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Leelanau County inventor Don Greilick (right), with son Thomas and daughter Elizabeth, developed the Rapid Change ATS tool changer at his shop outside of Maple City.
Leelanau County inventor Don Greilick (right), with son Thomas and daughter Elizabeth, developed the Rapid Change ATS tool changer at his shop outside of Maple City.
MAPLE CITY — Necessity is the mother of invention — the old saying goes — but for Leelanau County inventor Don Greilick, his penchant for being a bit disorganized helped out too.
Greilick’s frustration with the time and hassle of changing the tools on his Computerized Numerical Control (CNC) machine led him and his family to create an invention he calls Rapid Change ATC that he hopes will revolutionize the CNC manufacturing process for small manufacturers and hobbyists all over the world.
“I’m not the most organized person,” Greilick said. “I would spend more time looking for my cutters and wrenches ... and changing (tools) out with wrenches is the nemesis of every CNC operator, everybody hates it.”
Greilick started working with CNC technology back in the 1990s when he bought a small CNC machine for a downstate business he owned that built neon signs. He’s also worked in construction and as a painter, but has always tinkered with CNC technology. After moving to Leelanau County two years ago to help care for his mother, he started working on his ATC concept — which stands for Automatic Tool Changer — in a small out building next to his home between Maple City and Glen Lake School.
He experimented with a handful of concepts, but struggled to find a properly shaped component that would create enough torque to hold the machining tools in place. He eventually came up with what he calls a “three-point contact socket” that utilizes small metal pins to hold the tools in place.
Now his Rapid Change ATC unit can automatically change the tools on lathes, drills and other millings tools used by small manufacturers, saving the time and hassle of changing out the tools by hand.
“It works, it works well, and it’s simple,” Greilick said. “It’s going to change the game for small manufacturers and hobbyists.”
The history of CNC technology is rooted in the Traverse City area. Local industrialist and computer pioneer John T. Parsons developed it around 1949 as part of an of an Air Force research project done at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and used an earlier form of the technology to manufacture helicopter parts at his Parsons Corp. plant in Traverse City that he founded in 1944.
Greilick’s family is also steeped in local history. His ancestors came from Bohemia in the mid-1850s and built a small, water-powered sawmill on the shores of West Grand Traverse Bay just north of Traverse City.
The settlement eventually generated millions of feet of hardwood lumber used to help spawn communities locally and around the Midwest. It was also home to a brickyard that helped build the former Traverse City State Hospital, along with a tannery and brewery. The Manistee and Northeastern Railroad came to town in 1892 and called its rail station Greilicks, and the village eventually took on the name of Greilickville which remains today.
In another twist of history and family, Greilick recalls that his grandfather, who lived along M-22 in Greilickville, worked for Parsons — who’s in the National Inventors Hall of Fame and died in 2007 — at the Traverse City plant in its early days.
After perfecting his Rapid Change ATC, Greilick began to share it with other tooling enthusiasts. He made some You Tube videos that he posted online, and created a chat forum on the Discord platform that’s grown to more than 400 members. In May he launched a field testing program for the unit that drew more than 70 applicants from 30 countries around the world.
“The response has been phenomenal,” he said. “I’ve spoken to a lot of interesting and intelligent people from all over the world.”
Greilick started to produce and market his Rapid Change ATC in September. It retails for just under $500 and so far he’s sold about 130 units, shipping them to 15 different countries to continents all over the world. Much of the interest is coming from smaller manufacturing companies and hobbyists for applications including woodworking, cabinet making and even crafting musical instruments.
The business is also a family affair. Greilick’s son James, who lives in Arkansas, designed the software that meshes the Rapid Change ATC units with the CNC machines of the user. His son Thomas helps assemble, package and ship the units, while daughter Elizabeth works on marketing and publicity.
“We’ve always worked together as a family,” she said. “It’s been a lot of fun to work on this.”
Going forward, Greilick is working to secure a U.S. patent for his invention. He’s also pushing through other hurdles, including faster and cheaper shipping options as shipping costs to some far-away locations can cost as much as the unit itself. He’s excited about the potential for his product and looks forward to connecting with more tooling enthusiasts and small manufacturers both domestically and around the globe.
“I’m just happy I found a solution that I could share with people,” he said. “I became obsessed with it, and I never gave up.”
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