# CNC SX3 Auto tool turret



## rcfreak177 (Feb 2, 2013)

G'day,
Here is a glimpse of the 10 position  ATC I have been working on.
This is for my cnc'd Super X3 mill.

I have had this well under wraps for quite some time now but it got the better of me today and just have to show this thing.

There is still a bit of work to do, Should be all sorted in the next couple of months or so. Tormach offers a similar unit with a price of $4000.00US.

I challenge their ATC and believe I can manufacture an ATC for considerably less and be just or more reliable.

I still have to fit some sensors etc to make it fail-safe far as not wiping out on the mill. This is the easy part. Also tweak a few area's then trial it on my machine.

The Mach 3 tool change Macro is all done and tested, (that was the hard part) 


Anyway, Enjoy.

[ame]http://youtu.be/BOLya0WkuuA[/ame]

Baz.


----------



## kvom (Feb 2, 2013)

Interesting!  Looking forward to see it finished.


----------



## rcfreak177 (May 12, 2013)

Ok I have had enough,

I have managed to get my ATC working well and declaring the project a success.
Although I have had enough of the machine spraying coolant and swarf all over the show. Also running the machine off my desktop with wires going everywhere. Thought that I might pull the machine apart for a tidy up and a new paint job, while the machine was and still is in 1000 pieces I had a thought that I might build a cabinet and also re wire everything with an onboard computer. 

I have been flat out at it over the past couple of weeks and this is where i am at.

Cabinet nearly finished, pull out swarf tray, big windows etc.







Main electrical box, contains pc motherboard and hard drive, also stepper drives, 2 breakout boards, 8 way relay board, spindle control board etc,
and also the SX3 spindle driver, 5v, 12v and 48v power supplies. Tight fit but will be all good. Due to the amount of electrics in here I needed a fairly serious amount of air passing through to keep it all cool. Running 2x 80mm fans, 1 pulling air in and 1 pushing air out, 20 cfm total.









The control panel, fitted with 19" lcd, button and switches to be fitted as well as a MPG. 
All driven by a keyboard emulator.









This is the Z axis column, Fitted with a Nema 42 1800 oz inch stepper for more grunt and faster rapid.
I have cleaned up all the ways. Was set up for bench testing, all good. Still need to epoxy granite fill the base and column to adsorb vibration.





This is turning into 1 very serious bit of gear, to be honest for the time and money spent on this thing I could have had good a used Haas Minimill.
I guess I have the satisfaction of doing the work myself.

Really looking forward to getting this thing finished as it is the machine that will be machining the parts for my double size Demon V8.

Cheers,
Baz.


----------



## rcfreak177 (May 12, 2013)

Wired up the pc to test,
All good. This is the tool changer setup screen.





Now running with only the motherboard and hard drive. no DVD or floppy drives as they are not needed. this pc will be running Windows XP in the background and boot directly into Mach3 when turned on.

Any files needed can be loaded from a thumb drive.

I still have a couple of alignment issues on the screen, I will sort that out with Mach Screen Designer once all is finished. All the macro files have been written and tested for the ATC and tool clamping system. there are also proximity sensors fitted to the ATC so there is no way it can crash. I have modified mach to be able to operate the ATC manually for loading etc, There is a manual override button that needs to be pressed in order to do this, the cycle start is disabled once that is activated.

Foolproof.

Baz.


----------



## aarggh (May 12, 2013)

Loving seeing this come along Baz, awesome job mate. Looking forward to more videos of the end results.Good idea with the proximity sensors, are you using a PLC/stateful style algorithm or simply go-no go for the Mach3 handling of the ATC?

cheers, Ian


----------



## rcfreak177 (May 12, 2013)

G'day Ian,

Thanks mate, using a simple go no go set up with Mach3.
Its all in the macro's I have come up with, used the old GetOEMLED (#) phrase a fair bit basically until the led signal for the input from the sensors is recognised the next function can't happen. I do have  timers set up within several macro's so if the signal is not picked up within the specified time frame the machine will fault and flag up on my screen with what's gone wrong.

