Pilot device for a suspended knife of a cutting machine for cutting sheet material

摘要

An automatically controlled cutting machine for cutting multiple layers of fabric sheet material spread out on a cutting table, the cutting machine including a cutting tool which is rotatable about a Z-axis and which includes a cutting knife mounted on a cutting head and a guiding device for guiding the cutting knife. One end of the knife is mounted in the cutting head so as to be freely rotatable around the Z-axis. The guiding device is arranged adjacent to the remaining free end of the knife and comprises a socket rigidly connected to the cutting head, and a support which is freely and rotatably mounted in the socket around a vertical axis located in front and adjacent to the cutting edge of the knife, and parallel and spaced a predetermined distance from the Z-axis. The support has a slot surrounding the flanks of the knife. The slot is eccentrically positioned relative to the vertical axis and extends to the trailing edge of the knife, and the support comprises a sensor for detecting the instantaneous rotation angle and/or its direction of rotation relative to the socket for providing correcting signals for controlling the movement of the knife about the Z-axis to regulate the cutting of the material by the knife along the predetermined cutting path in response to the detected rotation angle.