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ShopBot Acorn ATC retrofit

Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2021 5:57 pm
by Toaster
Hey everyone, I've been running Acorn on my ShopBot for a couple of years now. I blew up another HSD spindle earlier this year and finally decided to go the ATC route. I got a CNC Depot S30C spindle and retrofitted it:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/AFtf83bhhoeiDpb87

I have a pretty beefy control system and steppers (thanks Gary Campbell) however it is open looped. I wanted to set this up in such a way that there were plenty of fail safes so I didn't drop tools on the floor or do any other damage.

I have a Hitachi Wj200 VFD and I was able to set it up so that a relay closes when the spindle is completely stopped, That is wired into an air pressure switch. I have both of those sensors on a circuit connected to an input on Acorn. If that sensor, and the VFD relay aren't closed there's no circuit. Once there is a circuit my code will allow the tool change to start. This is to ensure that I have plenty of air, and that the spindle is truly stopped before releasing the draw bar.

From there I have the M6 script setup to drive over to each prox switch and check it's location. It's pretty simple, basically I built a quick and dirty test script to drive to each prox switch and noted it's location. When M6 starts, the machine goes to where those switches should be. If I'm within a few thousands the M6 script continues, if I'm off an error gets put up and I can choose to re-home. That way I never try to pick up or drop off a tool if location isn't spot on.

From there it's a pretty standard tool change. The only surprise mod I had to do was the dust dock you see in the video.

I'm sure there are more complex ATC systems out there with more fail safes, but I feel like this is pretty solid for what I'm working with. If I do anything more with it I might get an Acorn breakout board and add some sensors for tool in/tool out in the forks and also for the dust shoe...

Re: ShopBot Acorn ATC retrofit

Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2021 6:07 pm
by slodat
Nice work!

Would you be up for sharing your m6 macro?

Re: ShopBot Acorn ATC retrofit

Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2021 6:26 pm
by Toaster
I'd be happy to share the macro when I'm done with it. Right now it's a bit of a mess. I need to clean it up, fix the comments, etc. Once I do I'm happy to post it.

Re: ShopBot Acorn ATC retrofit

Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2021 9:41 am
by Toaster
This is my mfunc6 file I'm using. I cleaned it up so it's more readable. Let me know if you have any questions.

Re: ShopBot Acorn ATC retrofit

Posted: Fri Jan 22, 2021 5:55 pm
by TheKitMill
Very nice work Well done

Re: ShopBot Acorn ATC retrofit

Posted: Sat Jan 23, 2021 5:07 pm
by martyscncgarage
Very nice! You should post the video to YouTube! Let everyone see your work.
Thanks for sharing your success!
Marty

Re: ShopBot Acorn ATC retrofit

Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2021 3:28 pm
by cnckeith
thanks for posting eric! fantastic, please post a fresh report.zip so we can see all your configuration. thanks, Keith

Re: ShopBot Acorn ATC retrofit

Posted: Thu Jan 28, 2021 1:04 pm
by Toaster
Here it is!
report_74E18288DD00-1016181237_2021-01-28_12-02-00.zip
(742.01 KiB) Downloaded 229 times
I still have a lot of detail to iron out, but it does work daily.

For those of you trying to do something like this I'd definitely recommend the expansion board so you have more inputs. My setup does work very well and does have safety systems in place, but I'd love for them to be more granular.

Re: ShopBot Acorn ATC retrofit

Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2021 12:30 pm
by Toaster
Little update on the swap, I finally got the tool rack in the correct spot:


Re: ShopBot Acorn ATC retrofit

Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2021 1:28 pm
by RogDC
Toaster,
Looks great. Would you mind sharing your updated macro and latest report?

Working on my ATC rack this weekend and hope to get it working as well as yours.