Air Drill and Tool Changer

[vassilm]

I am new to the CNC concept and I am looking into buying a shopbot. So far I like a lot what I have read about it, but I have a few doubts that hopefully I can resolve with your help.
We are a cabinet production shop, but I hope we will be doing a fair amount of engraving too. Because of the cabinet making I would like to have an air drill, but I would like to have an automatic tool changer as well. The problem is shopbot support told me that I could not have the drill and the automatic tool changer on the same machine. On the other hand, the fact that they don't fit together is not documented anywhere on the website. Could there be any mistake? Or if there is no mistake, is there any workaround, so that I could get both the drill and the changer on the machine?

If there is no workaround, which would be the best move - to get the drill or the changer? Which in your experience is the more efficient way to go?

How many bits would you change on a typical cabinet making job? What about an engraving job?
How difficult/slow is the manual bit changing?

Also, how critical is it to drill with an air drill as opposed to using the spindle to do this?

I read many of the posts on this forum and I find this community very inspiring. Thank you in advance for your help.

[Gary Campbell]

Vassil...
ShopBot is correct. If you have a toolchanger, you will have no need for the drill. You will be able to use endmills for drill your holes. The air drill is a less expensive alternative to the toolchanger that enables a user to add bits without the cost of the toolchanger.
Gary

[ron brown]

Vassil,

I am an early user of ShopBot. One thing one fails to consider is the learning curve on how to operate a CNC machine. It helps if one knows a good CAD program starting. One still has to learn the software going from CAD to the machine language, the "CAM" part. Then, there is the operation of the machine.

In a large company, each of those parts is the responsibility of one individual. In a small shop, one man or woman does all of this and more.

IF it were me, and I don't know your proposed production rates, size of shop, type of cabinet construction or style of doors, I would seriously consider a bare ShopBot and MAYBE a drill option. This is considering I am in the USA and I can upgrade at almost any time with short shipment times and no customs. There is also the ability in the US to visit shops with ShopBots, go to 'camps' and even take classes to shorten the time it takes to become proficient with the machine.

If I were 'overseas' - where all of the logistics change, I probably would purchase the tool-changer model and depending on many options use stub drills in the tool changers for drilling or router bits of proper diameter. With a good selection of bits, the possibilities of a job you wouldn't have the tooling and abilities for would be small.

Hope this Helps,

Ron

[beacon14]

I cut lots of cabinet parts using a 1/4" compression cutter in my spindle and a 5mm bit in the air drill. I only change bits when they get dull, which is usually after anywhere from 20 to 30 or more sheets for the router bit and hundreds of sheets for the drill.

[vassilm]

But I read that using the spindle for drilling (which would be the case with a tool changer) could be tough on the spindle. Is that true and how much of a concern should this be?

My shop is overseas. We will have a person operating the machine and another person making the programs. We are also very experienced with CAD and have a bit of programming skills, so I hope learning CAM won't be extremely difficult.

At present we do all our drilling on a boring machine with 2 vertical heads and 1 horizontal head:
http://www.wmdusa.com/m323.html
I am hoping to start doing all the vertical drilling of the parts cut by the shopbot on the bot itself. I realize it might be slower than the boring machine, but it will probably save time on setting up the boring machine.

[wberminio]

I use the same setup as David-1/4" compression bit and 5mm in drill.

I agree about the boring machine.It is faster,but considering the setup time and the handling of the material just once, is a great over all time saving (and back saving)advantage.

If I had the resources $$$,I would seriously consider a tool changer.There are situations where a 3/8" or other cutter, in conjunction with a 1/4" bit would be helpful.
As I do more 3D work ,I can see the ease of using different cutters as increasing production time.

Again,I am doing just fine with my setup.AS a one man shop, production time and accuracy have improved greatly as opposed to the "old"way.

What ever your choice you will be at a definite advantage over your competition .

Erminio

[beacon14]

It may depend on the spindle brand, but we asked the HSD folks at the IWF last fall about drilling with their spindles and they seemed surprised we were even asking about it. They said it would not cause any premature wear of the bearings.

[cabnet636]

i have both a single columbo and hsd tool changer and have drilled extensivly with both, drilling will wear far less on bearings than lateral over load

[vassilm]

What is "lateral over load"?

[cabnet636]

horizontal boring compared to verticle drilling

jim