Abstract:
A method and machine for deburring the burr which is formed when wires are butt welded is disclosed. The machine comprises a deburring head which has a pair of opposed deburring rollers mounted thereon. Each of the rollers has a milled surface formed therein. A linkage is connected to the rollers to cause the rollers to rotate when the linkage is moved between first and second positions. When the linkage is in its first position, the milled surfaces of the rollers face one another to enable the wires and burr to be positioned therebetween. As the linkage moves to its second position, the circumferences of the rollers engage the burr to roll out the same, thereby providing a substantially smooth, cylindrical surface where the burr was located. The method of deburring is also disclosed.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    1. Field of the Invention  
           [0002]    This invention relates to a method of processing or deburring a butt weld so that a smooth, cylindrical surface is achieved where the burr was located. This invention also relates to an apparatus which deburrs the butt weld.  
           [0003]    2. Description of the Related Art  
           [0004]    When wires are butt welded, an annular burr or nugget is created. In most cases, it is desirable and necessary to remote the burr so that a smooth, cylindrical surface is obtained where the wires were butt welded. Heretofore, to the best of applicant&#39;s knowledge, the customary methods of removing the burr from the butt weld were to grind the burr or to hammer the burr. The grinding and/or hammering methods are time-consuming and require that the butt welded pieces be transferred from the person performing the butt welding operation to a person who will perform the grinding or hammering operation. The above methods generate a loss in profits through additional employee salaries and interruptions created in the production cycle.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0005]    A method and means is described for processing butt welds. More particularly, a method and means is provided for deburring the burr which results when wires are butt welded together. The machine of this invention comprises a deburring head which has a pair of opposing deburring rollers rotatably mounted thereon. A linkage interconnects the deburring rollers to cause the rollers to be rotated as the linkage is reciprocated between first and second positions with respect to the deburring head by means of an air cylinder operatively connected to the linkage. Each of the rollers has a milled surfaced formed on the circumference thereof. The milled surfaces of the rollers face one another when the linkage is in its first position to enable the wires having the burr thereon to be positioned between the deburring rollers. As the linkage moves from its first position to its second position and from its second position to its first position, the circumferences of the rollers engage the burr to roll out the same, thereby creating a substantially smooth cylindrical surface where the burr was located.  
           [0006]    It is therefore a principal object of the invention to provide an improved method and means for processing a butt weld.  
           [0007]    A further object of the invention is to provide an improved method and means for deburring a butt weld burr.  
           [0008]    A further object of the invention is to provide a method and means for deburring a butt weld which eliminates the need for grinding or hammering the burr.  
           [0009]    Yet another object of the invention is to provide a method and means for processing a butt weld which reduces the cost thereof.  
           [0010]    Yet another object of the invention is to provide a method and means for processing a butt weld which eliminates the need for separate grinding and/or hammering steps.  
           [0011]    Still another object of the invention is to provide a method and means for processing a butt weld which eliminates breaks or interruptions in the production cycle.  
           [0012]    These and other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0013]    [0013]FIG. 1 is a partial front perspective view of the deburring machine of this invention;  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating two wires being moved towards one another for butt welding the wires together;  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 3 is a front perspective view illustrating the butt welded wires being initially positioned in the deburring machine;  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the deburred butt welded wires;  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 5 is a partial side elevational view of the deburring machine as the butt welded wires are initially positioned in the deburring machine;  
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIG. 5 except that the deburring rollers have been rotated to remove the burr from the butt weld; and  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective of the deburring head of the deburring machine. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0020]    The deburring machine of this invention is referred to generally by the reference numeral  10  while the numerals  12  and  14  refer to wires which are to be butt welded together. When the wires  12  and  14  are to be butt welded, the ends of the wires  12  and  14  are moved together in conventional fashion, as illustrated in FIG. 2, and are butt welded together in conventional fashion. When the wires  12  and  14  are butt welded, an annular burr  16  is formed which extends around the area of the butt weld.  
         [0021]    Deburring machine  10  includes a deburring head  18  which is conveniently mounted on a support pedestal  20  or some other supporting structure. Machine  10  is preferably positioned closely adjacent the butt welding station so that the person performing the butt welding operation may conveniently remove the butt welded wires from the welding machine and place the butt welded wires in the machine  10  in a convenient manner while the butt weld burr  16  is still in a malleable state from the welding operation. Deburring head  18  includes side frames  22  and  22 ′. Inasmuch as side frames  22  and  22 ′ are identical, but mirror images of one another, only side frame  22  will be described in detail with “′” indicating identical structure on side frame  22 ′. Side frame  22  includes a forward end  26 , a rearward end  28 , an upper end  30 , a lower end  32 , an outer side  34 , and an inner side  36 . The upper end of side frame  22  is provided with a U-shaped recess  38  formed therein adjacent the forward end thereof. Plate  40  is secured to the outer side  34  of side frame  22  and has a V-shaped opening  42  formed therein which extends downwardly thereto and which communicates at its lower end with a U-shaped slot  44  which extends downwardly therefrom. Plate  40  is secured to side frame  22  by a plurality of cap screws  46 .  
         [0022]    An elongated slot or channel  48  is formed in the inner side  36  of side frame  22  and extends between the forward and rearward ends thereof, as seen in FIG. 7. Pins  50  and  52  are mounted in and extend between side frames  22  and  22 ′. Deburring roller  54  is rotatably mounted on pin  50  by means of pin  50  rotatably extending through the bore  56  which extends through the central rotational axis of roller  54 . Roller  54  also has a bore  58  formed therein which is adapted to receive pin  60  therein. Pin  60  is press-fitted in bore  58  to prevent rotation of pin  60  therein. The circumference of roller  54  is provided with a milled surface  61  formed therein. Deburring roller  62  is rotatably mounted on pin  52  by means of pin  52  rotatably extending through the bore  64  which extends through the central rotational axis of roller  62 . Roller  62  also has a bore extending therethrough which has pin  66  mounted therein which is press-fitted therein to prevent rotation of pin  66  with respect to roller  62 . The circumference of roller  62  is provided with a milled surface  68  formed therein.  