The mechanism that operates the ATC rotate is a simple 280 oz stepper driving a 10 position Geneva wheel with very tight tolerances, 1 proxy for home on the wheel and 1 proxy on the driver (which rotates 360 deg per slot) the Macro counts each time this proxy activates so Mach knows where the ATC is at all times.

1 proxy for ATC in
1 proxy for ATC out
and also a pressure sensor set to flag up if the air pressure falls below 85 psi for the pneumatic side of things.

My spindle does 7500rpm, would not like a tool to drop out at that rate.

Baz.


----------



## rcfreak177 (May 12, 2013)

Here is an example that I wrote, This macro does not have the Proxy inputs but.



             'Macro M6Start
Message""

If  GetOEMLed (807) And  GetOemLED (808 And  GetOemLed (809) And  GetOemled(811) Then
MsgBox" 1 or more axis are  NOT REFERENCED cancel program and REF XYZB axis"
End
End If



Dim OldTool As Single
Dim NewTool As Single
Dim X As Double
Dim Y As Double
Dim Z As Double
'********************************
OldTool = GetCurrentTool()
NewTool = GetSelectedTool()

If NewTool = OldTool Then
MsgBox" Same Tool,  NO ACTION" 
End
End If


If  NewTool > 10 Or NewTool < 1 Then
MsgBox" Tool # 1-10 ONLY "
End
End If


Code "M09"      'Coolant Off



Code "M05"      'Stop Spindle
Message" Coolant And Spindle Turned Off" 




'******************************

Code"G00" 
Code "G53 Z 300 "
Code "G53 X 0" & "Y 0"
While IsMoving()
Wend


ActivateSignal(Output1)      'Tool Turret In'
Sleep 1500



ActivateSignal(Output2)      'Release Tool'
Sleep 1500


Code "G00"
Code "G53 Z350"

Call  MovePos(NewTool)      'The ATC moves to the new tool.
While IsMoving()
Wend

Code "G53"
Code "G00 Z300"


DeactivateSignal (OutPut2)    'Clamp Tool'
Sleep 1250



DeactivateSignal (OutPut1)    'Tool Turret Away'
Sleep 1500


Do
DeactivateSignal(OutPut7)
Sleep 1000
Loop


SetOEMDro (824) (CurrentTool)

Sub MovePos(ByVal ToolNumber As Integer)

Select Case ToolNumber      'Positions to each tool in B-axis 
      Case  = 1
        Code "G00 G53 B 360 "
      Case  = 2
        Code "G00 G53 B 720 "
      Case  = 3
        Code "G00 G53 B 1080 "
      Case  = 4
        Code "G00 G53 B 1440 "
      Case  = 5
        Code "G00 G53 B 1800 "
      Case  = 6
        Code "G00 G53 B 2160 "
      Case  = 7
        Code "G00 G53 B 2520 "
      Case  = 8
        Code "G00 G53 B 2880 "
      Case  = 9
        Code "G00 G53 B 3240 "
      Case  = 10
        Code "G00 G53 B 3600 "
End Select

End Sub  


Baz.


----------



## RonGinger (May 12, 2013)

That is a very fine bit of work.

How are you holding the tools and releasing them? That has always been my holdup on an ATC.


----------



## rcfreak177 (May 12, 2013)

RonGinger said:


> That is a very fine bit of work.
> 
> How are you holding the tools and releasing them? That has always been my holdup on an ATC.



Hi Ron,

Holding the tools is easy really, I am using a 3/4" no3 morse taper collet in the spindle,

Disk springs hold the tension on this with the draw bar. To release the tool I have mounted a 50mm bore 30mm stroke pneumatic cylinder up the top which actuates a lever that presses down on the top of the drawbar itself compressing the springs and in turn releases the collet. 

I did work out the fulcrum point on the lever, cylinder size and spring size etc to get the 500 lb clamping force I was after.

Just to add to that the toolholder is gripped on the 3/4" dia and also when clamped is pulled up onto a 1 3/4" dia face to the spindle.

I have punished it and can't get the collet to slip, due to being pulled up to a face the repeatability is spot on.

