Don Stanley wrote: > Hi Jon; > Presently I am using the hollow R8 collets waiting for someone to > develop a tool changer for the R8 machines before buying a pot full of > the R8 end mill holders. My work has been mostly one of a kind so far > but will soon switch to batch jobs and I will be forced to the end mill > holders > with or without a Tool Changer. > > Do you know of any R8 tool changers that cost less than a mill? > Or maybe a good design that could be duplicated? > I'm sure, if I wanted to, I could make a tool changer that would work with R-8. But, it wouldn't be really simple. You'd probably need some kind of standard ring to grip the holders with, and I'm not clear on how those could be easily attached to all the different holders. What I'm envisioning would end up looking a bit like a miniaturized Cat V-flange holder. You also need spindle orient unless you take the key out of the spindle.
There is the Tormach TTS scheme that might be adaptable to a tool changer. Maybe magnetic rings could hold the holder while transferring it to the spindle. Anyway, I found that without a changer, it makes MUCH more sense to change the work, and do all procedures on ALL workpieces before changing the tool. That may not work as well for complex parts that require a lot of machining steps on each piece, but it works for the parts I do. Jon ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Why Cloud-Based Security and Archiving Make Sense Osterman Research conducted this study that outlines how and why cloud computing security and archiving is rapidly being adopted across the IT space for its ease of implementation, lower cost, and increased reliability. Learn more. http://www.accelacomm.com/jaw/sfnl/114/51425301/ _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users