Cold forming machine

Abstract

The present disclosure refers to a cold forming machine having two tool pairs that include a first cold forming rack and a second cold forming rack for cold forming of a workpiece respectively. The cold forming racks are movable parallel to a longitudinal direction during deformation. Each cold forming rack is attached to an assigned tool slide. Each tool slide can be moved and positioned in a longitudinal direction by means of an assigned drive unit. The drive unit is controllable by means of a control unit. The control slides can be individually positioned and moved in the longitudinal direction. Cold forming machine comprises at least three individually movable tool slides. For setup of cold forming machine, the tool slides and the cold forming racks of each tool pair attached thereon can be brought into a defined reference position in order to obtain the desired geometry of the profile on the deformed workpiece during the following deformation. The reference position can be corrected optionally during a series production of multiple workpieces of the same type, if this is necessary due to external influences, such as thermal influences, tool variations from a desired tool shape or tool wear.

1 . A cold forming machine for cold forming of a workpiece in order to create a profile on a workpiece outer surface comprising:
 two tool pairs each having one first cold forming rack extending in a longitudinal direction and one second cold forming rack extending in the longitudinal direction arranged with distance to the one first cold forming rack in a transverse direction,   at least three tool slides that can be moved independently from one another, wherein the one first cold forming rack and the one second cold forming rack racks of a common tool pair of the two tool pairs are arranged on different tool slides of the at least three tool slides,   a controllable drive unit for each tool slide of the at least three tool slides that is configured to move an assigned tool slide of the at least three tool slides in the longitudinal direction,   a control unit that is configured to control the controllable drive unit of at least two of the at least three tool slides in a manner so that the one first cold forming rack and the one second cold forming rack of each of the two tool pairs take an individually adjustable reference position relative to one another in the longitudinal direction, wherein the control unit is also configured to move the at least three tool slides by the controllable drive unit of each tool slide of the at least three tool slides in the longitudinal direction after adjustment of the individually adjustable reference position, so that the one first cold forming rack first cold forming racks moves opposite to the one second cold forming racks in the longitudinal direction in order to thereby deform the workpieces between the one first cold forming rack and the one second cold forming rack.   
     
     
         2 . The cold forming machine according to  claim 1  wherein the one first cold forming rack and the one second cold forming rack of the two tool pairs is arranged on a separate tool slide of the at least three tool slides.) 
     
     
         3 . The cold forming machine according to  claim 1 , wherein the one first cold forming racks or the one second cold forming racks of each of the two tool pairs are arranged on a common tool slide of the at least three tool slides. 
     
     
         4 . The cold forming machine according to  claim 1 , wherein the control unit is configured to move the at least three tool slides during deformation of the workpieces in the longitudinal direction, so that the one first cold forming racks of each of the two tool pairs is temporally synchronously moved with one another and that the one second cold forming racks of each of the two tool pairs are temporally synchronously moved with one another. 
     
     
         5 . The cold forming machine according to  claim 1 , wherein the control unit is configured to move the at least three tool slides during deformation of the workpieces in the longitudinal direction, so that the one first cold forming rack and the one second cold forming rack of each of the two tool pairs are moved about a same path length. 
     
     
         6 . The cold forming machine according to  claim 1 , wherein the at least three tool slides for the one first cold forming racks of each of the two tool pairs and/or the at least three tool slides for the one second cold forming racks of each of the two tool pairs are arranged with a longitudinal distance (d) in the longitudinal direction relative to one another.) 
     
     
         7 . The cold forming machine according to  claim 6 , wherein the control unit is configured to move the at least three tool slides during deformation of the workpiece in the longitudinal direction, so that the one first cold forming rack and the one second cold forming rack of each of the two tool pairs are moved about a same path length, and wherein the longitudinal distance is smaller than the path lengths traveled by the at least three tool slides during deformation.) 
     
     
         8 . The cold forming machine according to  claim 1 , further comprising a position sensor arrangement that is configured to detect a position of each the at least three tool slides in the longitudinal direction and to transmit respective position sensor values to the control unit. 
     
     
         9 . The forming machine according to  claim 1 , wherein the control unit is additionally configured to determine and adjust the individually adjustable reference position for each of the two tool pairs based on a preset pitch parameter of the profile. 
     
     
         10 . The cold forming machine according to  claim 9 , wherein the pitch parameter(T) of the profile describes a set point value and/or an actual value and/or a deviation between a set point value and an actual value of a pitch. 
     
     
         11 . The cold forming machine according to  claim 2 , wherein the control unit is configured to move the at least three tool slides during deformation of the workpiece in the longitudinal direction, so that the one first cold forming rack of each of the two tool pairs is temporally synchronously moved with one another and that the one second cold forming rack of each of the two tool pairs are temporally synchronously moved with one another. 
     
     
         12 . The cold forming machine according to  claim 3 , wherein the control unit is configured to move the at least three tool slides during deformation of the workpiece in the longitudinal direction, so that the one first cold forming rack of each of the two tool pairs is temporally synchronously moved with one another and that the one second cold forming rack of each of the two tool pairs are temporally synchronously moved with one another. 
     
     
         13 . The cold forming machine according to  claim 11 , wherein the control unit is configured to move the at least three tool slides during deformation of the workpiece in the longitudinal direction, so that the one first cold forming rack and the one second cold forming rack of each of the two tool pairs are moved about a same path length. 
     
     
         14 . The cold forming machine according to  claim 12 , wherein the control unit is configured to move the at least three tool slides during deformation of the workpiece in the longitudinal direction, so that the one first cold forming rack and the one second cold forming rack of each of the two tool pairs are moved about a same path length. 
     
     
         15 . The cold forming machine according to  claim 13 , wherein the at least three tool slides for the one first cold forming rack of each of the two tool pairs and/or the at least three tool slides for the one second cold forming rack of each of the two tool pairs are arranged with a longitudinal distance in the longitudinal direction relative to one another. 
     
     
         16 . The cold forming machine according to  claim 14 , wherein the at least three tool slides for the one first cold forming rack of each of the two tool pairs and/or the at least three tool slides for the one second cold forming rack of each of the two tool pairs are arranged with a longitudinal distance in the longitudinal direction relative to one another. 
     
     
         17 . The cold forming machine according to  claim 16 , wherein the control unit is configured to move the at least three tool slides during deformation of the workpiece in the longitudinal direction, so that the one first cold forming rack and the one second cold forming rack of each of the two tool pairs are moved about a same path length and wherein the longitudinal distance is smaller than the path length traveled by the at least three tool slides during deformation. 
     
     
         18 . The cold forming machine according to  claim 17 , further comprising a position sensor arrangement that is configured to detect a position of each the at least three tool slides in the longitudinal direction and to transmit respective position sensor values to the control unit. 
     
     
         19 . The cold forming machine according to  claim 18 , wherein the control unit is additionally configured to determine and adjust the individually adjustable reference position for each of the two tool pairs based on a preset pitch parameter of the profile. 
     
     
         20 . The cold forming machine according to  claim 19 , wherein the pitch parameter of the profile describes a set point value and/or an actual value and/or a deviation between a set point value and an actual value of a pitch.