New PM-25MV Mill

Shooter123456, I have the exact same shop made air cylinder sitting on my workbench. Would you mind posting what beville springs you ordered? I haven't had a chance to finish the whole system yet, but I want to jump back into it!
ATC 1.jpg
ATC 2.jpg
ATC 3.jpg


The rest of my pictures are of the 18 tool ATC for the G0704. I wanted a challenge so it is a swing arm type. It has been on hold for a few months but I am pretty close to finishing it up.
 
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This thread is absurd! I can't believe what I am seeing! An absolue genius at work! Mad respect for taking a project like this on. This makes me feel very small! Can't wait to see that ATC going!
 
Shooter123456, I have the exact same shop made air cylinder sitting on my workbench. Would you mind posting what beville springs you ordered? I haven't had a chance to finish the whole system yet, but I want to jump back into it!


The rest of my pictures are of the 18 tool ATC for the G0704. I wanted a challenge so it is a swing arm type. It has been on hold for a few months but I am pretty close to finishing it up.

I went with these springs from McMaster Carr. https://www.mcmaster.com/#9712K437

Working load is 900 lbs and I have them doubled to give me 1800 lbs. I have them in 3 stacks of 4 so (())(())(()) which doubles force and triples travel. I would love more details on your tool changer. I considered one like that, but an umbrella one seemed much simpler. Cudoz for taking on such a difficult project. I have never seen one of those on a small hobby mill before.

Nice air cylinder, looks very familiar :)
 
I went with these springs from McMaster Carr. https://www.mcmaster.com/#9712K437

Working load is 900 lbs and I have them doubled to give me 1800 lbs. I have them in 3 stacks of 4 so (())(())(()) which doubles force and triples travel. I would love more details on your tool changer. I considered one like that, but an umbrella one seemed much simpler. Cudoz for taking on such a difficult project. I have never seen one of those on a small hobby mill before.

Nice air cylinder, looks very familiar :)


Thanks for the info and compliments! I should probably write up a new post on it - maybe this weekend. I'll throw a link here. I like design challenges so I figured why not. I haven't seen anything other than Dave Decaussin's ATC (
). That guys is ridiculous, I can't touch his stuff and how quickly he gets stuff out. Started it maybe 2 years ago, took maybe 2 months to design in Inventor, made 95% of the parts in my college machine shop whenever I had time, and spent probably a year (off and on) designing the software and Mach 3 interface. It runs on MODBUS over USB and cycles nicely. I haven't actually put it on the mill yet but I have a test fixture to run it on. It holds 18 tools (TTS style) and can hold up to a 2" diameter tool (4 if you are willing to have 2 empty pockets) and up to about 4 pounds. There are 3 air cylinders (Tool extension, swing arm, and drawbar), 2 steppers with encoders (swing arm and drum), and maybe 12? inductive proximity sensors. The drum is a geneva wheel and can pre-index the tools. It has a tool to tool time of around 3 seconds, although 5 is more comfortable.

I got pulled into other projects (new control panel with AC servos and my new lathe) but maybe you can give me the kick to get working on it again.
 
Thanks for the info and compliments! I should probably write up a new post on it - maybe this weekend. I'll throw a link here. I like design challenges so I figured why not. I haven't seen anything other than Dave Decaussin's ATC (
). That guys is ridiculous, I can't touch his stuff and how quickly he gets stuff out. Started it maybe 2 years ago, took maybe 2 months to design in Inventor, made 95% of the parts in my college machine shop whenever I had time, and spent probably a year (off and on) designing the software and Mach 3 interface. It runs on MODBUS over USB and cycles nicely. I haven't actually put it on the mill yet but I have a test fixture to run it on. It holds 18 tools (TTS style) and can hold up to a 2" diameter tool (4 if you are willing to have 2 empty pockets) and up to about 4 pounds. There are 3 air cylinders (Tool extension, swing arm, and drawbar), 2 steppers with encoders (swing arm and drum), and maybe 12? inductive proximity sensors. The drum is a geneva wheel and can pre-index the tools. It has a tool to tool time of around 3 seconds, although 5 is more comfortable.

I got pulled into other projects (new control panel with AC servos and my new lathe) but maybe you can give me the kick to get working on it again.
Dave does some really cool stuff for sure. Though he gets stuff done fast because he is a professional and has professional equipment. He was one of the founders of FADAL, but I still really like the stuff he has made.

I really like your work, it looks very well designed and thought out. I wish I had a mechanical engineering background like you, I feel like it would make all of this stuff easier to understand.
 
Dave does some really cool stuff for sure. Though he gets stuff done fast because he is a professional and has professional equipment. He was one of the founders of FADAL, but I still really like the stuff he has made.

I really like your work, it looks very well designed and thought out. I wish I had a mechanical engineering background like you, I feel like it would make all of this stuff easier to understand.


That is very true, I could probably get stuff done faster with a VMC in my garage.

I appreciate that. Honestly it looks like you are doing just fine. I feel like it just takes me forever to get stuff done, and you blew through that (and have great looking parts to show)
 
I spoke with a guy at DMM and the set up he recommended was about $500 and he said performance would be similar to a regular AC motor with VFD, except for when rigid tapping. I might have trouble spending the extra $200ish on a DMM just for slightly better performance rigid tapping. We will see though.

My spindle is a 750W DMM servo with a DYN3 drive. It's nice, but I never could get it tuned to handle the interrupted loads of cutting. It had to be de-tuned significantly or it would chatter like crazy when cutting. I hear the DYN4 is much better though. If I had to go it again, I would do an AC motor with VFD. Even better would be a permanent magnet AC servo motor running open loop (some VFD's can do this). I never bothered to set up rigid tapping even though I had the capability.

That being said, my new control panel will be running another AC servo spindle , but this one will be using an Allen Bradley Ultra 3000 drive and 1.8kW motor.

Control 1.jpg
 
Something you might want to consider.

http://benchtopprecision.com/bf20-3d-model/

They should be charging more for it. I bought it years ago and it really was worth every penny. Accurate enough to match my machine (although you have to double check, ya know, Chinese QC...
I think the one I have is suitable for everything I need. Its not super detailed, but the important parts are accurate. I try to avoid spending anywhere I don't have to since there isn't a ton of money to go around. Maybe after college.

I am starting to doubt the idea of getting a servo, since they are expensive and I kind of doubt it will be all that much better. I have started looking for an AC motor that will be suitable. I found several 56C motors, but they are way too damn big.
 
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