I now understand why Tormach charges $4000 for a similar unit, there has been huge amounts of trial and error in getting things right. Some parts had to be made 3 times, all slightly different  :wall:

Once I have it all back together  will get some good pictures and a short video of how it all works for you.

Baz.


----------



## rcfreak177 (May 17, 2013)

Did a bit more on the mill today,
most of the wiring is done, powered up and tested, nothing blew up so thats a plus.





I decided that the 5 volt power supply was taking up too much space. I removed it and fitted a 5v power regulator which runs off the 12v supply.
I have kept the 48v supply for the steppers completely separate, that way if I manage to trip it out I still have the 5v and 12v supply for the logic and solenoids running.





Also fitted my el cheapo auto lube unit from Ebay, has programmable cycle times, how often it cycles and also for how long, works great.





Things to do,

* Finish painting and assemble the mill and ATC unit
* Make the door for cabinet, finish control panel and fit all perspex windows
* Touch up paint on cabinet
* Extend the pc power supply, fit and tidy up all wiring
* Mount and plumb up the air solenoids and air supply.
* Make 50 litre coolant tank and fit.
* Plumb up auto lube system

Still a bit to do but shouldn't be too long now.

Cheers,
Baz.


----------



## /// (May 17, 2013)

Very cool, enjoying every update.


----------



## rcfreak177 (May 17, 2013)

Thanks Simon,

Put my heart and soul into this thing, once the mill is finished I have the Emco 120P lathe to do, that should be easy though.

Whereabouts in Perth are you located?


----------



## DICKEYBIRD (May 17, 2013)

rcfreak177 said:


> ....I have the Emco 120P lathe to do, that should be easy though.


Spoken like a true optimist.

Fantastic job on the mill and the ATC!


----------



## rodw (May 17, 2013)

Baz, you might like to check out this video of my neighbour's home made scratch built CNC lathe which may give you some ideas for stage 2.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nK5sEgCkOk"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nK5sEgCkOk[/ame]

Chris also has a SX3 CNC mill but he bought it complete.

Great stuff your are doing by the way!


----------



## rcfreak177 (May 17, 2013)

G'day Rod,

Thanks for the video mate, thats one unusual but very effective lathe. The bigger manual lathe is the same as the one I have
 (not a bad machine at all)

Sorry to hear about your diff centre failure, probably a plus it happened in town and not out in the bush somewhere though.
You have had a bit of bad luck lately haven't ya. Keep smiling mate it will all blow over.

Your shed is looking great, there is an excellent selection of tooling in it, nothing stopping ya know. 

What is the first engine going to be???

I have a fair selection of plans for steam and IC that are distributed freely on the net, can send them to you if you like.

Baz.  Thm:


----------



## /// (May 17, 2013)

rcfreak177 said:


> Thanks Simon,
> 
> Put my heart and soul into this thing, once the mill is finished I have the Emco 120P lathe to do, that should be easy though.
> 
> Whereabouts in Perth are you located?



Hi Baz, nice lathe!
I almost bought an Emco CNC lathe a couple of years ago on ebay(don't remember the model), but organising freight was turning out to be too difficult and had to let it go.
I should have pressed ahead as good used lathes rarely pop up for sale, and when they do, almost all of them are in the eastern states and "pick-up only". Very frustrating.
There was a nice Hercus PC200 on ebay recently for a decent price, but again, pick-up only.

Edit: This is the the very lathe that was for sale: [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-P2_ozsElx4[/ame]

I'm in Rockingham.


----------



## ZipSnipe (May 18, 2013)

Great job Baz, love that enclosure!!!!!! Keep it coming !!!!


----------



## rodw (May 18, 2013)

rcfreak177 said:


> G'day Rod,
> 
> Thanks for the video mate, thats one unusual but very effective lathe. The bigger manual lathe is the same as the one I have
> (not a bad machine at all)
> ...



Baz, thanks for the encouragement. Yes, Chris is one cluey guy. He made me a morse taper for my rotary table while he had it programmed. I wish I had room for the lathe you both have but it was just too darn big!

