Ok hello to all.  My name is Jeff.  I have been building an ATC  for my G0704 Mill.  I have modified the mill a lot and should be a good long lasting mill when fully complete and machine what ever I will throw at it.  Now for the Tool Changer.  I am building a 12 tool ATC that has a Igus double bearing slide with a Nema 1200oz/in motor and a 5:1 Planetary gear box.  To move the slide is a 1.25'' 9'' stroke air cylinder.  The cylinder has a magnetic piston with an EXT. Reed Switch and a RET. Reed switch.  The reed switches are part of the M6start macro.  PDB is a Fabco air 4'' 3 stage multi power and also has the magnetic piston in it for the EXT. and RET reed switches.  I have 3 air solenoids that are 110VAC run through relays in the control box.  Air solenoid one is for the carousel slide, #2 is for the Fabco PDB sylinder and the #3 is for an air blast when the tool is put back into the carousel to clean the tool. 

I am waiting for 3 parts to be built since I cannot do it.  Parts I am getting machined and welded is, 1 Hub that will attach the carousel to the 1/2'' gear box shaft,  part 2 is the 10'' carousel that the TTS tool holders will mount to, part 3 is a metal box that will mount to the Igus rail to house the stepper motor with the gear box attached.  The hardest part so far was making the Mach3 ATC screen set.  I have never done it before but with a little trial and error I was able to get that done.  At first it was a disaster, really messed up my mach3 and just erased the whole and started over.  So word to those who are doing screen sets be careful and make a backup of your .set file   I had some knowledge of how to make the M6start macro but the real help came from a forum member   Reading a lot of old post have helped a lot as well. 

If anyone is wondering what else has gone into this let me know I will share what ever I have as in knowledge so far.  Oh yes to home the carousel i am using a magnetic reed switch.  The pickup for the reed switch is a little magnet placed into the hub of the carousel.  The reed switch when the magnet passes by will close, stop the motor and then back up 30 degrees and that will be where tool one is.  I home the mill along with the ATC at mill start up.  The air system will operate at 80PSI.  I have a pressure sensor in the ATC system so that if the pressure for the ATC drops below 75psi it will message the user to check the pressure and the procedure will stop until you hit OK.

Attached are a few pics of the parts so far.  More to come when my parts are done being made.

Wow that pic was big...lol

few more pics.

Ok trying to fix the pic issue.

Here is a pic of the back of the control box and the air compressor that I am using.  The air compressor is very quiet.

Nice work Jeff, thanks for sharing the info. and posting the pictures.

Tweakie.

Great start. I hope you will continue to post your progress. I'm quite interested in your build. I've always wanted to build one but have stayed away from it till now. If there is a couple of blogs that you suggest to read for more info on the macro side. Please share.


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A little note.  I should have a total build cost of $1500.  That is all the steel to mount to the mill table and powderd coated.  If I was to build another one I am sure I could save $200 to 300.  I did not need to use a Nema34 but I had it so I used it.  If I do another one after the first one is complete I will try the nema23 with the 5:1 planetary gear box.  The gecko driver was the 203v.  That did add cost but I wanted all the drivers to match.

Jeff

Good Job Jeff, An ATC project will be a popular subject here I am sure.

(;-) TP

Are you going to use Tormach TTS tooling?  I have that on my mill with manual tool change and it works very well.