Colleted bushing and method of use

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10245655-B2
Application number	US-201715457851-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 13, 2017
Priority date	Mar 13, 2017
Publication date	Apr 2, 2019
Grant date	Apr 2, 2019

Abstract

A colleted bushing includes a collet and a bushing. The collet has a collet proximal end and a collet bore having collet threads. In addition, the collet has a collet bore taper located adjacent the collet proximal end, and a plurality of collet fingers located adjacent the collet proximal end and configured to be inserted into a workpiece hole of a workpiece. The bushing has a bushing proximal end, a bushing bore, a bushing outer surface, and bushing threads formed along a section of the bushing outer surface. The bushing is configured to be inserted into the collet bore and the bushing threads are configured to engage the collet threads in a manner resulting in movement of the bushing proximal end into contact with the collet bore taper causing the collet fingers to be urged radially outwardly and removably locking the collet within the workpiece hole.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A colleted bushing, comprising:
a collet having a collet proximal end and a collet bore having a collet axis and collet threads formed along a section of the collet bore, and a collet bore taper located adjacent the collet proximal end, the collet including a plurality of collet fingers located adjacent the collet proximal end and configured to be inserted into a workpiece hole of a workpiece, the collet having a collet flange of a larger width than a collet diameter collectively defined by the collet fingers, the collet flange having an underside defining a planar annular surface configured to be placed in contact against a surface of the workpiece when the collet is installed in the workpiece hole and thereby preventing pivoting of the collet within the workpiece hole and maintaining perpendicularity of the collet axis relative to the surface of the workpiece;
a bushing having a bushing proximal end, a bushing bore, a bushing outer surface, and bushing threads formed along a section of the bushing outer surface; and
the bushing configured to be inserted into the collet bore and the bushing threads configured to engage the collet threads in a manner resulting in simultaneous rotational and axial movement of the bushing relative to the collet until the bushing proximal end contacts the collet bore taper causing the collet fingers to be urged radially outwardly and removably locking the collet within the workpiece hole, the bushing bore configured to receive and guide a tool.

2. The colleted bushing of claim 1 wherein:
the collet fingers collectively define a collet finger diameter that is no larger than a diameter of the workpiece hole prior to insertion of the collet fingers into the workpiece hole.

3. The colleted bushing of claim 1 wherein:
the collet fingers are initially angled outwardly prior to insertion of the collet fingers into the workpiece hole.

4. The colleted bushing of claim 1 wherein:
the collet bore includes a step limiting a depth of insertion of the bushing within the collet.

5. The colleted bushing of claim 1 wherein:
the bushing has a bushing taper formed adjacent the bushing proximal end and configured to engage the collet bore taper.

6. The colleted bushing of claim 1 wherein:
the bushing bore has a main diameter portion and an enlarged diameter portion extending from a bushing distal end toward a location approximately 30-80 percent of a length of the bushing.

7. The colleted bushing of claim 1 further including:
a bushing adapter securable to the bushing, and having an adapter proximal end, an adapter distal end, a bushing grasping element on the adapter distal end, and an adapter bore sized and configured to be inserted over the bushing outer surface at a bushing distal end; and
the bushing grasping element having a larger width or diameter than the bushing to enable one hand of a user to grasp the bushing grasping element and rotate the bushing while an opposite hand of the user grasps the collet to prevent rotation of the collet relative to the workpiece hole.

8. The colleted bushing of claim 7 wherein:
the bushing adapter comprises an adapter collar and an adapter body portion of larger diameter than the adapter collar;
the adapter body portion including the bushing grasping element; and
the adapter collar including a threaded hole configured to receive a set screw for removably securing the bushing adapter to the bushing.

9. The colleted bushing of claim 7 wherein the bushing grasping element comprises at least one of the following:
at least one pair of bushing tabs located on opposite sides of the bushing adapter; and
a bushing circular flange.

10. A colleted bushing for drilling a hole in a workpiece, comprising:
a collet having a collet proximal end and a collet bore having a collet axis and collet threads formed along a section of the collet bore, and a collet bore taper located adjacent the collet proximal end, the collet including a plurality of collet fingers located adjacent the collet proximal end and configured to be inserted into a workpiece hole of a workpiece, the collet having a collet flange of a larger width than a collet diameter collectively defined by the collet fingers, the collet flange having an underside defining a planar annular surface configured to be placed in contact against a surface of the workpiece when the collet is installed in the workpiece hole and thereby preventing pivoting of the collet within the workpiece hole and maintaining perpendicularity of the collet axis relative to the surface of the workpiece;
a bushing having a bushing proximal end, a bushing distal end, a bushing bore, a bushing outer surface, and bushing threads formed along a section of the bushing outer surface;
a bushing adapter configured to be removably coupled to the bushing distal end; and
the bushing threads configured to engage the collet threads via the bushing adapter in a manner resulting in simultaneous rotational and axial movement of the bushing relative to the collet until the bushing proximal end contacts the collet bore taper causing the collet fingers to be urged radially outwardly and removably locking the collet within the workpiece hole, the bushing bore configured to receive and guide a rotary cutting tool.

11. A method of performing an operation on one or more workpieces, comprising:
inserting collet fingers of a collet into a workpiece hole of a first workpiece until a planar annular surface of an underside of a collet flange is in contact against a surface of the first workpiece to thereby prevent pivoting of the collet within the workpiece hole and maintaining perpendicularity of a collet axis relative to the surface of the workpiece;
inserting a bushing into a collet bore of the collet;
engaging external bushing threads of the bushing with internal collet threads of the collet bore and rotating the bushing relative to the collet causing axial translation of a bushing proximal end toward a collet proximal end;
urging, in response to rotation of the bushing relative to the collet, the bushing proximal end against a collet bore taper located on a radially inner side of the collet fingers and causing the collet fingers to be pressured uniformly radially outwardly against an inner circumferential surface of the workpiece hole for rotationally and axially locking the collet and bushing concentrically within the workpiece hole; and
inserting a tool into the bushing bore and performing an operation on a second workpiece located adjacent to the first workpiece.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the collet fingers prior to insertion into the workpiece hole collectively define a collet finger diameter that is larger than a diameter of the workpiece hole, the method further including:
radially contracting the collet fingers during insertion of the collet fingers into the workpiece hole.

13. The method of claim 11 further including:
limiting, using a step in the collet bore, a depth of insertion of the bushing within the collet.

14. The method of claim 11 further including:
grasping the collet flange of the collet when inserting the collet fingers into the workpiece hole; and
preventing rotation of the collet relative to the workpiece hole when rotating the bushing relative to the collet.

15. The method of claim 11 further including:
coupling a bushing adapter to the bushing; and
grasping and rotating the bushing adapter to rotate the bushing relative to the collet.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the step of coupling the bushing adapter to the bushing comprises:
coupl

Assignees

• Boeing Co

Inventors

• Webb Jeremiah
• Mccoy Douglas
• Hippe Daniel

Classifications

• B23B49/023 Primary

  Bushings and their connection to the template · CPC title

• B23B2251/60

  Drills with pilots · CPC title

• B23B47/287

  Jigs for drilling plate-like workpieces (templates for marking the position of fittings on wings or frames E05D11/0009) · CPC title

• B23B51/107

  having a pilot · CPC title

• B23B2270/34

  Means for guiding · CPC title