Life has been so busy for me recently, I have not had any time to devote to quality shed playtime, its all been about sorting stuff in the shed. I did make an EZ runner and was going to make a wobbler next then maybe a bigger horizontal steam engine. But right now I have my hands full with making a lathe stand, a drill power feed and an Arduino driven Stepper for my Rotary table. It's still only very early days on it,but at least I know I can move it.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2tuP9LZNgU"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2tuP9LZNgU[/ame]

I've put a lot of time into coding menus and data entry screens and am waiting for a Gecko stepper drive to arrive. I hope to build in basic programmability into it, possibly reading files from an SD card if I can ever get the library to compile!

Yes, I know I have all the gear needed to make stuff, I watched the MIT tech videos and made a list of the things he showed and it kinda grew from there.

Anyway have to knock off some UFO's (unfinished objects) before I get to the engine.


----------



## rcfreak177 (May 24, 2013)

G'day,

Done a bit more on the mill over the past few days.

Made a complete new spindle, This one is good to go, fitted with angular contact bearing for the higher speed. I have run it up, Ultra quiet and barely even gets warm at full speed for over 1 hour (7000 rpm).
Have had drama's with the spindle control via Mach. The speed was all over the show (surging) and could not get an even increase in the 0-10v from the CNC4PC C6 board. I spent 2 days solid on this, turned out to be a faulty C6 board, put another one I had spare in and all is good.
My speed ranges from 1500 rpm through to 7000 rpm and is on the money right through the range. I am using a closed loop system with a photo interrupter fitted to the driven pulley to the spindle. I would love to have rigid tapping but that would be expecting a bit much without am encoder fitted.

The control panel now has the Estop and MPG fitted and working, also the X Y and z home switches are fitted and working.
This thing has been an electrical nightmare, slow going trying to make the wiring neat and tidy also accessible for fault finding in the future
Patience and Red Bull have been the key.

















Getting there slowly but surely.


----------



## rcfreak177 (May 26, 2013)

And a bit more done today,

here is a picture of the you beaut spindle I made with an ER25 tool holder I also made,









A picture of the small vee belt setup I have rigged up (super quiet), previously had a MXL timing pulley gizmo drive but this drove me crazy at high RPM (way too noisy) You can also see the index sensor and the cone springs that pull the collet up into the taper.




And a short video of simulating the tool change action. Air cylinder needs to slow down and the bracket that holds the top of the ATC mount was not fitted so its a bit bouncy. I also might mount a couple of rubber stoppers to stop the air cylinder slamming at the end of stroke. This is a non cushioned cylinder.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUUcem9ljFQ[/ame]


Baz.


----------



## RonGinger (May 26, 2013)

Will the tool carousel disk have any kind of spring finger or clamp to hold the tools? Does the spindle just come down on the tool holder, then activate the drawbar? what insures the tool is seated all the way into the spindle? Any worry that the tool holder wont just fall out of the collet, or will the carousel be holding it firmly?

I really like your work, you have done a fine job on this whole machine. Thanks for documenting it so well.


----------



## rcfreak177 (May 26, 2013)

RonGinger said:


> Will the tool carousel disk have any kind of spring finger or clamp to hold the tools? Does the spindle just come down on the tool holder, then activate the drawbar? what insures the tool is seated all the way into the spindle? Any worry that the tool holder wont just fall out of the collet, or will the carousel be holding it firmly?
> 
> I really like your work, you have done a fine job on this whole machine. Thanks for documenting it so well.



Hi Ron,

The tool will be held in with a nylon clamp, similar to the Tormach ones, so it will be held firmly with the carousel fingers.









The ones I have made are a bit different, Once it is all up and running and I am happy with it I will get some steel forks laser cut.



Yep the spindle comes down on to the tool holder until the Z axis hits the proximity sensor, this will be set up so the tool holder face contacts the spindle face, when the collet clamps it moves approx 2mm up inside the spindle pulling the tool holder very hard against the spindle face.

Basically once clamped  on the 3/4 dia shank and with the pressure between the 2 faces it is very rigid.

The collet is spring applied (clamped) in its neutral state so the solenoid will activate to move the air cylinder I am yet to mount up the top releasing the spring tension in turn releasing the collet. 

