DIY Automatic tool changing router spindle system

[Chris D]

Greetings all,

The video linked below is a demonstration of my new tool changing system that I have created that works with an ER collet system like the Chinese spindles. In my case, it is an air cooled, 24,000 RPM, 2.2kW Chinese spindle. While not the fastest, it is reliable, accurate, and repeatable. Take a look to see what is possible.




I plan to post additional videos about this project and will dive into a lot of the details in those videos.

Cheers!

Chris D

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[Chris D]

Greetings again,

I just posted a new video explaining the Magazine component of the Automatic Tool Change System. Mechanical, electrical, Wizard settings, and Macro programs are explained. Take a look if you are curious about how this ATC works.



The next video, which I hope to upload in about a week will cover the Tool Length Measuring sensor and the Part Height Measuring sensor and all the related details.

Chris D.

[CitizenOfDreams]

That's simply amazing, especially if it can work reliably in a real world environment (chips, dust, misalignment...). The only obvious drawback I see is that you need some additional tool stickout for the extraction mechanism.

At 1:27 in the first video, the spindle makes several attempts to snap the nut into the socket. Would it make sense to rotate the socket 15 degrees after the first unsuccessful attempt?

[Chris D]

That's simply amazing, especially if it can work reliably in a real world environment (chips, dust, misalignment...). The only obvious drawback I see is that you need some additional tool stickout for the extraction mechanism.

At 1:27 in the first video, the spindle makes several attempts to snap the nut into the socket. Would it make sense to rotate the socket 15 degrees after the first unsuccessful attempt?

Thank you for the kind words! Much appreciated.

There are two different phases that I have to index the socket to rotate either the collet nut, or, the collet nut & spindle. In both cases I have started with larger increments and worked my way down to the current angular step.

My ultimate goal is to get 100% reliability which I have achieved once I switched to the Centroid / Acorn controller and a LOT of tweaking on the macro programs and hardware. After the system proves its reliability, I plan to do some tweaking in the macros to further optimize the system. I don't expect to get much "wasted time" out of it, but you know how things are in our world - every second counts.

Thanks again for checking out the video. I have about 4 more planned in the coming weeks that explain different aspects of this system. Being that I really like the Centroid / Acorn controller, I may also do some more videos covering the control too.

Chris D

[Chris D]

The next video in the series of this Automatic Tool Changing System is now up on YouTube. This video details the tool length measuring and the part height measuring.



Chris D

[Chris D]

Here is a link to the next in the series covering the Automatic Tool Change System. In this video, the mechanical components and design of the tightening / loosing actuator are covered. In a few weeks, I will be posting the information about the electronics and code to make it work.



Chris D