My Best Project...Until Now

i build an automatic tool changer for my cnc router and what it does is simple it switches between the tools that are used for making a part automatically i don't have to do anything anymore or babysit the machine which is amazing i've also used it for a couple projects already for example a new spoil board or this height adjustable computer arm which now is my operator console let me tell you now that i've used it for a couple projects i can never go back to manual tool changing anymore this is just so nice this was probably the most difficult project i've done so far it challenged me in every single way design machining parts assembly software troubleshooting and budget but going through all of that for me was pure joy with this video i want to show you everything that went into this so get comfortable grab a snack it's a long project you can tell by the length of from here in the beginning of this project it was like this and now we are here hey it's me from the past and if everything worked you could just see the finished tool changer but right now it's not done yet i have to start somewhere but how how would you approach such a big project step one buy an automatic tool changer that's easy step two buy some tool holders and make a tool rake step three mount the tool rack on the machine that's the simplest arrangement but it also wastes the most space i use the current spindle to demonstrate the machine is moved all the way back and about at a position where i could pick this tool holder now when it's done that it needs to move forward right up to here because when the z-axis comes down and it would still be back it would crash into the tool magazine that cannot happen and that distance is lost as usable work area i don't want to lose it and the solution has been done many times make the tool magazine movable and move it out of the way with a pneumatic cylinder when you don't need it but of course there's a big problem number two i have three controllable outputs on my cnc controller one i use for the dust collector the other one i use for compressed air and the third one i need for the tool changer so how would i move the tool magazine when i need to without being able to control it my conceptual solution was to compromise and give up 20 to 30 millimeters of work area and couple the tool magazine mechanically to the gantry with some kind of levers so the machine moves a little bit and the magazine moves a lot easy except it's not then i spend a good amount of time at a computer designing a two magazine with this concept and then i spend even more time making this animation so it's fun to watch when the gantry now moves back in the last 25 millimeters it engages with the lever on either side and that will push out the magazine lever ratio here is about five to one there are tons of custom parts and also a custom spindle mount which allowed me to squeeze 14 tool places into the magazine and that's the first part i'm going to fabricate i bought two pieces of stock because i didn't expect the first try to work but it did the hole i'm drilling here acts as a starting hole so i don't have to plunge mill i tried to choose relatively conservative cut settings which sounded good at first but then ah beautiful however it still worked for roughing the finishing pass then went great as well as milling the center holes and the best part is adding a chamfer which mimics a more professional look machining time was i guess about 40 minutes cleaning time will be probably four hours the part looks pretty good i think i made the chamfer a little big but does the change of fit no well then let's make the holes bigger very nice the important features are done so the holes and this surface now you can flip the part around and finish the other side from the second side i just had removed some thickness and finished the contour the cnc machining of this part turned out great and accurate but it also needs some threaded holes here here here here there there and there the clamping hole starts with a through hole then the hole size for the threads and then cutting the threads with a level box i aligned the part in device for the remaining holes they are all just straightforward threaded holes and did you know that everything works better when you stare at it the most nerve-wracking part was cutting the slot at the table saw which turned out to be the easiest it cut through it like it's nothing [Music] that worked really well the slot turned out great let's see if the spindle still fits or if the hole collapsed it didn't i didn't expect any different because a hole collapsing when you cut the slot is a phenomenon with flat stock because of its internal stress that's why i bought cast plate stock for this which has a lot less internal stress and now with one turn of the front screw the spindle is locked fantastic the hardest part to machine is done and a success time for the wooden part i prepared a bunch of raw pieces flattened the machine table and started cutting the general routine was to start with holes which allowed me to screw the part down and let me machine the outer contour as well for all parts that get machined on both sides i also machined these holes for alignment pins into them and i also machined the holes with according spacing into my machine bed and by now using two pins and setting the piece on that i know the exact location and by using one of the pins as x y zero i don't have to measure anything and can just run the program i didn't record much of that because it's repetitive and boring but here's a too close to focus glamour shot [Music] and just like that i got all pieces necessary actually a full work day and even longer to program all the parts then also some middle parts and cutting the linear rail in half so many machine parts and a