Slotting machines are designed for planing vertical planes, grooves, shaped profiles in a circle or on another surface.
The grooving cutter, unlike the cutters of cross-planer industrial mortiser , performs only reciprocating motion in the vertical direction perpendicular to the working surface of the table or the mounting plate. All other feed movements are performed by the workpiece. In slotting machines, the feed movement is intermittent (intermittent) and is carried out by longitudinal, transverse or circular feed of the table.
Typical dimensions for these machines are the largest stroke of the slider (dolbyaka) and the diameter of the table, since the table diameter determines the largest dimensions of blanks that can be processed on this machine.
Both professional and homemade slotting machines consist of the same structural elements, which allow such equipment to effectively perform all the functions assigned to it. The basis of any slotting machine is the frame, on which its other components are fastened: a working table, a tool — a tool with sharp teeth, a rocker mechanism, a feed box, a drive that can be mechanical, electrical and hydraulic.
The hydraulic drive is equipped with serial slotting machines, which are considered professional equipment. Work on this, more advanced equipment, due to the availability of hydraulic drive is much easier and more convenient. A homemade metal chipping machine has a simpler design, but it can successfully cope with many technological operations.
In the design of professional slotting machines, there are a number of important elements: a cooling system, systems responsible for managing the equipment and ensuring the uninterrupted operation of all units of the device. The hydraulic drive of the machine is placed inside its frame, and the programming of its work with a special system allows the slider, which performs reciprocating movements, to perform them according to precisely specified parameters.