chinese router atc upgrade

[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.