chinese router atc upgrade

[voyager1972]

i have a chinese 10*5 router which i upgraded to uccnc, i have purchased an atc spindle and vfd ,have any members upgraded there machine to atc , any guides or info on setup ,also equipment thats needed like solenoid type, airline water remover,,, any advide would be welcome as ia am going to attemp the upgrade myself. i plan to add a linear style rack for tools in the future but would be happy with the manual push button tool change for a while.

[JAZZCNC]

I have built or converted several machines to ATC and while it's not difficult there are a few things that might not be obvious straight away and need to be considered before starting.

#1 The spindle weight.? Can your existing Z-axis handle the extra weight? This includes whether the motor can lift it and more importantly will it drop under the weight of the spindle when power is off.? You may need a stronger motor with a brake fitted!

#2 Common thing to be overlooked is the need for a dust hood that retracts when changing tools. This is often done using pneumatic cylinders that lift the hood above the spindle nose. Or a detachable hood that can be automatically parked while changing the tool and retrieved when finished.
A retractable one is most often used.

The components you'll need are below and a brief description of what they do and why you need them.
1 x Air filter
4 x Pressure regulators
1 x Air transducer
2 x 5/2 solenoid valve
2 x Single-acting solenoid valve
4 x Relays SPST

The air filter is just what it says and filters the incoming air and traps any moisture so is the first in the Airline chain, the pressure regulators come after this. The reason for so many regs is because you'll have different pressures in different places. You could lower this by using the same reg and solenoid for the Taper cleaning and air bearing but this would depend on the spindle but often they are very close in pressure.

The air transducer is a safety device so the tool change cannot happen if the airdrops below a certain pressure, this comes directly after the Air filter. If the air pressure drops then a voltage is allowed to pass through, this voltage you will connect to input or relay to activate an e-stop or warning message.

The 5/2 solenoids are for the Drawbar and Dust hood. These have 5 ports and a single solenoid, 1x inlet 2 x outlets, 2 x exhaust, these open and close the drawbar and close/open the Pneumatic cylinder. When you apply power it changes the direction of the air flowing through the OUT ports to OPEN the drawbar, when you remove power the valve closes, and the air is directed in the opposite direction then closes the drawbar, the air at either side of the cylinder is exhausted through the exhaust ports.

The single-acting valves are for the air bearing and taper cleaning, they just open and close letting air through.

All the valves are controlled using UCCNC Outputs.

Hope this helps.

[voyager1972]

thanks jazzcnc for the reply and the diagram , i will get the components purchased and get the upgrade started , this last few days i have spent going through the vfd manual which has been a daunting experiance to say the least,, trying to get my head around all the parameters and what they mean, looking through youtube for videos on the vfd setup , when you have no experiance it seems like an impossible task. what size of compressor would you recomend ? ,i have an old 300 litre but it has seen better days and dosent sound so good , a mate has a milling machine and has offered his services with a mounting plate for the spindle. hopefully over the holidays i will make a start.

thanks .

[JAZZCNC]

You will need a compressor that can provide a nice steady flow of dry air around 80 to 100psi. The volume isn't so important as the CFM which will depend on how you run the spindle regards the Air seal and how often you change tools.?

For instance, if you don't use the air seal option which some people don't because it uses lots of air and also blows dust around then your CFM requirements will be a lot lower as you only need short blasts of air for the drawbar and taper cleaning, and you only need it when changing tool so the compressor has lots of time to refill the tank before the next tool change so can get away with smaller CFM rating. Also, if you have a larger tank then you may get 2 or 3 tool changes before the pressure drops enough for the pump to fire back up.

However, If you use the air seal then you will need a compressor with a high CFM so it can replace the air you are constantly drawing while the spindle is running. This is why the air seals are often left off as they eat air which means the compressor is constantly on/off, esp if run with a small CFM pump.

I would look for a compressor around the 14-15CFM area and 200ltr, smaller than this and you'll find it's constantly on/off if using the Air seal.

[battwell]

the spindle you have does require a constant "air leak" to keep the front bearing clear of dust.
also ensure you have safety cut off of air to the high pressure side when spindle is running, you dont want the tool cone ejecting when running.
i have all this working nicely with uccnc. see https://cncrouter.uk/mercury-follow-atc.htm
its shows working videos.