Abstract
To achieve precise and stable pipe/thin plate bending based on the penetration bending method,a grip-and-feed mechanism was proposed. This mechanism is driven by an actuator and composed of two cam mechanisms and a chain-drive mechanism. One of the cam mechanisms was designed to generate a periodic grip-and-release motion of grippers, which circulate along a track, by a grooved cam mechanism.The other was designed to constrain the grippers'orientation during feeding to achieve a stable gripping. These mechanisms are synchronously driven by an actuator. Thickness of the rubber attached on the gripper was investigated through experiments. The fundamental performance of the proposed feeder was demonstrated by applying it to fabrication of a circular-shaped pipe. The results are shown to support the proposed mechanism.
