are we finally going to see an affordable spindle solution with ATC for hobbyists?
ATC? cool!!!
well, the spindle kit is designed for an iso15 taper and seems to come with tool-holders, a “gripper” type of automatic draw-bar, and a pneumatic actuator that pushes down on the draw-bar to release the tool. The tool is pulled upwards by springs. All of the rest will have to be DIYed around this spindle.
A little arduino, a little 3d printed plastic, a few servo, bang… ATC.
@Jesse_CreateThis Details please? It’s surprisingly hard to retrofit an ATC.
Just grabbing the ER11/16 collet and unscrewing it, then screwing on another collet isn’t as easy as it sounds.
I thought about that quite a while.
Hobby-servos certainly dont have enough power. Even IF you find a mechanism that works.
all professional ATCs seem to use the same strategy of pulling a tapered toolholder upwards into a tapered spindle. The atc-mechamism only pulls uppwards using the gripper/drawbar, and then releases/pushes down at tool-change. Here’s a cross section:
http://img.fystore.com/2012/11/13/EN026-Spindle-with-synchronous-belt-for-CNC-milling-BT30-ATC-petal-clamp-disc-springdrawbar-0.jpg
tightening/loosening collet-nuts will probably never work…
Yeah, my impression of the ATCs that I’ve seen is that it’s just a rotary tray with an X axis, and sometimes a short Z axis. They really don’t have to deal with tremendous forces when there is a power drawbar installed, and most require the drawbar. I really don’t understand why they’re so expensive. They seem pretty simple. As for hobby servos not having enough power: http://www.diyservo.com <— This one has plenty of power.
so…a second axis driven by the pindle via a belt?
Does that work >30.000rpm with high lateral forces with minimal runout?
Isn’t that way too heavy for the Z axis on most hobby=desktop machines?