On Tue, May 05, 2009 at 12:34:28PM +0100, Sven Wesley wrote:
> True, but I hope someone already made a toolchanger from scratch and did
> make a writeup about it. If it's a line setup or a carousel doesn't really
> matter, I just would like to find all the steps from having two tools
> changed manually to a automagic change.
Hmmm ... I had just expected it wasn't a possibility with a simple
manual mill, but if there's a grabber to hold the (in my case INT30)
tooling while the drawbar is undone, then that could transfer & drop it
into an empty carousel or rack slot. Move carousel to new slot, reverse
process, ... zoom.
If the grabber has slightly rubbery paws, then it shouldn't jam or bend
anything when it offers the toolholder up to the spindle. [1] If it opens
wide, then the carousel only needs to have modest positioning precision.
Swarf covers on the carousel sound good, since automatic wiping and
cleaning seems like quite a challenge, at first glance.
If the grabber is one of those rotating arms, like on some commercial
changers, then it might provide a speedier way to cover part of the
distance between work area and carousel.
While I don't have my feet properly wet yet with this CNC stuff, it
looks like the details depend on our machines, and the level of
performance we need. It shouldn't be that hard to make a basic one, if
you figure the toolchanger is just doing what we do with our hands, and
it's more likely to work well if it as simple as possible.
[1] I'd need a spindle index sensor, to line up the INT30 dogs with the
two slots in the holder, unless the spindle were rotated very slowly
until sufficient upward movement had been detected.
Does your machine need something similar?
Cheers,
Erik
--
Albert Einstein: Everything should be as simple as possible, not simpler.
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