Milling fixture with a manual top spindle molder

A milling fixture with a manual top spindle molder comprises a base plate upon which a drive assembly is adjustably mounted. The drive assembly includes a drive journal for driving a tool shaft. A bearing block is mounted on the drive assembly and includes a U-shaped member which carries a bearing which is aligned with said drive journal to receive the other end of the tool shaft. The base plate, together with the drive assembly and bearing block is pivotable relative to a workpiece guide on which the workpiece is supported. The bearing block includes a pendulum guide having a copying feeler for engaging the workpiece.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION 
The invention relates to a milling fixture for a manual top spindle molder. 
Milling fixtures are known (De 24 21 05) in which a frame-like base plate 
is provided with parallel columns. A drive assembly is adjustable on the 
columns relative to the base plate. A drive journal protrudes from a 
frontal housing cover for a tool. The base plate may be mounted on the 
side facing away from the workpiece of a workpiece guide, and provided 
with an orifice for the passage of the tool. 
In the known configurations the manual top spindle molder may, together 
with its base plate, be screwed from below to a workpiece table. A milling 
cutter flyingly supported on the drive assembly may then be driven for the 
processing of workpieces. The adjustment of the cutter is effected by 
varying the distance between the drive assembly and the base plate, for 
which purpose an adjusting spindle supported on the workpiece table and 
the drive assembly may also be used. The applications of such known 
configurations are limited by the relatively short cutting length due to 
the flying support of the milling cutter. 
It is an object of the present invention to further improve the potential 
applications of manual top spindle molders by rendering the use of longer 
chip-forming tools possible. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
In the present invention a bearing pillow block is mounted on the housing 
cover. The pillow block is equipped with a bearing assembly for receiving 
a tool with the configuration of a plane head or the like. By means of 
this arrangement, manual surface milling processes may be effected which 
heretofore have been possible with specially equipped planer machines 
only. It is possible with the new configuration, for example, to use 
profile plane heads, such as those described for instance in DE-GM 83 15 
192, and also other cylindrical plane heads of a relatively large length 
for the processing of workpieces. 
The novel milling mixture thus provides the advantage that the profiling of 
moldings, beams or the like, is possible with a very simple installation, 
which may be acquired and used not only by large shops, but also by 
do-it-yourselfers. It is advantageous and simple to design the bearing 
pillow block in the form of a U-shaped strap, one leg whereof is 
surrounding the drive journal of the drive assembly and is fastened in a 
centering seat on the housing cover, while the other leg holds the bearing 
assembly. The connecting web of this U-strap may also function as a 
protective shield for one side of the tool, so that this configuration 
offers the advantage that the side of the tool not used in processing is 
covered and protected, but with a very simple manner of the alignment of 
the bearing assembly with the drive assembly being provided. The 
protective strip may be adapted on its inner side to the circumference of 
the maximum possible workpiece diameter. It may surround the tool 
maximally to one-half of its circumference. It has been found to be 
convenient, however, to have the protective strap surround the tool to 
about one-third of its circumference. 
The second bearing location in the U-shaped supporting strap may comprise 
simply a ball bearing with a hollow bearing journal, through which a 
floating shaft for the tool is inserted. The drive journal for the tool 
has a connecting journal for joining the floating shaft fixedly in 
rotation, so that the tool, e.g., a planer head, may be replaced without 
the release of the top spindle machine from the bottom side of the 
workpiece table or another guide. 
The leg of the U-shaped strap fastened to the housing cover is 
advantageously in the form of a frame, so that between the drive journal 
and the inner edge of the leg of the strap space is left to exhaust the 
cooling air of the drive assembly. In this configuration the cooling air 
also serves to blow away chips from the area of the tool. 