Within the Mach3 macro the carousel can't move away until it registers the output that controls the drawbar is turned off (tool clamped)
I guess if the solenoid itself fails (gets stuck on) it will drop the tool.


Thanks for the compliments Ron, once it is all finished I will be sure to post a detailed video of exactly how it all works, without going into the electric side of things too far or it will go for a week, basically focusing on the mechanical components.


----------



## rcfreak177 (Jul 24, 2013)

G'day,

Had a couple of days to play around with my atc project,
I remade all the tool holder fingers and also made the acetal spring thingys that hold the tool in the atc.

Also knocked up a dummy ER25 holder then set it all up (with only 2 tool fingers) aligned everything an executed a few tool changes.

"You little ripper"

it all works great, still waiting for my needle valves to turn up so I can control the atc in/out air cylinder better, too fast at the moment and the grease nipples I have soldered up and drilled to 1 mm dia that are fitted to the exhaust side of the solenoid are not cutting the mustard.

Anyway not much more to do now, bit of tweaking, make 10 new tool holders and heat treat them, fit and re alighn everything and should be good to go.

Here is a video showing the operation and also the collet release mechanism.
I apologise for the crappy video quality and noisy compressor.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fUnjJV3JwA&feature[/ame]


Baz.


----------



## rcfreak177 (Jul 30, 2013)

G'day,

I have had a win with the ATC, it all works.

I made 10 ER25 collet holders yesterday. Made from 4140 then heat treated in my kiln. I heated them to 880 degc held for 30 mins then quenched. Following that I tempered them at 250 degc for 2 hours and turned off the kiln and left overnight to cool down. According to my fileameter hardness tester I reckon they came out at about 52 rockwellC. After all that I finish turned them with a ceramic insert tool to the finish size.

They came out well. 


In the kiln ready to go




After finish machining








I had to buy a new compressor in the midst of it all. The poor old 2hp direct drive unit I have had for 8 years was struggling to build 80 psi in the tank, so I got this little beauty. 3 cyl 3hp 240litre min free air delivery at 115psi (8.5 cfm)





And here is the video of the ATC changing all 10 tool holders then back to tool 1.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CPu8dQ0aJk&feature=youtu.be
There is a bit of a tight spot on the linear rails, the top one has a log leg bend of 0.003" causing this.
I will order new ones so i can make the motion smoother to help avoid things moving causing misalignment over time.


I also received the manifolds for my auto oiler system. Managed to get that all plumbed up and working.




There is not much more to do now, bit of adjusting, make a door for the cabinet. Knock up a dual coolant system (Flood and Mist).
Touch up all the paint. buttons on the control panel, tidy up and move it to the new spot in the shed.

thanks for looking.
Baz.


----------



## dreeves (Jul 30, 2013)

Great job on the changer. I would put some kind of damper on the right side to cushion the return.

Dave


----------



## rcfreak177 (Jul 30, 2013)

Hi Dave,

yeah definitely, I do have an acetal bushing to limit the cyl stroke so it does not bottom out.
Unfortunately with the tight spot in the linear rail I have the air wound up a bit higher than I would like so the smooth control is out the window.
There is good quality flow control valves fitted in both directions. As great as it is that air compresses its giving me trouble in this application, causing a bouncy motion.

Might take your advice and try a spring or maybe a rubber cushion there to absorb the shock.
Job for tomorrow i think.

Baz


----------



## rcfreak177 (Aug 9, 2013)

I have managed to get more stuff done.

Made the cover for the ATC tool indexing plate, It has a you beaut door that opens as the turret moves towards the spindle. I also managed to sort out the speed issue on the in and out pneumatic cylinder by fitting some flow control valves to the cylinder itself, these little buggers are very good quality, I nearly fell over when the cost came to 80 bucks for 2. Also mounted a spring on the retract side to adsorb the shock.

I did run into a problem with the motherboard on the onboard computer though.
One of the capacitors on the board itself has failed. Poor old thing is 10 years old so I didn't bother fixing it. I decided to go with a new intel ITX D2500 mini board. This thing is awesome, has a dual core processor (2 x 1.8 gig) plenty to run Mach3 and my PacLed64 board. I formatted my hard drive and loaded a fresh version of Windows XP Pro, 32 bit, set it all up and it performs flawlessly.

