Floating Tapping Shank With Rolling Clutch for Small-Thread Protection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing tapping shanks, especially those for small-diameter screw taps, face issues such as fracture due to high friction, inability to sense torque, rapid wear, and difficulty in maintaining thread precision, leading to nonconformity and limited applicability in tapping small threads and stepped workpieces.
Innovation Solution
A tapping shank with comprehensive floating mechanisms and a safety clutch mechanism, incorporating rolling steel balls and a torque-adjusting nut, which provides axial, radial, and deflection floating functions, along with a rolling clutch for enhanced overload protection and reduced friction, ensuring the screw tap's safety and accuracy during tapping.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If sliding friction clutch mechanism is used for overload protection, then the clutch can provide torque limitation, but the large friction coefficient prevents sensing of small torque, making it ineffective for small-diameter screw taps
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the sliding friction clutch mechanism with a rolling friction clutch mechanism. The rolling friction clutch uses rolling elements (rollers or balls) between the clutch disc and pressure plate, substituting sliding friction with rolling friction. This reduction in friction coefficient enables the clutch to sense and respond to small torque values, making it effective for protecting small-diameter screw taps while maintaining overload protection capability
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the friction parameter by transitioning from sliding friction to rolling friction. This parameter change reduces the friction coefficient from typically 0.3-0.5 (sliding) to 0.05-0.15 (rolling), enabling the clutch mechanism to detect and respond to small torque variations in small-diameter tap applications
2Device complexity
If no radial and deflection floating functions are provided, then the structure remains simple, but the screw tap experiences rapid wear and easy fracture, and aperture control is poor
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the floating mechanism into three independent functional components: axial floating (for axial force compensation), radial floating (for centering and alignment), and deflection floating (for angular error compensation). This segmentation allows each component to address specific precision requirements without excessive overall complexity, as each segment can be implemented with focused design
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces dynamic floating capabilities that allow the chuck and tap holder to adapt their position and orientation during operation. The radial floating member enables automatic centering through controlled radial movement, while the deflection floating member accommodates angular deviations, dynamically adjusting to maintain precision without requiring extremely rigid fixed connections
3Object-affected harmful factors
If connection gap or radial and deflection floating functions are increased to reduce friction, then radial or deflection friction decreases, but no central positioning reference exists, causing higher speed to produce greater swing and alignment difficulties
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a central positioning reference as an intermediary element between the floating mechanism and the chuck. This reference feature provides a stable geometric datum that guides the chuck's position, mediating between the need for floating movement (to reduce friction) and the need for stable alignment (to prevent swing at high speeds). The positioning reference constrains the floating motion to maintain proper alignment
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements controlled dynamic behavior where the floating mechanism allows necessary movements to reduce friction, while the central positioning reference provides stabilizing constraints. The system dynamically balances freedom of movement for friction reduction with guided positioning for alignment stability, enabling the chuck to self-center while maintaining accurate orientation during rotation
4Adaptability or versatility
If the chuck is extended to accommodate stepped workpieces, then versatility increases, but swing increases without central positioning reference, making alignment difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The central positioning reference acts as an intermediary that maintains alignment stability even when the chuck is extended for stepped workpieces. This reference feature provides a consistent geometric datum that guides the tap's position regardless of chuck length or workpiece configuration, enabling versatility without sacrificing alignment ease
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution effectively prevents screw tap fracture, ensures precise thread formation, allows for tapping of small threads, and supports automatic production by reducing wear and pressure intensity, while maintaining consistent tapping depth and preventing slipping during rewinding.
Implementation Method 1
the shank is movably connected with the axially dimpled rolling clutch through the rolling steel ball
Implementation Method 2
a spring and an axial floating spring
Implementation Method 3
the axially dimpled rolling clutch is movably connected with the axially dimpled clutch floating member through the rolling clutch steel ball
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention discloses a tapping shank which mainly consists of axial, radial and deflection comprehensive floating mechanisms and a high-sensitivity rolling clutch safety mechanism. The present invention has an actual safety guarantee in tapping an M1 thread, solves the problems of axial pressure and tension of a main shaft on a screw tap, and eccentric and deflection errors between the screw tap and a bottom hole, ensures the precision of a hole diameter and a longest service life of the screw tap, and is also a high-precision hole machining floating reamer shank.