Patent ID: 6664499
Filing Date: 2003-12-16
Classification: B23K

Abstract:
A tube and duct trim machine, comprising:a safety enclosure and tooling structure; a traveling overhead gantry supported on the top side of said safety enclosure and tooling structure; said overhead gantry having a trolley and an overhead gantry arm movably supported by said trolley; said overhead gantry arm having a movable gripper arm; a vertical articulated arm movably supported on the back side wall of said safety enclosure and tooling structure; said vertical articulated arm having a plurality of movable pined arm sections and a wrist section hinged on a ball and socket; a plurality of grippers for rigid securement of tubes and ducts to said overhead gantry arm movable gripper arm and to said vertical articulated arm wrist section; a rotatable turntable supported by a plurality of vertical actuators; said turntable being controllably oriented in a vertical axis by means of said vertical actuators; a duct centering/spatter tube device attached to the top center surface of said turntable; a rough positioning alignment unit, comprised of a plurality of laser line generators, said rough positioning alignment unit being attached to the top surface of said turntable; a laser cutting system, comprised of a controllable laser cutting head, a fiber optic beam cable and a laser power unit, said laser cutting system being attached to the top surface of said turntable; a vision alignment system, comprised of a plurality of image acquisition modules located to the top surface of said turntable, and a vision processor module; a tube and duct trim machine operator control panel; a main cell controller; a platform mounted controller; whereby said tube and duct trim machine accurately positions and precisely cuts tubes and ducts at a pre-established planar scribe line.