tormach ER-20 adaptor... Those are very nice, but run the cost per tool up about $50/tool so I only have one adapter and 3 collets
I suggest you search eBay for the TTS compatible collet holders from our Chinese communist capitalist friends. I have a 50 position tool rack full of those, and I'm cheap, so they must not be anywhere close to $50 each. The quality is quite good. There is no groove for an ATC, but that's not a big deal for me and it'd be an easy feature to add on a lathe. I found them for you. :-) $16 each in quantities of ten on the slow boat. Maybe less if you search longer than the minute I spent. www.ebay.com/itm/161733955633 This has got me to thinking of a tool changer device since I am spending about 1/2 of my time changing tools & other preparatory stuffs. You probably already know this, but the poor man's power drawbar is an impact wrench to turn the drawbar. There are pneumatic versions with air cylinders to push a small butterfly impact driver down as it spins, but I'm an electrical engineer so I like electrical solutions. :-) It's hard to beat the lightweight 12V Porter Cable cordless impact driver from Lowe's. It reminds me of the Heywood Banks song about the Garden Weasel (search YouTube) - it's half the effort and twice as quick! I have an old beat up Harbor Freight cordless impact wrench that a friend gave me to use to make a power draw bar. I was going to wire it so it used full voltage for reverse and half voltage for forward, so it would tighten enough to hold the tool in the spindle, but would always be able to loosen anything it tightened. Sort of like those tanks that have the highest gears in reverse so they could get out of a bad situation faster than they got into it. I have all the parts to make the CNC controlled power drawbar for my mill, including a couple of large SMC air cylinders, a stack of Belleville washers to tension the drawbar when the air cylinders aren't pushing down on it, and a big pile of steel to build the beefy frame that mounts to the cast head of the milling machine... just as soon as I get a Round Tuit. Good luck with your woodworking and have fun! On 10/29/2015 10:22 AM, Gene Heskett wrote: > Greetings all; > > This particular carving project uses 3 different tools which must be > changed 4 times per end of a board processed. > > This has got me to thinking of a tool changer device since I am spending > about 1/2 of my time changing tools & other preparatory stuffs. > > At present, this thing has an R8 spindle, but I haven't tested to see if > the spindle motor has the muscle to run the draw bolt if the wrench is > held. I'd assume so if the gear selection was in low. > > However, putting it in low isn't easily done by hand. That big knob on > the side is big for a reason, which is to give us a good grip to shift > it with. It is, IMO, needlessly difficult to switch gears. I'd assume it > is easily replaced by a longer lever, which could then be swung by a > smaller motor to effect the gear change. This is the OEM spindle motor, > rated at 1 HP when driven by the OEM SCR/Triac controller, but with > Jon's PWM servo driver with about 110 volts of DC power, can be run 500 > revs faster than the OEM controller I took off could run it, and is full > power reversible, running a G33.1 rigid tapping cycle very nicely. I > write it to "peck" the bigger taps above #10 or 5mm of course. > > So there is, for short duration efforts such as dropping the tool, or > pulling the next one back in, likely more than enough torque to do that. > Less torque needed there than in running the nut on the tormach ER-20 > adaptor with a big Crescent wrench which is what I am presently using > while the spindle is pin locked by the brake I made. Those are very > nice, but run the cost per tool up about $50/tool so I only have one > adaptor and 3 collets (sp?). > > Does anyone have any experience with this? Or am I just a beggar, > wishing for a free horse, and designing my own saddle? > > Cheers, Gene Heskett ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
