GERMAN UNIVERSITY IN CAIRO

TOOLS MAGAZINES FOR CNC

MACHINES
By: Karim Medhat Fahmy 28-5468 T-23

I.

Tools Magazine description

In the CNC machines we are targeting high production rates, high accuracy but when it
comes to tool management we need to reduce the need for a CNC operator to
change/calibrate the tools by hand therefore tools magazine/turret were introduced
eliminating completely the need for a CNC operator to change/calibrate the tools by hand
and making the operation automated completely increasing the reliability, speed and
accuracy.
The turret type is used when relatively small number of different tools is required were
the tools are held in preset tool holder adapters which are mounted into turret spindles
while on the other hand a magazine is used when larger number of tools are required
such that the tools which are mounted in uniform holders, are automatically picked up,
placed into the spindle and locked in place and when the operations using that tool are
completed it is returned to the tool storage magazine.

II.

Types of Tools Magazine

Mainly there are two most common types of magazines.
A. Chain Magazine
The first type of magazine is called CHAIN magazine
where it is indexed in front of the head stock directly as per
the tool programmed position. The chain magazine can hold
numerous tools starting from 32 tools up to 100+ tools. The
tools are identified either by their location in the tool holder
or by means of some coding on the tool holder.

B. Drum Magazine

The second type is the DRUM magazine where rotates to get the desired tool in position
with the tool change arm. Having larger the diameter of the disc/drum means that we can
have more number of tools that it can hold. It has pockets where tool can be inserted. It
carries about 12 up to 50 tools. If the number of tools are less the disc is mounted on top
of the spindle to minimize the travel of tool between the spindle and the disc. If the tools
are more then, the disc is wall mounted or mounted on the machining center column.

C. Rack Type Magazine

Last but not least, there is a third type of tool magazines which is Rack-Type magazine
where a gripper arm is used to grip the tool from the rack with a capacity up to 400 tools
also work pieces can be stored on the rack.

III.

Advantages of the tools magazines.

By having tools magazine and Automatic tools changer we can save a lot of time, have
higher production rates, speed, accuracy , reduce labor cost , increase safety , increase
system flexibility , heavy and large multi-tools can easily be handled and eliminate
operator interference.

Resources
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http://www.nitc.ac.in/dept/me/jagadeesha/Tool_Engineering_and_Design/CHAPTER12
.pdf
http://www.ignou.ac.in/upload/Unit-5-57.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_tool_changer
http://www.shopbottools.com/mproducts/AutomaticToolChanger.htm
http://www.scribd.com/doc/51698181/Automatic-Tool-Changer#scribd
Course Lectures by Prof Dr. Atef Afifi