Title of Invention

A ROTARY MILLING CUTTER

Abstract

Abstract The invention relates to a milling cutter (1) for machining work pieces, which comprises at least one cutting insert (2), fixed in a recess (21) of the tool base (2) and adjusted by means of an adjusting element (32). Said adjusting element (32) is configured as a one-piece element having an adjusting cone (32b) that extends between a screw head (32a) and a threaded shank (32c). Said adjusting cone (32b) interacts with a conical recess (40) provided in a lateral face (41) of the cutting insert (4).

Full Text

Description Milling Cutter The invention relates to a milling cutter, in particular a surface milling cutter, for machining workpieces with at least one cutting insert which can be fixed in a recess of the tool base and adjusted by means of an adjusting element. Such a milling cutter is known, for example, from US 3,339,257, in which a number of adjustable cutting inserts are arranged and distributed on the circumference of a tool base of substantially cylindrical shape. The setting or adjustment of the cutting inserts is effected by means of a two-piece adjusting device, consisting of a sleeve-shaped adjusting wedge inserted into an adaptor hole of the tool base and having an internal thread, as well as an internal screw which can be screwed together with said adjusting wedge as well as with an internal thread of the adaptor hole. By means of the internal screw, the adjusting wedge of this two-piece adjusting element is displaced along a lateral face of a cutting tip or a cutting blade in radial direction, so that, consequently, the cutting tip is displaced in axial direction. Such a two-piece design of an adjusting device with a sleeve-shaped adjusting wedge and a set screw guided therein is also known in the tool for metal-cutting fine machining of workpieces known from EP1 213 081 B1. An adjusting device for a cutting tip of a cutting tool with a one-piece set screw is known from US 6,155,753. In this known adjusting device, a centric or eccentric screw head of the set screw is displaced in radial direction along a conically extending lateral face of the cutting tip, so that, consequently, the cutting tip is displaced in axial direction. The invention is based on the problem to provide a milling cutter of the before-mentioned type of a particularly simple structure, which enables in particular a secure setting or adjustment of the cutting insert, or of each cutting insert, with the simplest possible means. This problem is solved by the invention through the features of claim 1. For this purpose, a one-piece adjusting element with a conical screw-head portion or screw-shank portion is provided. The latter merges on the one hand into a preferably cylindrical screw head and on the other hand, into a threaded shank expediently provided with a fine thread. The adjusting cone extending between the screw head and the threaded shank and tapering towards the threaded shank interacts with a conical recess formed into a lateral face of the cutting insert, facing the adjusting element, when the cutting insert is fine-adjusted or set. In an ideal position, a surface contact exists between the adjusting cone of the adjusting element, which in the following is also referred to as cone-fit screw, and the conical recess formed into the cutting insert. The screw head of the cone-fit screw is guided in a cylindrical opening or guiding area of an adjusting hole formed into the tool base at a distance from the corresponding cutting insert and is expediently located there with positive fit. The axis of the adjusting hole is inclined towards the axis of a clamping-screw hole for the cutting insert, expe- diently at an angle smaller than 40°, for example 10° to 30°, preferably 12°. Through this inclined hole axis and, consequently, through the corresponding inclination of the cone-fit screw guided in the adjusting hole, it is advantageously achieved that the adjusting hole exiting in the cylindrical surface area of the tool base is formed or surrounded by material of the tool base on its entire circumference, i.e. along the entire rim of the adjusting hole. In this way, a web of material remains in the area between the recess receiving the cutting insert, and the adjusting hole in the tool base, at least in the area of the head of the cone-fit screw. The width or thickness of this web of material depends on the one hand on the size of the angle of inclination of the adjusting hole to the clamping screw hole for the cutting insert and on the other hand on the angle of taper of the adjusting cone of the cone-fit screw. Preferably, the cutting insert has a longitudinal slot in the area of a passage for the clamping screw which fixes the cutting insert in the recess formed into the tool base. The longitudinal slot can be of rectilinear or curved or lentiform shape. This slot extends on both sides of the passage in longitudinal direction of the cutting insert. In particular in combination with a conical clamping screw, the longitudinally slotted cutting insert is expanded, when the cutting insert is fixed by means of the conical head of the clamping screw, so that said cutting insert is located in the recess with positive and non-positive fit as well as, in particular, without play. In this way, it is guaranteed that the centrifugal forces generated through rotation of the milling cutter are not absorbed by the clamping screw, but rather by the tool base. This is guaranteed by a recess in the tool base of symmetrical or asymmetrical dovetailed design, serving for securely holding the cutting insert. The outer profile of the cutting insert, which is adapted to the dovetailed recess and is, therefore, also dovetail-like, is configured with rounded interior edges. In an advantageous embodiment, one of the cutting inserts arranged and distributed on the circumference of the tool base is raised as compared with the other cutting inserts, in mounted condition, protruding over the working surface of the tool base by, for example, 0.05 mm, as compared with the other cutting inserts. The raised cutting insert serves in a particularly simple