A further advantageous development of the invention involves joining the 
base plate of the top spindle molder by means of a pivot axle with a 
holder stationarily mounted on the workpiece table. The holder is further 
equipped with a pivoting segment to immobilize the pivoted position of the 
top spindle molder. This makes it possible additionally to set the plane 
head or the plane shaft, together with the entire top spindle assembly at 
an angle to the guide surface of the workpiece, so that shape cuttings of 
different types are possible and workpieces may be processed in a manner 
not poossible heretofore by simple means. 
The pivoting assembly may be immobilized by means of a shaft parallel to 
the pivot axle, the floating shaft being equipped in a manner known in 
itself with clamping means for clamping to the pivoting segment. 
It is advantageous to attach to the leg of the bearing pillow block 
equipped with the bearing location an adjustable pendulum gide with a copy 
stylus, which makes it possible to place workpieces at different angles in 
the area of the free end of the bearing pillow block. The pendulum guide 
may comprise a holder pivoting around a bearing sleeve mounted 
stationarily and concentrically with respect to the axis of the workpiece 
on the bearing pillow block for an adjusting screw and a frame-like slide 
adjustable by means of the adjusting screw relative to the bearing sleeve, 
with an abutting surface for the workpiece. The profiling of semicircular, 
round or bent workpieces is thus possible.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION 
In FIGS. 1 to 3 the drive assembly 1 of a known manual top spindle molder 
may be seen; it is supported displaceably upon columns 5 in the direction 
of the drive axle 4 of the drive assembly 1. The drive assembly 1 is 
disposed in a guide 2 having lateral manual handles 3, the guide being 
slidable upon the columns which are fixed by means of holding pins 6, in a 
frame-like base plate 7. Manual handles 5A on the guide 2 hold the guide 
in adjusted positions upon the columns. The base plate 7 is provided with 
two parallel boreholes 8, whereby, as explained hereinbelow, the base 
plate 7 is fastened to a stationary part, placed for example, on the 
bottom side of a work table. 
The housing of the drive assembly 1 has a housing cover 9 on the upwardly 
directed side of the drive assembly 1, to which the manual handles 3 are 
also fastened. This housing cover 9 has, in a known manner, an orifice, 
through which a drive journal 11 for the tool extends. The journal 11 has 
a bearing and connecting journal 12 to be connected fixedly in rotation 
with a floating shaft 13. The shaft 13 is equipped at both ends with 
conical centering pieces 14 and intended for the fastening of a tool such 
as a cylindrical plane head 15, shown in broken lines. In order to 
bearingly support the floating shaft 13 not only on its end adjacent the 
drive journal 11, but also on the opposite end, a bearing pillow block 16 
is mounted on the housing cover 9 of the drive assembly 1. The pillow 
block comprises a U-shaped supporting strap, one leg 16a of which 
surrounds the drive journal 11 of the drive assembly 1 and includes a 
circular frame 18 in which a recess 17 is disposed. The leg 16a also 
includes a circular centering holder 10 disposed within the recess 17. The 
holder 10 has a circular inner opening so that cooling air from the drive 
assembly can be exhausted through such opening and the recess 17. The leg 
16a is arranged coaxially relative to the axle 4 of the drive assembly 1. 
The U-shaped strap 16 has a web part 16c extending through the base plate 
7 to a second leg 16b of the strap 16. The leg 166 carries a bearing 
assembly 19, which is arrnged coaxially to the axle 4, but spaced axially 
from the drive journal 11 of the drive assembly 1. This bearing assembly 
19 comprises a needle bearing 22 housed in a sleeve 21 which is located 
inside a bore hole 20 in the leg 16b . A hollow bearing journal 24 is held 
rotatingly in the needle bearing 22. The floating shaft 13 is inserted 
through the hollow journal in the direction of the arrow 25, after the 
tool has been positioned between the two conical parts 14. The web 16c 
extending in a manner approximately parallel to the axle 4 is provided, as 
see in FIG. 3, with an approximately cylindrical inner and outer wall 16C' 
and 16C", the diameter whereof is adapted to the maximum diameter of the 
tool 15. The web 16c therefore serves as a protective shield for the tool 
15. 
