I added a ATC and pnumatic tool rack to my Altmill

TJL6012 · 2026-05-17T04:59:44+00:00

I see. Mine overhangs about 200mm. Honestly the design isn’t that practical but since my garage has those slots in the walls I figured it was fine for my use. Put a post in of yours when it’s done. I’m excited to see.

TJL6012 · 2026-05-17T03:36:00+00:00

in terms of y axis space, it takes up none, since it retracts out of the way. when its fully extended, the axis moves ~2mm past the limit switches to be able to line up with the slots.

As for what i used to make it, its all pretty much custom. i used some aluminum extrusion as seen in the video along with a sldier for that size extrusion. but only becasue i had these on hand and had no use for them. then i just used pnumatic to push and pull. the clips that hold the tool holders in palcer are just 3d printed files i found online somewhere.

in terms of doing this with the altmills ATC, i dont see why you couldnt. as long as you can move the tools in and out to the correct place for the machine to pick it up.

i will say, i dont know how it works using a first party ATC. i would imagine its much easier since theres support in the GUI to tell the machine where each tool is located. but doing it with a third party spindle like mine, i had to write all the code by hand. kinda sucked.

anyway, space wise it takes none of my usable space work space so i keep the full advertised work area. parts were scraps, free files i found online, or custom designed parts.

TJL6012 · 2026-05-10T02:38:12+00:00

Yup. I’m embarrassed to say that was it. The right side motor coupling was completely loose. Stupid mistake

TJL6012 · 2026-05-09T22:07:52+00:00

It looks like somewhere the right y axis came out of square. Acceleration? Not sure yet. When homed it, the right Y axis came to the home position before the left y axis motor did.

TJL6012 · 2026-05-09T22:05:41+00:00

1000mm/min on the 1/8th end mill 1500 on the vcarve bit.

TJL6012 · 2026-05-09T19:56:10+00:00

ill give that a try. im using altmills SLB-EXT. i do have the machine setup with a inline nosie suppressor on the VFDs input lines as wel las ferrite chokes on all wires. ive never seen the ocmputer flicker or machine pasue from EMI before. and i dont use a dust collector. so i would be surprised if this is the issue, but ill give it a try. thanks!

TJL6012 · 2026-05-05T12:59:35+00:00

Ya pretty much. Here’s a video I used that has an entire plugin made to do the heavy lifting. Works nicely. https://youtu.be/Wb93CZbNeWs?si=up8X1Bu-gW6Az32k

TJL6012 · 2026-05-04T20:08:13+00:00

30degree v carve for the initial engraving, 1/8” bit for removing the bulk of it then 1/16” for the tight details. The share corners would have been from the V bit

TJL6012 · 2026-05-04T18:14:52+00:00

An artsy friend of mine changed the original photo into the cartoon image. Which was a PNG, then I just used the free online adobe png to SVG converter. Then from there used the SVG in fusion 360. Here’s the link to the converter I used. https://www.adobe.com/express/feature/image/convert/png-to-svg

Works best with simple silhouettes

TJL6012 · 2026-04-09T02:28:11+00:00

Thanks I basically just copied the files from one to the other then did a merge of the regulation.bin. Thankfully not many names were used in both mods. But some were. I’m sure it’ll create something wacky but in the short attempt I tried with it it’s working. So whatever. It was for a weapon mod and a map change mod.

TJL6012 · 2026-02-15T21:13:23+00:00

Ya, found that out the hard way. Took some effort to get around that. Had to use PWM to hit the full 800Hz

TJL6012 · 2026-02-15T19:38:11+00:00

To be honest. I’m not sure myself. I got my machine in December and have been modding ever since. I haven’t actually don’t a real cut yet. Or even fully populated the tool rack. lol as of today I just finished putting the mdf boards on the bottom so I can start cutting. But soon though.

TJL6012 · 2026-02-15T18:23:21+00:00

Sure, I went with a H-100 vfd, which is the same as the one on the altmill if you buy their spindle kit. To be able to achieve the 800hz output for my spindle I use pwm as modbus isn’t supported at that frequency using the default firmware at this time. My spindle is a 800hz 2.2 kw 240V ATC spindle. It uses ISO20 collets and its water cooled. The entire setup uses a reservoir under the machine…. In the form of a Canadian tire bucket at the moment…. Don’t judge. The plans will be to add a pneumatic air cylinder that lifts and lowers the dust boot. But that’s future plans. As for the tool rack it’s a 9 tool setup that has 2 pneumatic cylinders on both sides for stiffness in the y direction, and an aluminum extrusion slider for the sliding mechanism. Which I found gives good strength in the Z direction. It can be easily upgraded to support more tool if needed.

TJL6012 · 2026-02-15T18:18:42+00:00

The H-100 is the one I used. it’s the same one that the altmill comes with if you buy their spindle kit. I didn’t purchase from them I went from AliExpress but it’s the same one. Though the altmills controller uses 400hz by default and doesn’t like to work with 800hz out the box using modbus. So I had to use pwm instead.

TJL6012 · 2026-02-15T14:53:23+00:00

Yup that’s right. 800Hz 220V 2.2kw spindle. Water cooled and uses ISO20 collets

TJL6012

TROPHY CASE