bunch of other stuff i just can't explain now you'll see during the assembly what all this is for but during the design of all these parts i got a bit carried away and made an almost wireless 3d probe do you think this is worth making a video about as well now let's do the fun part the assembly which actually starts with disassembly this is my automatic dust shoe i made a video about that as well check the video description first the spindle mount gets screwed to the z-axis and i think i need to drill the holes in place because i don't want to unscrew all of that [Music] to ensure i drove straight i used my dad and his point of view from the side [Music] a chamfer always makes it look better that went better than expected the whole size now is bigger than what m8 needs but i wanted to make sure to have enough tolerance for everything to fit and also to have room for adjustment later if i didn't screw up the assembly of the wooden parts should be easy the alignment of the linear rails is critical because when they are not parallel to each other they will start binding so i machined these parallel edges onto here where i press them against when i screw them in place hey could you please stop judging my professional angle grinder heat treatment rails for the blocks i also have a machined edge on one of the sides to align it against on the other side i left a small gap between the machined edge and the block they are not touching so the spacing of the blocks is given by the linear rails and this should ensure that nothing's binding looks good then screen together the rest of the magazine it's basically a long box that seems unnecessarily complicated but it's required to ensure it ends up straight because the plywood isn't by itself better double check the dimensions oh this is the wrong size but now i can't confirm the new spindle holder works and then adding more parts to the assembly i also found a neat way for securely mounting a bearing while staying low profile with an aluminum tube and a countersink bolt the string is for the retraction mechanism and sits in kind of a pulley all fits turned out well and this is how the five to one level mechanism works sweet the strings allow me to adjust the pre-tension on the springs one thing i really didn't know if it would work is the spring retraction system so let's see yes it works lastly some covers for the sides and a lid on hinges soft close is totally necessary but i had them left over and there it is the assembly now gets mounted on the machine table with a specific overlap so the gantry engages at the right position the gantry will engage with this mechanism at this bearing with this special shaped piece and as it moves back it will push on this bearing first a little down and then back and this pulls out the magazine these pieces get mounted at a specific location on the gantry and to locate the screw hole positions i made this template that aligns with two of the existing holes in the gantry [Music] since i don't know the exact final location now there's still room for adjustment on the other side it was more awkward with all the cables in the way and the piece needed a cutout to clear your cover i haven't adjusted anything yet it's just kind of in a middle position as it is in the 3d model so it should work let's see it does and back works as well this is as far back as the machine will go and in this position the magazine should be fully extended it's not quite but that's okay because i built adjustment to basically everything i can do that later but seeing this work now i'm confident that i can go on with the rest because all of this was more or less the fun assembly part and now comes the rest oh yeah you may remember what i said in the automatic dust shoe project all right everything is in the direct chain and if you take a look at this i couldn't fit any other wire through there even if i wanted well now we're here and this air hose needs to go through there as well this actually turned out not to be too bad looks like there was some more room the hard part was rotting it through the top part and required a good hour of yelling and crying let's not even go there and jump right into the adventures of the electrical box in terms of electronics and pneumatics i need to add this well for the tool changer and a relay that goes along with it and i'll also switch out these two relays with these two solid state ones because they gave me some trouble the wire mess in here is terrible and i'm about to make it even worse it's hard to film this stuff while i also have to figure out what to connect to where but in the end it only looks complicated and was relatively straightforward i also added a step-down converter and adjusted it to 12 volts for the tool sensor and to light up some buttons i told you it would get messier but anyways i have this wire which is connected to this relay and if i touch any ground with it it will trigger it and then switch this valve since everything metal is grounded i can just touch the box and it switches great and the second relay is connected to these two wires and we'll switch this valve now for the tool changer and with some pressure it's tight and works getting this mess organized is a lost cause so let's mount it again to hide it the two valves i then double sided tape to the outside and after all that the covers can go back on however a few of them still needed some modification to clear the new spindle holder then also a bunch of wires coming out of the machine and i plan on making a operator console and give it some features and that's what some of these wires are for to connect all of this wiring i mounted the controller a small electrical box and a bunch more stuff to another panel that's all boring so now for some testing with the controller the controller output for the compressed