The bloody motherboard measures 165mm x 165mm, can't believe how small it is, Also has a mini ATX power supply so I was able to free up more space by getting rid of that old bulky desktop supply.

no pictures at the moment but I will update the thread soon.


Here is the link to the Intel ITX mini board.
http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/desktops/desktop-board-d2500hn-innovation-brief.html

I recommend this to anyone that is retrofitting with an onboard stand alone PC, There is also more powerful models available. The retail at about $100, But stock up as I have just got the word that Intel will be stopping manufacture of motherboards. they will only be producing chipsets for aftermarket boards and focussing on the development of a new mini chipset.

The prices will go up.

Here is a link to minibox where I bought my PC parts from, Lots of goodies here.
http://www.mini-box.com/site/index.html

Baz.


----------



## CNC-Joe (Aug 10, 2013)

Hey RC - GREAT ATC BUILD!!!

- Did you get rid of the Geneva Mechanism?  If so, why?
- Can you repost any changes to your M6 Tool Change Macro ?

Thanks for sharing your build, it is really interesting (I want one!)

Joe


----------



## rcfreak177 (Aug 10, 2013)

Hi Joe,

The geneva mechanism is gone. Reason being the thing worked well but the noise drove me crazy, I replaced it with a 4:1 reduction from a MXL timing pulley setup.

There has been a few small mods to the M6 start macro, nothing major though. I will have to drag it up and post it for you.

Machine is not working at the moment, computer issues, all sorted and bench tested but I still have to mount the hardware.

Baz


----------



## rcfreak177 (Aug 11, 2013)

Ok here is a bit of eye candy for you guys out there like me that love pictures.

Enjoy.

This is my new motherboard, PacLED64 drivers to illuminate my controller buttons and the Ipac4 keyboard emulator.
As you can see the 12" ruler is to give an idea of the sizing.





Here is the control box I have built. There is a wireless usb keyboard but I am trying to stay away from using it as much as possible.
I still have to make the label stickers yet, will be using my missus's Cricut scrapbooking machine for this.
The box is steel frame with 3mm acrylic sheeting.




Another view.




And here is the ATC shroud I knocked up, complete with a door that opens and closes as it moves.
Still have to box in the stepper motor area.




Thanks for looking.
Baz.


----------



## rcfreak177 (Aug 11, 2013)

Joe,

Here is the revised M6 start macro.

There is another revision to this but It is on mu other computer.
the sensors are missing on this one for the tool turret position.


             'Macro M6Start
Message""

If  GetOEMLed(807) And  GetOemLED(808) And  GetOemLed(809) And  GetOemled(811) Then
MsgBox" 1 or more axis are  NOT REFERENCED cancel program and REF XYZB axis"
End
End If



Dim OldTool As Single
Dim NewTool As Single
Dim X As Double
Dim Y As Double
Dim Z As Double
'********************************
OldTool = GetCurrentTool()
NewTool = GetSelectedTool()

If NewTool = OldTool Then
MsgBox" Same Tool,  NO ACTION" 
End
End If


If  NewTool > 10 Or NewTool < 1 Then
MsgBox" Tool # 1-10 ONLY "
End
End If


Code "M09"      'Coolant Off



Code "M05"      'Stop Spindle
Message" Coolant And Spindle Turned Off" 




'******************************

Code"G53 G0 X0,Y0,Z0"
While IsMoving()
Wend


ActivateSignal(Output1)      'Tool Turret In'




ActivateSignal(Output2)      'Release Tool'
Sleep 500

Code "G53 G1 Z40 F650 "

Call  MovePos(NewTool)      'The ATC moves to the new tool.
While IsMoving()
Wend

Code "G53 G1 Z0 F650"
GetOEMDro (85)




DeactivateSignal (OutPut2)    'Clamp Tool'
Sleep 1000



DeactivateSignal (OutPut1)    'Tool Turret Away'
Sleep 1500


Do
DeactivateSignal(OutPut7)
Sleep 1000
Loop


GetCurrentTool

 GetOEMDro (85,40) 