and reliable manner as a marker for a first setting, said raised cutting insert constituting the first setting edge. Further advantageous embodiments and developments of the milling cutter according to the invention are indicated in the dependent claims. For example, the cutting insert is provided with a chip flute or chip evacuation flute in the area of a cutting edge carried by the cutting insert in a separable or inseparable way. The advantages achieved with the invention consist in particular in the fact that the one-piece design of the adjusting element for adjusting the respective cutting insert on the tool base of a milling cutter allows a particularly simple and, at the same time, particu-larly fine or sensitive adjustment of the respective cutting edge or of the cutting insert carrying it. The dovetailed guidance of the correspondingly conical cutting insert in a dovetailed recess in the tool base provides for a particularly precise positioning of the cutting inserts and, therefore, of the cutting edges. In addition to the positioning action, this dovetailed guidance also serves as a particularly efficient centrifugal safety device at high speeds of the milling cutter, which can in this way be increased by approx. 20 %. Furthermore, the dovetailed guidance provides for a particularly simple handling of the first tipping or also of an exchange of the cutting inserts. Thanks to the chip flutes integrated in the cutting inserts, chip deflectors executed as separate components can be omitted, so that in addition to the one-piece design of the adjusting or setting device for each cutting insert, an additional reduction of the number of components is achieved. Through the one-piece design of the adjusting element in the form of the cone-fit screw, the cutting inserts and, thus, the cutting edge, can be adjusted with high precision to the micrometer by simple turning of the cone-fit screw, which can be turned clockwise and anti-clockwise. In addition, the number of cutting inserts and, thus, the number of cutting edges, can considerably be increased in the milling cutter according to the invention, due to the reduction of the number of components, which also results in an increase of feed and/or cutting speeds. In an advantageous design, the tool base comprises a base carrier and a supporting ring mounted on it. The supporting ring is preferably shrunk onto the base carrier. Alternatively or additionally, the supporting ring can be screwed onto the base carrier. The supporting ring is expediently a steel ring, while the base carrier preferably consists of aluminium. Cutting inserts preferably arranged with regular spacing on the circum-ference of the supporting ring are expediently fixed on the supporting ring also in a separable way, i.e. in recesses provided there. The embodiment of the tool base with such a base carrier and with such a supporting ring, which is mounted or shrunk onto the base carrier and can possibly additionally be screwed onto the latter, is practically suited for receiving any cutting inserts, indepen-dently of the method of fixation and independently of the method of adjustment or adjustability of the cutting inserts and is, therefore, inventive in itself. In the following, an embodiment example of the invention is illustrated in detail by means of a drawing, in which Fig. 1 to 3 are a top view, a side view and a perspective view of a milling cutter according to the invention with a number of adjustable cutting inserts, Fig. 4 is a sectional view of the milling cutter along the line IV-IV in Fig. 1, Fig. 5 is a sectional view along the line V-V in Fig. 1 of the cutting insert which is adjustable by means of a one-piece cone-fit screw, Fig. 6 and 7 are perspective views of the adjustable cutting insert with cone-fit screw in an exploded view and in mounted condition, respectively, and Fig. 8 and 9 are a perspective and partly sectional view and a sectional view of a two-piece tool base with a base carrier and a supporting ring mounted on it for receiving a number of cutting inserts. Corresponding parts are identified with the same reference numbers in all figures. The milling cutter 1 represented in Fig. 1 to 3 in different views comprises a tool base 2, which has the shape of a hollow cylinder, as is apparent from Fig. 4. The material of the tool base 2 can be aluminium, titanium or steel. The tool base 2 carries on its lateral surface area 3 a multitude of cutting inserts 4, which are arranged with regular spacing on the outer circumference 5 of the tool base 2. The cutting inserts 4 can also be arranged with irregular spacing on the outer circum-ference 5 of the tool base 2. Between the cutting inserts 4, chip-deflecting flutes 6 are formed into the tool base 2 in the area of the latter’s lateral surface area 3. As is rela-tively clearly apparent from Fig. 3, corresponding chip flutes 7, which are integrated in each cutting insert 4, run into these chip-deflecting flutes 6. As is apparent from Fig. 4, a central passage 8 of the tool base 2 is overlapped at its opening rim 11 by a screw collar 9 of a plate-shaped fastening screw 10 passing through the passage 8. The passage 8 runs over the opening rim 11 into the covering or working surface 12 of the tool base 2. The passage 8 is configured as a stepped hole, forming a clamping face 13 on which a corresponding collar profile 14 of a screw neck 15 abuts, forming a ring-shaped coolant channel 16. Coolant holes 17 run into this coolant channel 16, said coolant holes 17 being united in a central coolant hole 18. During operation of the milling cutter 1, a coolant is fed through these coolant holes 17, 18 as well as through the ring-shaped coolant channel 16 to the tool or working surface 12. For this purpose, the coolant exits on the working surface 12 through a cooling gap 19 which is formed between the opening rim 11 of the passage 8 and the screw collar 9 overlapping it, and into which the coolant channel 16 runs, and, via this working surface 12, reaches the working area between cutting edges or cutting tips 20 carried by the cutting inserts 4 and the workpiece (not shown) to be machined. The width a of the cooling gap 19 is expediently approx. 