air valve is on this pin 3. it's off right now and nothing happens but when i turn it on and connect again it switches perfect the output for the tool change is on pin 4. nothing happens let's turn it on now it switches perfect this works so my automatic tube can also be mounted again now finally the part i've been waiting for connecting the spindle with the changer so the way this works the spindle has threads and a taper as usual for collets and this changer is made for this kind of spindle and has the same threads and a taper piece inside it and then you just screw them together first removing the valve it's a fitting and replacing it with this pin that will lock the spindle then i lock this spindle and screw them together then i tighten this ring remove that pin again and now they move together reinstall the valve it's a fitting and that's it this now goes into my spindle holder and tighten down this spindle setup should also be stiffer than the old spindle with a quick tool changer because this only has a set of bearings in the front right here and this now has the same set of bearings in the front but then also a set of bearings in the changer should be better we'll see oh yes this will make a huge difference you will see in the end one part i forgot to install is this pretty complex 3d print which is a new set of compressed air nozzles around the spindle here is the air connection and everything inside here is hollow and it also holds this proximity sensor which tells if a tool is installed in the spindle or not this tool sensor is what gets the 12 volt supply everything necessary is connected time for a test with air i wire up the switch to the tool changer valve and if i press it the clamp should open to insert the tool holder and close when i release it and it works with the tool sensor active and being on right now it tells the machine that there's no tool installed right now when i install one it turns off and tells the machine that there is a tool very important information with all that done i can now go on with the magazine and that started with clearance issues with the covers so i had to take most parts off again remove the material and assemble it back together but now i can start aligning it for this whole system to work reliably it's extremely important that both these brackets on the gantry interact simultaneously with the magazine and now facepalm time what's the best thing to do when doing critical alignments to your months long project crashing it even better is getting it on video i'm still surprised i didn't start cursing but the panic was high let me tell you at least nothing major broke but still required another one and a half hours to fix let's try again right now the magazine doesn't move out far enough and it's also not hitting its end stops and it also looks like it's slightly skewed because when i move forward it sometimes gets stuck like now adjusting the end stops is easy because it's just a screw on either side and to precisely adjust the position and rotation of these pieces i made this jig with three screws that fits again into existing holes in the gantry and then came a good bit of i have no idea what i'm doing or what i have to do but eventually i figured it out and after half an hour back and forth right now i can tell that the bracket here is still too low and too far back because when i moved to the machine position of 25 millimeters the magazine shouldn't have moved but as you can see it already moved quite a bit and then i got the hang of it i think i got the position of the brackets in the right curse it seems to work and the magazine doesn't get stuck anymore cool next i can adjust how far the magazine comes out i made the slot in the bracket right here because i want the end to be kind of a spring these springs should press the magazine into its end stops so it's always at the same location and doesn't wiggle around as you can see it has this springy behavior and now i only need to adjust the end stops of the magazine so this tool holder ends up centered in the magazine place i did the adjustment for both sides simultaneously this time everything was fine i only lost steps i did the adjustment on both sides simultaneously so i don't get it skewed let's check the other side i can't really measure it but from what i can see it looks good as well with that done there's now quite a bit of tension against the end stops now when i move back i should hear the magazine getting pushed against the end stops and now i know it's at the exact same location again and that actually were all the adjustments so let's try dropping a tool now listen carefully this is an actual emotion from an engineer when something works as expected cool a similar facial expression looks like this cool perfect here now in combination with dropping and picking a tool i just did that manually with the hand wheel and a switch how does the machine do that automatically and on its own well that's the software part of this project don't worry i won't bore you with code i first had to trim the spindle and then again measure the position of the first magazine place precisely to tell the software every other magazine place is based off of that and with that i can create the motions the machine has to make for a tool change i've done some testing and debugging of dropping and picking the tools and already got it up to reasonable speeds now i have a tool installed in the spindle when i drop it in one place and then pick up this tool in a different place first dropping it [Music] and now pick the other tool [Music] and that's it the code that does that is hard to look at but pretty simple it's mainly movement of the machine so back up and down opening and closing the valve at certain times and reading the sensor to check if something went wrong the straight movement