Clearly, an ATC is desirable for production work. The FTC I mentioned is more for convenience and consistency and I'm thrilled I have it. My point, however, is that if you can optimize the cutting order so that you minimize tool changes, there will be some level of time advantage. It may be only a little; it may be a lot. Sometimes one can't go as far as one might want to because, for example, one might need one tool early in the operation to "do something" but later need the same tool for the final cut-out. I will say that I've been trying to get into the habit of being really anal about this and it has had noticeable impact on how long things take, even in my learning process. I always ask myself, "can I do these operations with the same tool all together without causing an issue with the overall result" and it's been surprising about how many times I can do that. The last thing I do before I write out the cutting file is organize/order the toolpaths to accomplish that as best as I can.
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The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...