On 01/06/2019 10:54 AM, Kenneth Lerman wrote:
To clarify the question:
With this type of tool changer, one could speed up the tool change delay:
1. when loading a tool
1. unload the previous tool into one side of the arm
2. move the chain so that the new tool is ready to be loaded (if not
already there)
3. grab the new tool from the chain
4. put the new tool into the spindle
5. move the chain to the position of home position of the previous
tool
6. put the previous tool back into the chain
2. lookahead option
1. Anticipating what the next tool will be, move the chain so that
the next tool will be ready to be loaded
Is that what you mean by:
Are there any examples where the tool is prepared in advance?
There are two types of tool changers, fixed position and
random position. The fixed type generally have some kind of
one-at-a-time mechanism, so no pre-prep is possible.
When the tool is to be changed, the tool in the spindle is
placed in the magazine, the magazine is moved to the
new-tool position and the new tool is loaded. A typical
system is a tool carousel that is moved toward the spindle
and the tool is exchanged directly to/from the carousel,
with no arm.
A random tool changer swaps the previous tool with the new
one, putting the previous tool into the same holder as the
new tool came from. This requires the system to keep track
of what tool is in what position of the magazine. System
crashes may require reloading the tool table with what tool
is in what pot. The random changer requires some kind of
double-ended changer arm, so the current tool and the new
tool can be exchanged between magazine and spindle. This
system allows the magazine to be positioned to the new tool
before the actual tool change is performed. You just
program a T## to pre-select the tool at some point in the
program. This causes the tool carousel/chain to position to
the new tool. When you program M6, the tool is actually
swapped.
Jon
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