As seen clearly in FIGS. 2 and 3, the base plate 7 of the top spindle 
molder is connected rotatingly with a holder 27 by means of a rod 26 
serving as a pivot axle. The holder 27 comprises a fastening plate 28 and 
two guide segmets 29 fixedly connected with the fastening plate 27. Both 
segments 29 are provided with a slide recess 30 extending in a circular 
arc around the axis of the pivot axle 26. A second shaft 31 carried by the 
plate plate 7 is guided in this slide recess, with such second shaft 
extending through a borehole 8a in the base plate 7 oriented parallel to 
the afore-mentioned borehole 8 in the base plate 7. On at least one of its 
ends the shaft 31 has threads, upon which a clamping lever 32 is 
threadedly mounted. Sleeves 33 and 34 extend between the segments 29 and 
are arranged parallel to each other and laterally on the plate 28, the 
sleeves serving to brace the pivot axle 26 and apply a clamping action 
through the second shaft 31. The pivot axle 26 is secured to the segments 
29 by means of known axial fasteners, e.g., spring retaining rings. The 
second shaft 31 is also affixed axially on the pivot segment 29 on its 
side facing away from the clamping lever 32. 
As seen in FIG. 2, it is possible by the placement of the base plate 7 
relative to the holder 27 tilt the entire top spindle molder from its 
original position, so that is occupies a terminal position 1 (broken 
lines) wherein the tool 15 occupies an oblique position with respect to 
the top side of the plate 28. This plate 28, which comprises a recess 28a 
for the passage of the bearing pillow block 16 and the tool 15, may be 
mounted for example on the underside of a work table which is also 
equipped with a corresponding passage orifice. The tool 15 then protrudes 
upwardly past the surface of the work table. By thus inclining the tool, 
shape cuttings of different types are possible. The tool may be set 
relative to a workpiece resting on the surface of the work table (for 
example a beam to be profiled) by adjusting the top spindle machine on the 
columns 5 to the position desired, which may be effected in a known 
manner, for example, by means of an adjusting spindle connected with the 
plate 28 and the drive assembly 1. Following the setting of the relative 
position between the tool 15 and the workpiece, the position of the top 
spindle assembly on the columns may be secured in a known manner, so that 
the position of the tool relative to the workpiece is firmly established. 
The workpiece (for example a beam or a molding) may then be slid past the 
tool, wherein it is possible (as is known) to provide a top surface 
standing perpendicularly on the workpiece support surface on both sides of 
the bearing pillow block 16. It is obviously possible to operate without 
such an abutting surface, if, for example, curved workpieces are to be 
processed. 
On the upper leg 16b of the bearing pillow block 16 a so-called pendulum 
guide 35 is provided, comprising a holder 36 for an adjusting screw 37, 
the holder being pivotable around the bearing sleeve 21. The adjusting 
screw is rotatable by means of a manual knob 38. The adjusting screw 37 is 
held rotatingly in a slide 39 which is provided on its end facing away 
from the manual knob 38 with an abutting surface 40 for the tool. The 
guide 35 enables workpieces to be placed at different angles. Hence, the 
profiling of semicircular, round, or bent workpieces is made possible. 
The top spindle molder may be used further by virtue of the arrangement of 
the bearing pillow block 16 for elongated tools, such as plane heads, 
plane shafts or the like, which heretofore could not be utilized with 
drive assemblies of this type. In the novel milling fixture the flying 
support of tools has been replaced by bilateral bearing supports, thereby 
making possible the use of different tools. These tools may be mounted and 
replaced in a simple manner by the provision of a floating axle. 
Although the present invention has been described in connection with a 
preferred embodiment thereof, it will be appreciated by those skilled in 
the art that additions, modifications, substitutions, and deletions nor 
specifically described may be made without departing from the spirit and 
scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.