0.8 mm. Instead of the central passage 8 with a separate fastening screw 10, the tool base 2 can also be executed with a one-piece adaptor shank or with a coupling. As is relatively clearly apparent from Fig. 1, the cutting inserts 4 are guided in dovetailed recesses 21 in the tool base 2, each cutting insert 4 having an outer profile with rounded interior edges adapted to the dovetailed recess 21. Each cutting insert 4 is fixed on the tool base 2 by means of a clamping screw 23. As is relatively clearly apparent from Fig. 6, the clamping screw 23 passes for this purpose through a corresponding clamping-screw hole 24 in the cutting insert 4. The clamping screw 23 is screwed into a clamping-screw hole 25 provided with an internal thread, in the tool base 2. As is relatively clearly apparent from Fig. 6 and 7, each clamping screw 23 has a conical screw head 26 whose cone 27 tapers towards the threaded shank 28 of the clamping screw 23. According to Fig. 7, the clamping screw 23 is, in the final mounted condition of the cutting insert 4, completely inserted in the passage 24 of the cutting insert 4. For a particularly secure fixing of the cutting insert 4 in the corresponding dovetailed recess 21 in the tool base 2, the cutting insert 4 is provided with a longitudinal slot 29, extending on both sides of the passage 24 of the cutting insert 4. The longitudinal slot 29 enables an expansion of the cutting insert 4 in spreading direction 30. When mounting the cutting insert 4 in the respective recess 21 of the tool base 2 by means of the clamping screw 23, the screw cone 27 of the clamping screw 23 expands or spreads the cutting insert 4 provided with the longitudinal slot 29, with the conse-quence that this cutting insert 4 is fixed without play in the respective recess 21, in particular by clamping. In this way, it is guaranteed that the centrifugal forces generated in operation through rotation of the milling cutter 1 are not absorbed by the clamping screw 23, but by the tool base 2. The cutting insert 4 or each cutting insert 4 can be displaced in axial direction in the associated recess 21 of the tool base 2 and can thus be adjusted in the desired position. Through a corresponding adjustment of the cutting insert 4, the cutting edge 20 fixed on it in a separable or inseparable way is brought into the desired position of contact with the workpiece to be machined, the adjustment or setting of the cutting insert being effected by means of a one-piece adjusting element hereinafter referred to as cone-fit screw 32. The cone-fit screw 32 includes a cylindrical screw head or screw-head portion 32a and, adjacent to it, an adjusting cone or adjusting-cone portion 32b as well as, adjacent to the latter, a screw-shank portion 32c with an external thread 33, hereinafter referred to as threaded shank. A reduced shank portion 32d is provided on the cone-fit screw 32 between the adjusting cone 32b tapering towards the threaded shank 32c and the threaded shank 32c. The head of the cone-fit screw 32 is provided with a cross recess or a multislot recess 34 to receive a handling tool. As is relatively clearly apparent from Fig. 5, the adjusting hole 35, spaced from a recess 21 for the cutting insert 4, and the cylindrical screw-head portion 32a of the cone-fit screw 32, screwed in, in mounted condition, are located in a corresponding guidance area 36 in the tool base 2 with positive and, therefore, precise fit. The axis 37 of the adjusting hole 35 is inclined. The guidance area 36 in the tool base 2, in which the cylindrical screw-head 32 of the cone-fit screw 32 is located, is configured as a cylindrical opening area. The axis 37 and, thus, the adjusting hole 35 is inclined to the axis 38 of the clamping-screw hole 25 by an angle a which is smaller than 40°. The angle of inclination a lies, for example, between a = 10° and a = 30°, and is preferably a = 12°. With this inclination of the cone-fit screw 32, it is in particular achieved that there is a web 39 of material in the area between the recess 21 for each cutting insert 4 and the adjusting hole 35 in the surface area 3 of the tool base 2, which is relatively apparent in particular from Fig. 2. In this way, the cone-fit screw 32 lies in the tool base 2, spaced from the cassette recess 21, with positive fit and, therefore, with precise fit. In the adjustment position of the cone-fit screw 32 shown in Fig. 7, the adjusting cone 32b of the cone-fit screw 32 lies in a conical recess 40 in the lateral face 41, facing towards the cone-fit screw 32, of the cutting insert 4. In this adjustment position or ideal position, a full-surface contact or surface contact of the adjusting cone 32b in the conical recess 40 is established. The conical recess 40 on the cutting insert or on the cutting-insert cassette 4 has a full-surface contact or surface contact with the conical face or the adjusting cone 32b of the cone-fit screw 32. When the cone-fit screw 32 is turned to the right or to the left or is fine-adjusted, it will move in radial direction 42 inside the adjusting hole 30, with the consequence that the cutting insert 4 and the cutting edge 20 carried by it is moved or adjusted in axial direction 31. The one-piece design of the adjusting element in the form of the cone-fit screw 32 allows to achieve a particularly fine adjustment, to the micrometer, of the cutting insert 4 and the cutting edge 20 carried by it. For this particularly precise adjustability of the cutting insert 4, particularly few components are needed. As, furthermore, the cutting insert 4 itself is already provided with a chip flute 7 in the area of each cutting edge 20, the number of components is further reduced. Altogether, this results in that the milling cutter 1, which is preferably used as a surface milling cutter, can be provided with a particularly large number of cutting inserts 4. In an advantageous embodiment, one of the cutting inserts 4 arranged and distributed on the circumference 5 of the tool base 2 is raised as compared with the other cutting inserts 4, in mounted condition, protruding over the working surface 12 of the