a whole, thereby driving the tool as a whole to rotate around the Z axis.

9. The large-angle progressive forming device according to claim 8, characterized in that: A retaining ring is installed on the connecting rod to axially fix the clutch output end to prevent the tool displacement deviation from exceeding ±0.05mm.

10. A processing method using the large-angle processing incremental forming equipment according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that: The following steps are involved: (1) Clamp the sheet and tighten the horizontal quick clamp; (2) Input the angle parameters of the obtuse-angle part and control the tool to tilt to the target angle; (3) Set the processing speed, layer feed rate and processing passes; (4) Perform multi-pass incremental forming to complete the processing of obtuse-angle wall corner parts.

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