Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Tool changing

Alan,

I'm playing around with a tool changer design but still have a long ways
to go. My plan is to change out standard R-8 tooling. So far, I have
an air powered power drawbar (Travers or KBC Tools carry several brands,
mine's the Aussie Drawbar) for which I have moved control from the
manual lever to a pair of Festo double action air solenoids I bought off
eBay. I have set an "unload" timer at 2 seconds and a "load" timer at
1.2 seconds. Currently I control load/unload by two buttons, which
activate the timers. With a couple of hundred tool changes so far, it
hasn't missed a beat but I want more experience running it from timers -
before further automation.

I've done some of the initial concept design and eventually, I plan to
make a little robotic arm with a tool clamp on the end which will grab
the tool from an 8 tool carousel and place it into the spindle, activate
the "load" timer for 2 secs and presto, tool loaded and locked.
FYI, I previously had the power draw bar fitted to my Rong Fu Mill Drill
and it worked fine - but I had to make a custom mounting bracket to
mount it over the spindle pulley and I had to run the motor/pulleys with
the top cover removed.

Cheers, Peter


Alan Matheson wrote:

>I'm interested in the possibilty of fitting an automatic tool change
>mechanisim to my R8 CNC converted drill mill. My thoughts were to use a
>pneumatically activated 20 mm R8 collet that picked up tools (mainly drills
>and small slot mills ) each mounted in 20 mm diameter holders. These would
>be in a dispenser at one end of the mill table. The holders would have a
>flange of some sort at the collet end to fix the position when the collet
>was closed. Means I could only use tools up to a shank diameter of say 16
>mm but that would be enough for many jobs. All activated by a modified
>TurboCNC.
>
>Has anyone done this sort of thing. Ive looked around the web quite a bit
>but so far haven't found too much detail on how automatic tool changing on
>commercial CNC machines is accomplished. Any leads would be appreciated.
>
>I don't really have to have this feature BUT what a nice toy!
>
>Alan Matheson
>
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