tool base 2 by expediently 0.05 mm, as compared with the other cutting inserts 4. The raised cutting insert 4, identified by a marker 43 on the working surface 12 serves in a particularly simple manner as a marker for a first setting, said raised cutting insert 4 constituting the first setting edge. Fig. 8 and 9 show a two-piece tool base 2 with a base carrier 2a and a supporting ring 2b. The cross-section of the base carrier 2a is approximately T-shaped, forming a cylindrical supporting shank 44 and a collar-like bearing or supporting ring 45 integrally connected with it. The cross-section of the supporting ring 2b is approximately L-shaped. The base carrier 2a consists preferably of aluminium. The supporting ring 2b is expediently a steel ring. The supporting ring 2b is mounted on the shank 44 of the base carrier 2a. In the mounted position illustrated, the supporting ring 2b abuts with surface contact on the front face 46 of the bearing ring or supporting ring 45 of the base carrier 2a. The shank 44 of the base carrier 2a is adapted to the L-shaped profile of the supporting ring 2b, forming a stepped bearing or collar profile 47. The supporting ring 2b carries on its circumference the cutting inserts 4, which are expediently distributed with regular spacing on the circumference of the supporting ring 2b. The clamping screws 23 fastening the cutting inserts 4 on the tool base 2 preferably only extend into the supporting ring 2b, so that the cutting inserts 4 are only held on the supporting ring 2b. However, these clamping screws 23 may also penetrate the support-ing ring 2b and extend up to and into the base carrier 2a. Analogously, the adjusting elements or cone-fit screws 32 are only screwed into the supporting ring 2b. However, they can also extend up to and into the base carrier 2a. The supporting or steel ring 2b is shrunk onto the base carrier 2a and there, preferably onto its shank 44. Additionally or alternatively, the supporting ring 2b can be screwed onto the base carrier 2a. In this respect, Fig. 9 shows an axially extending fixing screw 48 which passes through a passage 49 in the base carrier 2a and is screwed together, by means of its threaded shank 50, with an internal hole 51, having an internal thread' 51, in the supporting ring 2b. Instead of a single fixing screw 48, several such fixing screws 48 can be provided for additional or alternative fastening of the supporting ring 2b on the base carrier 2a. Claims 1. Milling cutter (1) for machining workpieces, having at least one cutting insert (4) which can be fixed in a recess (21) of a tool base (2) and which can be adjusted by means of an adjusting element (32), characterized by a one-piece adjusting element (32), having an adjusting cone (32b) extending between a screw head (32a) and a threaded shank (32c), which interacts with a conical recess (40) formed into a lateral face (41) of the cutting insert (4). 2. Milling cutter according to claim 1, characterized in that an adjusting hole (35) spaced from the recess (21) for the cutting insert 4) and having an internal thread corresponding with the threaded shank (32c) of the adjusting element (32) and having a cylindrical opening area (36), in which the screw head (32a) of the adjusting element (32) is guided. 3. Milling cutter according to claim 2, characterized in that the axis (37) of the adjusting hole (35) is inclined to the axis (38) of a clamping-screw hole (25) for the cutting insert (4). 4. Milling cutter according to claim 3, characterized in that the inclination (a) of the axis (37) of the adjusting hole (35) lies between a > 0° and a 5. Milling cutter according to any of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the adjusting element (32) has a reduced shank portion (32d) between the adjusting cone (32b) and the threaded shank (32c). 6. Milling cutter according to any of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the cutting insert (4) is provided in the area of a passage (24) with a longitudinal slot (29) for a clamping screw (23). 7. Milling cutter according to any of claims 1 to 6, characterized by a conical clamping screw (23) for fixing the cutting insert (4) in the recess (21) of the tool base (2). 8. Milling cutter according to any of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that a chip flute (7) is integrated in the cutting insert (4) in the area of a cutting edge (20) carried by the cutting insert (4). 9. Milling cutter according to any of claims 1 to 8, characterized by a dovetailed recess (21) in the tool base (2) for receiving the cutting insert (4). 10. Milling cutter according to claim 9, characterized in that the cutting insert (4) has an external profile with rounded interior edges (22) adapted to the dovetailed recess (21). 11. Milling cutter according to any of claims 1 to 9, characterized by a cutting insert (4) which in mounted condition is raised over the working surface (12) of the tool base (2), as compared with any other cutting insert (4). 12. Milling cutter according to any of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that the tool base (2) has a central passage (8) with a clamping face (13) on which a corresponding collar profile (14) of a screw neck (15) of a plate-shaped fastening screw (10) abuts, forming a ring-shaped coolant channel (16), which runs into a cooling gap (19) formed between the opening rim (11) of the passage (10) and a screw collar (9) overlapping it. 13. Milling cutter according to any of claims 1 to 12, characterized in that the tool base (2) comprises a base carrier (2a) and a supporting ring (2b) mounted on it, on which the cutting insert (4) can be fixed. 14. Milling cutter according to claim 13, characterized in that the supporting ring (2a) is shrunk onto the base carrier (2a). 15. Milling cutter according to claim 13 or 14, characterized in that the supporting ring (2b) is screwed together with the base carrier (2a). 16. Milling cutter according to any of claims 13 to 15, characterized in that the base carrier (2a) is made of aluminium. 17. Milling cutter according to any of claims 13 to 16, characterized in that the supporting ring (2b) is a steel ring.

