Single spindle upgrade to ATC?

[Plyoboxwarehouse]

Here's one for you ShopBot gurus. I'm looking at purchasing a new or used Shopbot with single router or spindle. At some point I'd like to upgrade to an ATC. What would be involved to do this? I can purchase a 4kw HSD ATC/quick change ISO 30 spindle for about $5k. Along with a 5hp VFD, what else would need to be added/modified to complete the upgrade? Thank you in advance for your input.

[bleeth]

Look over this link:

http://www.shopbottools.com/mProducts/AutomaticToolChanger.htm

[davidp]

Hi Robert,

We have a PRT Alpha 2004 and we installed an ATC on it 4 years ago as part of a major upgrade to our Bot.

There were quite a few gotchas in the installation including incorrect information in the instructions from ShopBot. We were left to sort out most of the problems ourselves as often questions to SB support went unanswered.

My advice would be to purchase a fairly new PRSAlpha and then install the ATC on that, or better yet buy a new PRSAlpha with the ATC already installed. You will be happier in the end.

David
Sydney Australia

[2006prt]

I have one of the first ATC from shopbot. I bought it used and the original owner did a lot of it himself to save money. It is fairly complicated but it can be done. If you want to talk about it send me a message with contact info and I will reach out to you.

Todd

[gerryv]

Have you looked into the Blurry Option? US made.
http://www.blurrycustoms.com/#!page4/cfvg
I don't have one so can't add anything further about it I'm afraid.

[Plyoboxwarehouse]

Does anyone have experience/knowledge about these guys? I've seen their stuff on eBay, but don't know anything about them.

[Brady Watson]

I'll add a few cents/sense here. You want to purchase an ATC as a new complete tool or as an upgrade kit directly from ShopBot. This way you are sure to get everything you need in order for it to work properly. I would not recommend a DIY cobbled together solution because the ATC features are meant to work with the hardware/software solution that SB sells.

Blurry makes a nice unit. You can probably buy other ATC spindles out there for less than SB sells the entire setup for. BUT...you are pretty much on your own. It is way more involved than you may be led to believe to get it to function properly...so don't be fooled into thinking you are going to save money by doing it yourself...and who ya gonna call when you need support?

I'm not an SB sales guy & could care less what you run on your tool. I just hate to hear sob stories because somebody spent a ton of money only to be left holding the bag. My advice would be to call SB & speak to one of their engineers about any hardware setup you may want to interface to the SB control software. This could save you a lot of aggravation and money.

-B