DIY ATC for Tormach mills

Some info and tips on building the ATC.
Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
03:34 Tool no. limits
04:33 ATC referencing
05:33 Positioning the sliding rail
06:49 Determine the disk diameter
08:23 At last, a tool change
09:24 Detail of forks and springs
For more info on the ATC, see the following pages
xoomspeed.com/CNC/atc/atccontr...
shop.xoomspeed.com/collection...
shop.xoomspeed.com/collection...
Also consider joining the Facebook group
/ 1680230705518912

[@iandorrington6397]

Looks alot better than mine!..great work, very nicely executed.

[@akjoe_fpv]

This is great, thanks for publishing

[@daleksw]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@cloneit3dengineering437]

Thank you!

[@knucleon8483]

Great video! I'm curious what your setup for the air blast is doing -- I see what looks like multiple regulators and a nozzle that looks like it might possibly be used for a venturi type sprayer -- is the air blast spraying lubricant or water on the top of the tool holders?

[@daleksw]

The air blast nozzle is just something I picked up from Amazon. It would normally be used as a mist coolant spray, but here I have nothing connected to the lubricant/coolant line. I think what you see is a 2nd needle valve in the air supply. I added that because the needle on the unit doesn't work - you can screw it all the way in and there's still full air flow! I needed to restrict it because the air flow was high enough that it caused the manifold pressure to drop (my solenoid valves share a common manifold), which allows the draw bar to close. You can actually see the delay after each air blast because there's now also a pressure sensor that spots the problem. I didn't have that originally. The real solution is to have the air supply to the draw bar separated from everything else and a non-return valve in the line to make sure the draw bar pressure stays up when the air blast operates. Then put the pressure sensor on the draw bar side of that valve. That way the tool changes will be faster. Some day I'll get round to sorting that out.

[@knucleon8483]

@@daleksw Thanks for the detail, I was just curious. I'll probably just put in an inline flow regulator and dedicated non-pilot-actuated solenoid valve to make sure I don't run into the same pressure drop issue. I had a nearly identical sprayer on my X-Carve for coolant spray before I got my 440 so I wasn't sure if you were using some kind of fluid to clean the top of the tool holders.

[@josecarlossotoornelas6264]

Hi friend exellent ATC!! But have a cuestión, what paremeter use in the vfd to orientation in the spindle??

[@daleksw]

With TTS tool holders, there's no spindle orientation. If you have on eof the MX series mills with BT30 tool holders, then spindle orientation is required, but that's all handled inside PathPilot, so I'm afraid I don't know how that's done.

[@josecarlossotoornelas6264]

@@daleksw thanks for the information friend!! I have this doubt how is the orietation With bt30 its interesting

[@elchaya22]

Hello, great video. Do you mind sharing the atc forks model?.

[@daleksw]

The Fusion 360 model for the whole ATC is available from shop.xoomspeed.com/collections/cnc-accessories/products/atc-model It has a number of user parameters that allow you to alter most of the important geometry, including the number of forks to suit your application.

[@elchaya22]

@@daleksw Thanks a lot.

[@watchere]

How much is this? Cost to build?

[@daleksw]

The links at the bottom of the description will take you to my web shop. the fully assembled and tested controller is priced at £350 and the Fusion model of the mechanics is £5. Total cost to build, I'd estimate at well under £1k

[@michaelryan3528]

Are you using the standard tormach power drawbar?

[@daleksw]

Yes. Just substituted a 24V solenoid valve for the standard fit mechanical one.

[@michaelryan3528]

@@daleksw I am planning on using a hydraulic cylinder, I can operate it with a 24vdc to 110v relay, I should only need to connect the diy controller to the relay right?

[@daleksw]

@@michaelryan3528 yes. The operating time is important though. Pp waits a fixed time after commanding pdb open before raising a. Be careful!

[@michaelryan3528]

@@daleksw I'm not sure what you're referring to with pp, pdb, or a.. and is this wait programmable with the windows app?

[@daleksw]

@@michaelryan3528 PP - PathPilot. PDB Power Draw Bar. When you do an auto tool change, PathPilot tells the ATC to open the power draw bar and release the tool. PathPilot then waits a second or so before it starts the Z-axis moving up before telling the ATC to rotate to the new tool. If the draw bar takes too long to release, then you'll get a very broken tool changer. There's a similar sequence when the new tool is picked up. PathPilot sends the command to close the draw bar, then pauses before telling the ATC to retract. In both cases, the delay is fixed inside PathPilot. It's not exactly tight for timing with a pneumatic cylinder, but you'd need to be sure a hydraulic arrangement could match the speed.