I went a bit nuts with my router build. There are some videos of it here.
Started with an extended PRO4896, added my own Teknic servos driven by a Mesa board and LinuxCNC, added an HSD spindle, and built a tool rack. I need to make a retracting dust shoe next.
An overview on my blog.
If you have any details about the auto tool change setup I’d be interested!
Please do post more information about the build. It looks great so far!
This is a really clean and thorough build.
What kind of protections do you have in place? Are you checking for air pressure and spindle speed before doing tool changes?
I have a pressure sensor, as well as tool presence and drawbar open & close. The change code checks all of these, and RPM==0, before allowing a change.
Nice. That’s the way to do it.
When you say tool presence are you talking about tool in the spindle or in the storage fork?
In the spindle. If you put a tool in the rack without the system knowing, you’re asking for trouble 
I aspire to your level of custom prowess sir! How many tool changers have you experienced over the years? I’d love to know what your main inspiration was for making this one.
Well, I wanted a router table, and I absolutely wanted an automatic tool changer. Not sure how I got onto HSD spindles, but that was the smallest one they offered with ATC support. I also knew I didn’t want to use Mach 3 or 4, so that meant MachineKit or LinuxCNC. I initially wanted to build the controller around a BeagleBone Black, but quickly decided to get a Mesa card instead. The solution is bulkier, but save me a lot of software hacking nightmare.