have you ever seen ?

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machinedude
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have you ever seen ?

Post by machinedude »

I had this idea to make a bar or tube feeder for a small plasma table. the idea was to automate the clamping on a rotary axis so you could basically cut a 24'length on a 4.5' table if you had the need. 24' for me would probably be too much to handle but 12' or half bars or tubes might be more practical for me.

i spent a lot of time looking for information on the mechanical design aspect and have already started to build a R & D version to see if i can bring it to life but it's pretty complex as far as designs go and a ton of work to build to say the least.

i have yet to see anything like this and was wondering if it is even out there? so has anybody ever seen automated self centering clamping that can be programmed?
adbuch
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Re: have you ever seen ?

Post by adbuch »

My NakaMura Slant 1 cnc turning center has an automatic bar feeder/puller. It is an attachment that goes into one of the tool positions on the turret. The way it works is that under program control - the attachment grabs onto the material, the hydraulic chuck then releases the jaws, the material is pulled out of the chick in the +Z direction to a programmed position, the chuck closes, and the attachment releases the material and retracts to the home position. The actual pulling of the material is accomplished by moving the "carriage" in the +Z direction.

Perhaps show us what you have in mind and I will put on my ME had and take a look.

David
machinedude
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Re: have you ever seen ?

Post by machinedude »

basically what you described with the exception of it being hydraulic in my case i'm starting with pneumatic clamping. so out of the gate i will have some weight restrictions but this is not a commercial machine and maybe advanced hobby level. but eventually a combo 2' x 4' ish table with the rotary off one side with the bar feeding axis running parallel with one axis. one end is a fixed steady rest, and the other end will drive the rotary and linear motion end of it and both will clamp independently.

right now my bore is 5.5 inches so if it fits shape is not an issue with custom jaws. the biggest speed bump is a hollow body rotary union which is what i am working on now to test the concept.

i would post a screen grab but it does not show much detail since the cover hides most of it.
Deezl Smoke
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Re: have you ever seen ?

Post by Deezl Smoke »

This is not on a table, but is this what you are looking to do?

I still get emails from them as I inquired about this machine when I bought my mandrel bender. But it would take a lot of tube business to pay for it, so I opted out for now anyway.
adbuch
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Re: have you ever seen ?

Post by adbuch »

Let's see what you have. You can always take the cover off so we can better understand the details of your design. There was a design for an adjustable self centering pipe chuck shown in a recent post. Perhaps you could apply this concept to your project. Maybe replace the rollers with jaws for clamping and add power actuation for the opening/closing operation.

David

https://plasmaspider.com/viewtopic.php?p=244148#p244148
IMG_20250112_085004~2.jpg

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machinedude
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Re: have you ever seen ?

Post by machinedude »

i have seen quite a few designs that have the rollers but what i have seen has all been manual control of the clamping. the A 400 is one i have looked at before. most use a self-centering 4 jaw at the rotary end. that's my back up plan :) but i would rather have clamping automated. i'm at work at the moment but can get into it more a little later.
machinedude
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Re: have you ever seen ?

Post by machinedude »

missed the part about the lathes. we have lathes with 2 spindles at work that can act like a bar feeder. that's far more complex than what i want to do. they can sync and grab the stock while running to index stock. i watched the A 400 video again and don't see the need for two independent rotaries.

the mechanical end of this is not so bad for me i have close to 40 years under my belt making stuff :) the tricky part is making it with the equipment i have at home and doing in such a way as not to break the bank in the process.
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