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Author Topic: BT30 spindle from scratch - with power drawbar and ATC of course  (Read 562388 times)

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Re: BT30 spindle from scratch - with power drawbar and ATC of course
« Reply #310 on: October 17, 2012, 07:20:35 PM »
I found the alignment pin was dragging on the receiver (the receiver is a crude prototype, and needs to be re-done).  I removed the alignment pin, and added a small, spring-loaded pin on the arm, to help push it away from the head.  It's now working nice and smooth, with very positive location at both ends of the travel.

Well....  Back to trying to "will" the pneumatic parts to show up, so I can finish this bad boy....  I cannot wait to see it working on its own.

Regards,
Ray L.
Regards,
Ray L.
Re: BT30 spindle from scratch - with power drawbar and ATC of course
« Reply #311 on: October 18, 2012, 08:00:27 PM »
I got my pneumatic parts today, so tomorrow I'll be working on software to sequence the ATC.  I've the air cylinders plumbed and wired, and under computer control.  I just need to wire up the carousel motor, and start writing code!  No "sensors" yet, but I can easily make it operate without them for now.

Regards,
Ray L.
Regards,
Ray L.
Re: BT30 spindle from scratch - with power drawbar and ATC of course
« Reply #312 on: October 19, 2012, 01:07:37 PM »
Here it is doing a toolchange under computer control for the first time.  It's running *really* slow, because I have long delays between the steps, so I can catch it if something goes wrong.  It's about 20 seconds in the video, and I should easily be able to get that under 10 seconds when it's all done.

P1060662 - YouTube

Regards,
Ray L.
Regards,
Ray L.

Offline BR549

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Re: BT30 spindle from scratch - with power drawbar and ATC of course
« Reply #313 on: October 19, 2012, 04:00:22 PM »
Getting close to miller time(;-)

(;-) TP

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Re: BT30 spindle from scratch - with power drawbar and ATC of course
« Reply #314 on: October 19, 2012, 04:55:07 PM »
Ray did you give any thoughts to doing a MOTOR drive to swing the arm instead of air. I worry about the constant BANGING at the end of stroke with the air.

Just curious, (;-) TP
Re: BT30 spindle from scratch - with power drawbar and ATC of course
« Reply #315 on: October 19, 2012, 04:58:17 PM »
Another option might be air over oil to more precisely control the cylinder....just a thought.
Russ

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Re: BT30 spindle from scratch - with power drawbar and ATC of course
« Reply #316 on: October 19, 2012, 05:04:36 PM »
A motor drive with a link could give you a slow start /stop zone. It would start slow then speed up through the swing to MID swing then slow down as it came to a stop.  The link creates this feature with the motor running at constant speed NO motor speed controls needed.

(;-) TP
Re: BT30 spindle from scratch - with power drawbar and ATC of course
« Reply #317 on: October 20, 2012, 08:06:31 PM »
Ray did you give any thoughts to doing a MOTOR drive to swing the arm instead of air. I worry about the constant BANGING at the end of stroke with the air.

Just curious, (;-) TP

Terry,

Yes, but it creates other problems.  It's really not as rough as it looks in the video - I had not done much in the way of "tuning" before I took that.  Now that I've had some time to tweak it, it's a lot smoother.  I will also be adding dampers at the ends of travel, to make the stops more gentle.

I did run the thing for some time yesterday, just swinging out, doing a random toolchange, then swinging back.  I did dozens of them with no "Oopsies".  Once I get all the sensing switches in place, it should work really nicely.

Regards,
Ray L.
Regards,
Ray L.

Offline BR549

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Re: BT30 spindle from scratch - with power drawbar and ATC of course
« Reply #318 on: October 20, 2012, 09:20:22 PM »
Let us know WHEN you get it slinging chips AND changing tools realtime. We can take up a collection and send the case of beer(;-)

(;-) TP
Re: BT30 spindle from scratch - with power drawbar and ATC of course
« Reply #319 on: October 21, 2012, 03:11:50 PM »
Just spent almost two hours running constant, random toolchanges without a single problem!  Now that the mechanics are getting broken in, it's running much smoother, and I see no need to cushion or damp the motion.  I'm very encouraged so far!

Regards,
Ray L.
Regards,
Ray L.