Had the chance to earn some money cutting wood on a router but didn't work out as my quote was beaten by *alot* unfortunately. However I still dont have a CNC router and when/if I get one tool changes will be something I need to figure out.

Buying a machine capable of ATC is out of the question for me. Any money work I would do would only be part time so I would not be able to pay off a commercial machine or make a profit for my time which is important of course.

ATC spindles are around $3000+ each. Again not a real appealing option considering the entire router would cost less than this even when using decent components.

So.. I think the only 2 good options left would be to use multiple spindles. Either by actually having 2-3 spindles on the machine at all times (preferred) or by making some kind of quick change for the router spindles.

If using 2 spindles on the machine I am not sure how to program it but maybe some kind of relay to route the Z axis step and dir signals to different spindles motion controllers could be worked out so that 1 could be used at a time with MACH. Maybe its easier than this. I dont know how or if mach is designed to use more than 1 spindle.

"Quick change tooling" by actually swapping spindles is doable but *alot* of work and not very good for time savings IMO but it does represent another possibility.

ATC? Sounds great but how can I get ATC without spending $1000's? or being slooow.