Hi All,
I wanted to get some advice on how to go about adding a rotary style ATC to my scratch build Milling Machine.
I am looking into the feasibility of making an ATC. My plan is to buy an imported BT30 ATC spindle from overseas and rebuild my CNC Mill head and Z axis to suit it. I would then have to make the tool changer itself.
I have not been able to work out how to get the spindle to index correctly so that the drive dogs will align with the ATC everytime. I see the new Tormach 1100MX has an encoder and it uses the VFD to position index the spindle correctly. (from 9:20 to 10:15 in their installation video. ) They use a m19 command. Is this possible to do with Mach3?
I am currently using a 1.5hp 3 phase motor running from a danfoss micro VFD drive. The current ER16 spindle has an index pulse sensor that tells mach3 the rpms, but I imagine will not be sufficient to index the spindle accurately enough. Mach is controlling the spindle speed by a 0-10v output.
The way I'm thinking, there are several options that might work....
1) Buy a servo motor and drive to replace the current spindle motor (expensive option) and run the spindle through a spare rotary axis output.
2) Find some way of interfacing an encoder to the mach3 system and work out how to program an index position into it and use the VFD to slowly turn the spindle until it reaches the programmed position via an M19 command.
I am not an electronics person, I don't have the foggiest idea how to interface an encoder and have Mach read it, let alone program anything....
Has anyone else come across this problem and solved it??
Kind Regards
LBDesign