Documents:

4348-chenp-2006 correspondence others 18-07-2011.pdf

4348-CHENP-2006 FORM-13 18-07-2011.pdf

4348-CHENP-2006 OTHER PATENT DOCUMENT 03-04-2012.pdf

4348-CHENP-2006 POWER OF ATTORNEY 03-04-2012.pdf

4348-chenp-2006 power of attorney 18-07-2011.pdf

4348-CHENP-2006 AMENDED CLAIMS 03-04-2012.pdf

4348-CHENP-2006 AMENDED CLAIMS 17-05-2012.pdf

4348-CHENP-2006 AMENDED PAGES OF SPECIFICATION 03-04-2012.pdf

4348-CHENP-2006 AMENDED PAGES OF SPECIFICATION 17-05-2012.pdf

4348-CHENP-2006 CORRESPONDENCE OTHERS 13-06-2011.pdf

4348-CHENP-2006 CORRESPONDENCE OTHERS 17-05-2012.pdf

4348-CHENP-2006 CORRESPONDENCE OTHERS 19-07-2012.pdf

4348-CHENP-2006 EXAMINATION REPORT REPLY RECEIVED 03-04-2012.pdf

4348-CHENP-2006 FORM-1 03-04-2012.pdf

4348-CHENP-2006 FORM-13 17-05-2012.pdf

4348-CHENP-2006 FORM-3 03-04-2012.pdf

4348-CHENP-2006 FORM-5 03-04-2012.pdf

4348-chenp-2006-abstract.pdf

4348-chenp-2006-claims.pdf

4348-chenp-2006-correspondnece-others.pdf

4348-chenp-2006-description(complete).pdf

4348-chenp-2006-drawings.pdf

4348-chenp-2006-form 1.pdf

4348-chenp-2006-form 26.pdf

4348-chenp-2006-form 3.pdf

4348-chenp-2006-form 5.pdf

4348-chenp-2006-pct.pdf