Sub MovePos(ByVal ToolNumber As Integer)

Select Case ToolNumber      'Positions to each tool in B-axis 


      Case  = 1      
        Code " G53 G0 A 360"                          
      Case  = 2
        Code " G53 G0 A 36"        
      Case  = 3
        Code " G53 G0 A 72"         
      Case  = 4
        Code " G53 G0 A 108"                   
      Case  = 5
        Code " G53 G0 A 144"                 
      Case  = 6
        Code " G53 G0 A 180"               
      Case  = 7
        Code " G53 G0 A 216"                   
      Case  = 8
        Code " G53 G0 A 252"                 
      Case  = 9
        Code " G53 G0 A 288"                
      Case  = 10
        Code " G53 G0 A 324"
End Select

End Sub


----------



## CNC-Joe (Sep 4, 2013)

Thanks Baz !!!

- It helps a ton to see what others have been working on.
- If you get the updated code put together, please post that, too.
- Your tool changer is looking awesome!

Joe


----------



## sagreen (Sep 21, 2013)

rcfreak177 said:


> Hi Joe,
> 
> The geneva mechanism is gone. Reason being the thing worked well but the noise drove me crazy, I replaced it with a 4:1 reduction from a MXL timing pulley setup.
> 
> ...


 
Baz,

In an earlier post you mentioned that you would be creating a set of plans for the ATC? Any thoughts on when you might be doing that? This is the nicest DIY tool changer I have seen to date! Looks awesome!

Scott...


----------



## CNC-Joe (Oct 11, 2013)

Nice work on the Tool Changer, Baz.
I'm completely jealous.

I especially like the ER25 collet tool holders that you made.
Nice work!


----------



## rcfreak177 (Nov 14, 2013)

Sorry guys, no updates to the ATC for now, my YouTube channel is getting smashed with people wanting plans.

Work commitments have gotten the better of me for the moment and not looking like things are going to back off in the near future, getting desperate to get some shed time to finish this thing off, soooo close to wrapping it up.

As soon as I move forward I will post updates.

Baz.


----------



## Rwskinner (Jan 5, 2014)

I'm glad to see the changer coming along so well!  Its nice to see your creations work and do well.  Mine gets used pretty regular.

Richard


----------



## kjk (Jan 6, 2014)

Have you published any details of your spindle upgrade?


----------



## lunuwaththa (Jan 28, 2014)

I read this entire posts it is awesome.  dear Baz can you please post the wiring diagrams for this ATC 
I'm very interesting about this very much. 
thank you very much Baz


----------



## rcfreak177 (Feb 7, 2014)

No plans still, work is killing me. the wiring diagrams will be in the final plans as well as the spindle upgrade. thanks for the enquiery.

Baz.


----------



## rcfreak177 (May 16, 2014)

Hi,

Still bugger all has happened with the SX3 ATC lately.
In between family, work and my business on the side at home I get very little time. After the unexpected arrival of our baby girl 12 months ago the milestones have hit home with full force. Last week We celebrated the 16th birthday for our eldest girl and the very next day was the 1st birthday of our baby girl. Hopefully things settle down for a while so I can get some personal shop time.

Anyway I have a new toy in the workshop.





This is not the actual Syil X7 plus cnc mill but is identical.
To cut a long story short the machine was delivered to me (Turnright Engineering) with cnc controller issues. The client has put only 25 hours on the machine and placed a screwdriver in the wrong place and KAPOW! the control system is fried. I was instructed to repair the machine so I did. Complete with my usual cnc gear and also an on-board mini ATX motherboard.

My client has accepted an employment position to relocate to Canada with Atlas Copco the company we both work for (in our real jobs). It simply was not cost effective to freight the machine from Australia sooooooo I bought it at a bargain.

I have been overwhelmed with the quality and performance of the machine compared to the SX3. It runs full linear slides etc, is solid and very powerful and now has a 10000 rpm spindle. Time to get my butt into gear and finish the ATC. The new mill is just begging for a scaled up version.

Baz.


----------

