CNC machines have become fundamental machine tools in wood industry and also in craft industry. By using them, it is possible to increase productivity and the quality of products. They are fairly easy to be programmed, using CAD/CAM software; if they are equipped with the automatic tool exchange, the machines can perform several operations simply, safely and quickly. The development of machine tools is rapid as producers keep up with novelties in the field of electronic and information technologies. The purchase of a new modern CNC machine represents a large expense for smaller craftsmen. In the thesis, the upgrade of a 3 axes CNC machine not much used and with obsolete control electronics to a modern 3-axes CNC machine with the automatic tool exchange is presented. In the first part, the mechanical machine upgrade with a machining unit with the automatic tool exchange and a drilling unit is described. The supportive interface of the machining unit was conceived and produced; it was checked on the basis of stress and deformation analysis with the finite element method, using the Autodesk Fusion 360 software. In the second part, the control unit upgrade with Hyper Cut hardware and Mach 3 CNC software and macro programming for the automatic tool exchange are presented. The upgraded machine fulfils all the requirements and is used in a workshop.
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