down into the magazine works great for tools that are smaller than the chuck but i also have this flattening bit for example that's bigger and this doesn't work so can i use that with a changer well if i tell a human try to put this in a magazine you would fill around and there you go so i only have to tell the machine some specific movement to make this work as well and after a few tests this looks like this [Music] [Applause] during all these tests i called the subroutines that did all the magic here manually when there's a normal program with multiple tools it has to happen automatically so how does the machine know where what tool is and if it's a big tool or a normal one now bear with me the following is not complicated but i need 90 seconds of your special attention i'm using a standard tool table that's built into the control software and every tool i have gets its own tool number it also contains additional information like tool diameter and length i just made these numbers up the actual lengths are measured by a two length sensor i now added three columns to this for the magazine place for an indicator if it's a big tool and an indicator if the tool is already measured when i now put tools in a magazine i can tell the machine with that where that specific tool is so for example two one i put in magazine place one and since it is one of the big tools i set this indicator to one the measured indicator is automatically set to zero until the tool is measured with the tooling sensor tool number two i for example put in place number two small tool and not measured yet tool number three could be in magazine place five not a big tool not measured the magazine place doesn't need to match up with the tool number because it doesn't matter where the specific tool is installed in a magazine and this also allows me to have more tools than magazine places i just can't use them all at once i made up a couple numbers to give you a demonstration let's say a program starts with tool number one the machine does its job and then needs to change to tool number four what it does it first looks at its current tool number where it belongs in a magazine moves to this position and then if the big tool indicator is a one it does the motion for a big tool to drop it in place then it goes to the new tool number looks where it is in the magazine and moves to that place and if the big tool indicator is a zero it does the standard movements to pick it up and that's conceptually it there are of course more details and special cases that i just don't have the time to explain for example what happens if i want to change to a tool that's not in the magazine but i guess you get the general ideas so let's try it out i type m6 for tool change and t4 for the next tool number [Music] it's the same example i explained so dropping tool in magazine place one move to tool number four in magazine place eight and the machine picks it up works beautifully i'm also pretty happy with the speed and you could also hear compressed air which i used to blow dust and debris off of the tool holders so they are clean when they get installed as this is working next is installing the tooling sensor again i wanted to mount it permanently on the machine and needed a mounting blade for that which i turned out of a piece of aluminum unfortunately the cutoff tool broke midway at least i got my workout then drilling some holes and cutting a slot for the cable i found a neat solution to do that safely with the table saw this is probably the best metal part i've made so far the tool sensor fits the cable here does it really need leveling screws i don't know but i needed the bigger mounting plate anyways and these were just four additional holes and now i can also measure tools again [Music] i optimized the speed of that as well and not only that the whole tool measuring will be full automatic from now on because of that measured indicator in the tool table i showed you earlier so when the machine picks up a tool that's not measured yet well it will just do it then and move on the big tools are a bit of a problem because the measuring happens always in the center of the sensor and this tool for example doesn't have anything in the center so this doesn't work i could offset the measuring position for the big tools a bit and then touch off one of the cutters but i can't guarantee that they are oriented the right way so it could be like this and then it touches off nothing and come on i didn't go through all this effort and still have to babysit the machine when i want to measure a big tool there has to be a better solution let me show you what i came up with because it works and it's pretty cool and then i explain it it's pretty fast and what happened i first probe at three specific locations within these locations it's guaranteed that at least one time a cutter got measured i figure out which measurement that was move to the same location again and make another slower and more accurate measurement up to the biggest tool i'm using and with this sensor this will work every time let me show you i spin this to a random location and start the probe cycle [Music] again i don't know why but the fact that this works and so fast is the best part of this project so far now the package i've been waiting for more tool holders now let's cut something and test the whole system the first part would be a new tool magazine because there are some issues with the current one with the current design the tools can't really fall out by shaking but they can get stuck at an angle like so no good and after a few iterations i now have this shape which has a better fit is shake proof and tip proof now i was doing one more test off camera and disaster after the first operation the air pressure was at about 6 bar as low as it gets and the tool change failed