[demonx]

Hi guys, I'm hoping for someone smarter than me to chime in with some ideas that could solve my extraction problem.

When I had no tool changer a basic hood with brushes etc worked fine, however with the addition of the tool changer, the hood has to be removed as it will not clear the tool holder forks. There is very little space either side of the spindle for anything to be mounted now as I need clearance for tool changes, however I can mount something large in front of the spindle if needed.

The other issue i need to work around is the varies cutting tool lengths. The longest bit protrudes from the tool holder approx 80mm and the shortest 10mm, so if I have brushes to accommodate the longer bit, they'll be dragging under the shortest bit when it is being used. Some programs I run will be using both the longest and shortest so manual changing of hoods is out.

I've run hose 4" extraction down the spindle and it works (sort of, only when it's cutting left, anything cutting right just gets thrown opposite direction), however when there is a tool change, the depth change means the longer bits just aren't getting the same extraction as the shorter bits and it's the longer bits that need it the most.

I've searched the net for weeks on this getting nowhere. It seems any machine with a tool changer seems to be cutting flat objects (ie: kitchens etc) where there's bugger all variance in tool lengths and that doesn't effect them running a hood, as they have a carousel changer as opposed to a row of forks. Any other machine I've seen is simply blowing air through a nozzle, which will achieve clearing the work area but will make a hell of a mess after running for a 8hr day.

Thank you in advance for any suggestions, I'm hoping someone has a idea that I've yet to stumble across.

[ger21]

On our Morbidelli, the brush is mounted on a linear rail, and raised or lowered with 3 pneumatic cylinders connected end to end, to give you 4 different brush heights. When all the way up, the brush clears the tool changer carousel. As you mentioned, the machine is designed for cutting cabinet parts. Because of this, it uses a short brush. So when cutting thicker parts, you have to be careful, or the frame of the brush can crash into your parts, wreaking havoc.

[demonx]

Thanks for the reply.

We had talked about that type of setup, but it's a lot of work to implement being that the machine is custom made, was hoping for something simpler.