The ATC is now operational. Below is a quick video fragment that I grabbed before the machine ships out in a couple days. The fragment will eventually be part of a larger video covering the last stages of the mill conversion, but for now, you can get to it with the link.
This video fragment shows a tool CHANGE . . i.e. grabs and stores one tool and then selects another tool, retrieves it and puts it in the spindle. And no more 'smoke and mirrors' trick using MACH axis to drive the motors. What you see is being run entirely by the all new and completely autonomous ATC controller. This video does not show the spindle homing becuase that operation, while finished, was not linked into the tool change macro (M6). The macro now homes the spindle as the first task, then converts the tool numer to binary and presents that at MACH outputs and then signals the ATC controller that there is a tool change needed.
The ATC controller them retrieves the binary number from the MACH outputs and acknowledges to the macro that it will accomplish the tool change.
The ATC controller then operates independently from MACH, including generating the step.dir pulse stream for the drives, and at the end of the tool change, it the sends a 'Done' signal to MACH (to the waiting macro) .
It sounds a lot more simple that it actually is. There are about 1,200 lines of code so far in the all new ATC controller and it is using the newest (4 to 5 times faster) processor. The new processor is 3.3V so that eases the interface problems with the Kflop, which is also 3.3v . . . mostly.
This scheme is a bit unusual, but it does not rely on Modbus or a plug-in and it will work with any CNC that has 6 available outputs . . . i.e. not tied to MACH. My 4th axis controller is already using the modbus and I decided not to try to have them (the 4th axis and ATC controllers) communicate with each other, nor did I want to attemp multiple simultaneous modbus devices.
In this way, the BT30 spindle and ATC are not tied to the 4th axis.
Also not shown in the video fragment, but now operational, are the two primary safety interlocks. The drawbar cannot release accidentally and the claw cannot release (read 'throw') a tool. Until electric solenoids are retracted, the drawbar actuator cannot move and the claw cannot open. The speed seen in the video fragment is something like 2/3 of the full speed. The claw interlock was not installed yet and I did not want tool holders launched across the shop. But rest assured, both the arm and the carousel can run much faster than shown here.
There are quite a few sensors to integrate (hardware is completed, just a matter of adding the sensors to the software), and of course. This was a particularly difficult project, but it is just the first iteration of the ATC. I have lots of other goodies to add like a dual arm, a much larger fixed carousel and perhaps even a tool belt.
http://youtu.be/QmlAgfIbscQ