Tool changer vs manual swap, I finally made the call

I run a small shop outside Tulsa and for 2 years I kept going back and forth on adding a tool changer to my mill. The price tag was around $14k for a decent used unit, and I told myself I could just keep swapping tools by hand. Last month I finally pulled the trigger after a 30 piece run took me 9 hours because of constant tool changes. The changer paid for itself in time saved on just that one job. Now I wish I had done it back in 2022 when I first started looking. Has anyone else put off a big upgrade like this and then regretted the wait?

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leo_lopez8d ago

I read a thread on Practical Machinist a while back where a guy ran the numbers on his own tool change times. He figured out he was losing something like 40 hours a month on manual swaps, which blew my mind until I did my own math. Once you add up the spindle time lost, the walking back and forth, and the re-zeroing mistakes, it adds up fast. Sounds like you hit that same wall with the 30 piece run. That 9 hour day was probably the best thing that ever happened to your shop, even if it didn't feel like it at the time.

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