don't worry i programmed this in and when this happens the machine stops nothing got damaged but the whole system doesn't work and one of the problems is that i don't supply enough air pressure in the manual of the changer it says i need to supply 8 to 10 bar but stupid and naive me just thought tool changer it will work with 6 bar as well and now we are here now supplying sufficiently 8 to 10 bar is not particularly cheap i need a bigger compressor which is expensive or i need a pressure multiplier which is also expensive however i got an amazingly good deal on this used one on ebay and all it does is doubling the input pressure it works with a stupid simple concept inside there is a piston and the input pressure presses on one side of the piston the other side of the piston has half the surface area of the input side and that way the pressure doubles the real thing has two opposing pistons and with cleverly arranged valves this will work continuously since the shop air won't drop below 6 bar with this i can now sufficiently supply up to 12 bar and now everything works let's finally cut something another really cool fact is that my diy 3d probe shows potential then i started the program and the machine switches to the first tool it seems like this wasn't measured so it moves to the sensor before it goes to town and the next tool here the machine waits until i screwed down the piece and removed the clamps so it can be machined from all sides i really don't know how to show the system working so i just picked up the camera record it and let the machine do its thing and that starts with a bunch of roughing and just removing material here you can also see that i programmed a delay so the spindle can come to a standstill before it starts moving for the tool change [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] hmm i programmed more different tools than necessary to see how reliable the changing really is [Applause] [Applause] and there's another unmeasured tool [Music] [Music] yeah and then it's more or less always the same too bad that seeing the finished project working on a part is kind of the most boring part to watch but one more cool thing to see again is for the second side because it starts with the flattening bit that isn't measured [Music] [Music] the part is finished looking great and everything worked as intended what a journey one more thing missing is paint and the numbers i of course also machined some more parts because of some collision issues i ran into and that's also a good spot for my logo and then i took everything apart again for some paint covering up all important surfaces of course on the final assembly i also added other random bits against chips and dust like screw hole covers and a bottom brush that however needed a new haircut first and now the project is complete what a while right i guess i had the idea for this about a year ago started working on the design about half a year ago for some time and now finally seeing it being a reality is i don't know how to describe it it's amazing especially since it also works this upgrade made the machine i don't know three four times more capable not only because of the automatic tool changing now but also because of the increased spindle stiffness with the two sets of bearings and especially this makes it so much more fun to use because i don't have to be kind of careful with everything anymore now before i show you the before and after of what's possible with this now i need to talk about one more thing making this project and video took a really long time and it's no secret it was very expensive and since i don't have a sponsor for this project what still allows me to invest all that time and money is your support so thanks everybody for watching all my videos but if you want to do more there are a couple ways you can support me directly for example through patreon where you can sign up there we'll also get additional content and early access to new projects you can take a look in the video description there i have a few affiliate links for most router bits that i used also for this project and if you buy through that i'll get a small commission and the last way is to visit my online shop and buy a plant from there which is a win-win so thanks for listening and let's shred some wood [Music] this cut surface does not look good this was with the old spindle and a two flute eight millimeter bit going four millimeters deep and six millimeter step over in birch plywood now with the same bit i'm using 18 millimeter thick plywood go full depth full slot and rapid feet which is 6 meters per minute [Music] isn't this amazing i mean it totally overloaded the spindle no discussion there it can handle that for a couple seconds so that's okay but the cut quality is still fine no chatter and that wasn't even a roughing bit that was a standard one i guess you can see why especially this makes using the machine so much more fun i can use so much more potential of all the router bits now and i also did when making this computer arm project so keep an eye on that video and project and i guess that's a perfect wrap up for this gigantic project thanks for watching bye

Channel: Marius Hornberger

Views: 1,475,244

Keywords: Marius Hornberger, automatic tool changer cnc, marius hornberger cnc, overengineering, woodworking, workshop, DIY, homemade, How to, selfmade, jig, random, stuff, machinery, making, make, tbalesaw, bandsaw, drillpress, tools, woodshop, interesting, awesome, thinking, smart, video, tutorial, art, nice, great, good, crazy, robot, tool changer cnc, Engineer, cnc, marius hornberger dust collector, marius hornberger 3d printer, marius hornberger bandsaw, my best project, until now, best project

Id: ZeOUdosoEBM

Length: 36min 29sec (2189 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 10 2022