Patent ID: 6868763

Claim:
In a method for the continuous multi-stroke slotting of flat, plate-shaped workpieces, the steps comprising: (a) providing a slotting tool ( 16 , 36 ) having two tool sections ( 9 , 13 ; 37 ) positioned on opposite sides of the workpiece ( 2 ) and each including two longitudinal cutting edges ( 22 , 25 ) which extend in a slot direction ( 21 ) and transverse cross-cutting edges ( 23 , 24 ; 26 , 27 ) extending between their longitudinal ends, the longitudinal cutting edges ( 22 ) on one tool section ( 9 ) being sloped in the slot direction ( 21 ) along an incline relative to the workpiece ( 2 ); (b) moving the tool sections ( 9 , 13 ; 37 ) relative to each other to provide a gate-slotting stroke in which the workpiece is cut along said longitudinal cutting edges and along one transverse cutting edge to provide a gate; (c) moving the workpiece and the slotting tool ( 16 , 36 ) relative to each other in a forward direction ( 32 ) and moving the tool sections ( 9 , 13 ) relative to each other to perform operations in the form of slotting strokes and including at least one cross-cutting stroke so that, by means of the tool sections ( 9 , 13 , 37 ), each slotting stroke laterally cuts a strip of material ( 31 ) and leaves a stem connecting it in the slot direction ( 21 ) with the remainder of the workpiece ( 2 ), said stem then being severed in the cross-cutting stroke by the same tool sections ( 9 , 13 , 37 ), said gate-slotting stroke producing the gate at a distance from the edge of the workpiece and being followed by a minimum of one slotting stroke, said gate-slotting stroke and at least one following slotting stroke providing a slot in the workpiece having a length that exceeds matching lengths of the longitudinal cutting edges of the tool sections ( 1 ) maximally attainable in the cross-cutting stroke; and (d) following the gate-cutting stroke and at least one subsequent slotting stroke, the slotting tool ( 16 , 36 ) and the workpiece ( 2 ) are moved relative to each other in a return movement opposite the forward direction ( 32 ) over a return length (A) that corresponds at a maximum to a slot length between a position of the cross-cutting edge ( 24 , 27 ), of the tool sections ( 9 , 13 ) and proximate to the gate and trailing the other cross-cutting edge as viewed in the slot direction, in the slot following said at least one subsequent slotting stroke and a rearward transverse boundary of the previously laterally cut section of the slot ( 30 ) in said gate-cutting stroke and (e) thereafter, following the step (d) and prior to the cross-cutting stroke finishing the slot ( 30 ), executing a cross-cut stroke.