The tool turret on the second prototype that you see in the Kickstarter video worked fine with cap screws holding the turning tools in place, I'm aware this would never hold up on a full sized lathe with a 30hp spindle but keep in mind the SwissMak plugs into wall outlets so it's not going to take incredibly heavy cuts with hundreds of foot-pounds of torque. Wall outlets put out no more than 3 horsepower.
The turret on the production model is 10 inches (up from 8 inches in the video) and holds 16 tools instead of 8. The stick tools are now held in place with a tapered wedge lock just like on larger CNC lathe turrets. This locates and clamps against a larger surface area, shims allow fine adjustment.
Here are a couple of videos of the large parts of it being made:
Machining a Z base bar for a SwissMak - YouTube
Milling the X boxways for a SwissMak - YouTube
Thanks for the updates, the revised tool clamps sound way better. In one of the videos it mentions live tools on the turret - is this correct or is it only on the B-axis head? If the latter, any plans for a toolchanger? It's a rare day that I could do any job with only one live tool - not a lot of point (to me) being able to do simultaneous 5 axis, or even 3+2, if I have to do it all with one tool. If the turret does allow for live tools though, that is pretty awesome, but then you need 2 spindle motors instead of just the one. However if there's only one live tool, things like bar pullers and automation add-ons are redundant, and I'd go so far as to say they're kind of pointless anyway on a machine with alu box ways - running those loaded will kill them pretty fast (even plastic will score hard ano'd alu over time), I don't see it being plausible to run any high volume of parts on that machine as it currently stands.
Don't let me get in the way of what you're doing because maybe I don't properly understand your marketd, but to give you my personal requests in order of importance, these are the things that'd have me beating down your door trying to throw money at you if they were implemented:
1. Ferrous construction of the box ways at a minimum (and ideally any other moving parts too) - or replacing them with linear rails or a proper motion system. Bump up the price, I don't care, a $7k machine with these capabilities would still be a good deal if it lasts and can output usable parts. Tool holders, turret etc could all be alu, they aren't seeing regular sliding motion and when they eventually wear out they look to be replaceable at a reasonable cost. I also think it's a mistake to prioritise light weight... it's literally the opposite of what every other MTB does. If you can afford any kind of cnc machine you can work out a sufficiently sturdy surface to sit it on.
2. Toolchanger or ability to run multiple live tools. Either that or delete the turret and replace with a quick change tool post - there is no point automating half the system for tool changes and having the other half be manual. Either make it fully automated or not at all, otherwise you're adding cost at no additional utility.
3. Some info on the controller would be handy. Sounds like it uses a PC to control it, but through what kind of software and what kind of interface?
4. Maybe change the name, it's not a swiss lathe either by nationality or design type
5. I'd suggest you forget automating it for volume production of parts (bar puller and stuff were mentioned), it isn't currently a good candidate for that. If you're going to add features, add ones that suit your market and use cases.
Things I think are already awesome:
1. The price.
2. The design concept overall - I think this has a large market, partly with hobbyists but actually moreso for people in my position who want a cheap, capable machine that can make reasonably complex mill-turn prototypes and test parts in a minimum number of setups without pulling machines off production work to do it. I don't care whether it cuts fast or slow or whatever, the spindle RPMs you have there for example are very good - most of our parts are <10 minutes cutting time, but might take a day or two to set up. This gets pretty costly with prototyping time where we can easily spend 2 days just making one part on our current turning centre.
3. The fact that you actually made this happen.
--Steve