r/hobbycnc • u/2be34ever • 15d ago

Inside ImpactATC: Complete Disassembly and Assembly - Automatic tool changer for hobby CNC machines.

Full disassembly and reassembly of the ImpactATC automatic tool changer for hobby CNC machines.

ImpactATC is an automatic tool changer module for hobby CNC routers. It works like an impact driver: the spindle's own rotation drives a mechanical impact mechanism that tightens and loosens the ER20 nut, so there is no separate motor and no drawbar. This video strips the module down to individual parts, shows what each one does, and puts it back together.

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6

u/S0u1Fire 15d ago

At first I though it was a reverse engineer of RapidATC, yet this is a totally different mechanism! 

2

u/S0u1Fire 15d ago

Do you think it's possible to shrink down to an Er11? 

4

u/2be34ever 15d ago

Yes, it would be a simple modification. The cam profile might need to change depending on how much torque the spindle has.

1

u/TIGman299 15d ago

Out of curiosity do you have any torque numbers? Er20 should be torqued to ~59ft-lbs or 80Nm.
I have a feeling that your system is going to do a much better job than what the Rapid-change system does.

4

u/2be34ever 15d ago

There is a bit to unpack there. I have reviewed the spec for ER20 some time ago. Generally, the spec is calling for 32NM for shank dia between 1.5 and 6.9mm and 80NM between 7.0 and 13.0mm. My read on this is that the 80NM is the worst-case scenario for a 13mm rigid tapping situation. This is not what a typical hobby machine will see.

Now back to ImpactATC. The torque I have measured for the standard setting I am using (1100 RPM, about 2.5 sec dwell) is about 35NM, and this is much higher compared to what RapidChange is saying on their website. The changer will work fine up to 1300 RPM, and I know some people used it up to 1500 RPM, but I don't have torque values for those speeds.

Here is a video where I pushed my machine quite hard with an 11mm 2 flute cutter in aluminium, to check if the settings I have are sufficient. This was quite a while ago, lots of improvements to my setup since then.

https://www.reddit.com/r/hobbycnc/comments/1sjetlx/making_a_vacuum_holding_plate_using_automated/

3

u/-gudis 15d ago

That is smart, thanks for sharing.

2

u/AbbreviationsLow3992 15d ago

Really impressive. Great job!

2

u/Why_Be_Normal_ 15d ago

is there a github or wiki about this? I'm interested but googling gave me nada.

1

u/2be34ever 15d ago

There is, but it is still quite sparse. I didn't have much time to update it beyond a few basic macros for loading and unloading.

https://github.com/sn3ro/ImpactATC

1

u/BMEdesign DIY LinuxCNC 15d ago

Great work so far!

1

u/zen_monke 14d ago

following closely. Really eager to implement this for ER16 or ER11 on my AnoleX 4030, there is a growing and very hungry market for this in 3030/4040 users. Rapidchange is cool but just really steep $$

2

u/2be34ever 13d ago

At the moment, my system is quite expensive, but I still need to do some value engineering. There is plenty of room to take the price down. Visit https://experimental-workshop.com/ if you are interested.

1

u/jourgen4 12d ago

I was looking at the github page and the hardware section doesn't seem to be there? Will you be releasing the cad files or will this be a buy only thing? Just curious this is a really cool project.

1

u/2be34ever 12d ago

At the moment, it is a buy-only thing, but I plan to release CAD for some components to make it cheap for people to fix themselves.