         [0023]    Elongated links  70  and  72  are positioned on opposite sides of rollers  54  and  62  and are movably received by channels  48  and  48 ′ respectively formed in the inner sides of side frames  22  and  22 ′. The forward ends of links  70  and  72  have openings  74  and  76  formed therein, respectively, which rotatably receive the opposite ends of pin  60 . The rearward ends of links  70  and  72  have openings formed therein which receive the opposite ends of pin  78 . Links  70  and  72  have openings formed therein forwardly of the rearward ends thereof which rotatably receive the opposite ends of pin  66 .  
         [0024]    Connector rod  80  has its forward end rotatably or pivotally mounted on pin  78  between links  70  and  72 . The rearward end of rod  80  is adjustably connected to rod  82  by bolt assembly  83 . Rod  82  extends from a power cylinder such as an air cylinder  84 , hydraulic cylinder, electric motor and gears, or the like, to enable rod  80  to be reciprocated forwardly and rearwardly between side frames  22  and  22 ′. Normally, the air cylinder  84  connected to the rod  80  will be controlled by a foot pedal which is electrically connected to switch  85  which controls the operation of the air cylinder  84  through the electric valve  86 .  
         [0025]    The rearward ends of side frames  22  and  22 ′ are positioned between plates  88  and  90  of support  91  with support  91  being mounted on the pedestal  20 . The air cylinder  84 , switch  85  and valve  86  are mounted on support  91 , as seen in FIG. 1.  
         [0026]    In operation, with the deburring machine  10  positioned closely adjacent the butt welding station so that the operator of the butt welding station may perform the butt welding operation, and operate the machine  10  as well, the deburring operation is as follows. In the rest (first) position, as illustrated in FIG. 5, the milled surfaces  61  and  68  of the deburring rollers  54  and  62  face one another, thereby providing sufficient clearance between the rollers  54  and  62  to permit the butt weld burr  16  of wires  12  and  14  to be inserted between the rollers  54  and  62 . The distance between the rollers  54  and  62  may be manually changed or automatically changed to accommodate wires of different gauges or diameters. The butt weld burr  16  and the ends of the wires  12  and  14  will be removed from the welding station by the welding operator and the wires  12  and  14  will be immediately inserted downwardly through the V-shaped openings  42  and  42 ′ and into the U-shaped slots  44  and  44 ′ until the wires  12  and  14  are positioned in the lowermost portions of slots  44  and  44 ′. The burr  16  will be centered between the milled surfaces  61  and  68  at this time. The operator then activates the foot pedal which is electrically connected to switch  85  which then activates valve  86  which in turn causes the air cylinder  84  to extend the rod  82 . The extension of the rod  82  causes the rod  80  and links  70  and  72  to move from the position of FIG. 5 to the position of FIG. 6 (second position). The forward movement of the links  70  and  72  causes the deburring rollers  54  and  62  to rotate in a clockwise direction, as viewed in FIG. 6. The clockwise rotation of rollers  54  and  62  by the links  70  and  72  causes milled surface  61  of roller  54  to move downwardly and forwardly while milled surface  68  of roller  62  moves upwardly and rearwardly, thereby bringing the circumference segments  92  and  94  of rollers  54  and  62 , respectively, to engage burr  16  to “roll” out the burr  16  to create a smooth, cylindrical surface at the butt weld area.  
         [0027]    When the rollers  54  and  62  have reached the position of FIG. 6 and the burr  16  has been at least partially rolled out, the operator then activates switch  85  through the foot pedal described above to cause air cylinder  84  to retract, thereby causing the rollers  54  and  62  to rotate to the position of FIG. 5 so that the milled surfaces  61  and  68  are facing one another to enable the wires  12  and  14 , and the smooth cylindrical surface at the location of the butt weld, to be removed therefrom. As the rollers rotate from the second position to the first position, further rolling out of the burr  16  occurs if needed. In those cases where curved wires are being butt welded or where the ends of a wire ring are to be butt welded, the circumference segments  92  and  94  are preferably provided with a small radius thereacross to accommodate the curvature of the product being processed. Further, when rings are being deburred, one of the rollers  54  and  62  is preferably narrower than the other roller.  
         [0028]    It should be noted that each of the rollers  54  and  62  do not have to be rotated 180 degrees to process the entire circumference of the burr  16 , since the product will also rotate, as viewed in FIGS. 5 and 6, to process the entire circumference of the burr  16 . It should also be noted that the radial location of the pin  60  with respect to the pin milled surface  61  should be slightly different than the radial location of the pin  66  with respect to the milled surface  68  so that the rollers  54  and  62  do not “lock up”.  
         [0029]    The process may be fully automatic from butt welder to deburring without an operator. Further, if the wire being deburred is large, the deburring head could be rotated around the wire if desired.  
         [0030]    Thus it can be seen that a truly novel method and means has been provided for deburring a butt weld which accomplishes at least all of the objections of the invention. A single operator can butt weld the wires and deburr the burr created by the butt welding operation in a fast and efficient manner. The need for another employee to either grind the burr or hammer the burr is eliminated, thereby reducing the cost of deburring. Further, interruptions or breaks in the production cycle are eliminated.  
         [0031]    Thus it can be seen that the invention accomplishes at least all of its stated objectives.