CNC tool magazine

01

Size the magazine for your largest tools

TAC Rockford's datasheet for drum and disc automatic tool changers lists, by taper: BT/CAT/ISO 30 or HSK32A with 20 tools, 5.0 kg maximum tool weight, 250 mm length and 60 mm diameter; 40-taper or HSK63A with 20 or 24 tools, 6.5 kg, 300 mm, and 97 mm diameter for 20 tools or 81 mm for 24 with all pots full; a 30-tool 40-taper version at 85 mm; and 50-taper or HSK100A with 20 or 24 tools, 15.0 kg, 350 mm, and 133 or 125 mm diameter. [1]

The datasheet shows the trade-off between capacity and tool size: more pockets on the same 40-taper drum means a smaller full-pocket diameter. [1] One Chinese vertical machining centre listing gives a 24-tool magazine with φ80 × 300 mm tools when full, φ150 × 300 mm when adjacent pockets are empty, and 8 kg maximum tool weight. [2]

Editorial note: list your largest face mills, boring heads and long drills with diameter, length and weight, including holder, and check each against the magazine's full-pocket and empty-neighbour limits and its maximum weight before ordering.

Give the supplier the spindle taper, number of tools, the largest tool diameters, lengths and weights including holders, which tools need empty neighbouring pockets, required tool change time, tool identification, and whether the magazine is fitted to a new machine or retrofitted.

02

Plan usable capacity and change time

TAC Rockford gives tool change times of 1.2 s for its 30-taper unit, 1.8 s for the 40-taper units and 2.5 s for the 50-taper unit, all at 60 Hz, with electric power for both magazine and changer. [1]

Editorial calculation: on a 24-pocket magazine like the one above, four large tools that each need both neighbouring pockets empty use up to 12 pockets if placed apart, leaving 12 for normal tools, so usable capacity falls from 24 to about 16; placing big tools two pockets apart lets them share empty pockets. [2]

A published design study shows how change time depends on where the next tool sits. Gökler and Koç (Middle East Technical University; International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 37(3):277–286, 1997) designed a disc-type tool changer for a horizontal machining centre built by a CNC machine tool manufacturer. After comparing alternatives, they chose a disc magazine with 24 tools, a maximum tool diameter of 150 mm and a maximum tool weight of 8 kgf; the changer exchanges the closest tool within 4 s and the farthest within 6 s. [3]

Editorial note: when a supplier quotes a single tool change time, ask whether it is for the adjacent pocket or the farthest one; in the study above the difference was 2 s per change. [3]

Editorial calculation: a part needing 40 tool changes at 1.8 s spends 72 s in tool changes alone; compare suppliers' tool change and chip-to-chip times for your cycle. [1]

03

Check the total tool mass limit as well as the per-tool limit

FANUC America lists tool specifications for two of its ROBODRILL BBT30 vertical machining centres. The "α D14S i B5 ADV Plus" holds 14 tools of up to 200 mm length, 80 mm diameter and 4 kg each, with a total mass of 30 kg and a 0.7 s tool change time; the "α D28L i B5 ADV Plus Y500" holds 28 tools of up to 250 mm length, 80 mm diameter and 4 kg each, with a total mass of 46 kg and the same 0.7 s. Both list an air pressure of 72 psi / 0.5 MPa. [4] [5]

The total mass line limits how many heavy tools can be loaded at once. On FANUC's figures the per-tool limit times the number of pockets exceeds the total mass on both machines, so a magazine full of tools at the 4 kg maximum is not allowed [4] [5]. TAC Rockford's data sheet gives per-tool limits by taper [1]; ask any supplier whether a total magazine load limit also applies, and plan heavy tools against it.

Tool change time is quoted differently by each source. FANUC gives one figure, 0.7 s, for both machines [4], TAC Rockford gives 1.2 s for its 30-taper unit [1], and the METU disc magazine design reports 4 s for the nearest and 6 s for the farthest tool [3]. Ask whether a quoted time is tool-to-tool or chip-to-chip and for which pocket distance.

Editorial calculation: 14 tools at 4 kg would weigh 56 kg against the 30 kg total, so the average tool in a full magazine can weigh at most about 2.1 kg (30 ÷ 14); for the 28-tool machine, 112 kg at the per-tool limit against 46 kg total gives about 1.6 kg average (46 ÷ 28). [4] [5]

Values are from FANUC America's ROBODRILL model pages; FANUC does not state on those pages whether the change time is tool-to-tool or chip-to-chip.

04

Compare what suppliers offer

Suppliers linked to this page list tool magazines or machining centres with them; each card links to the page reviewed.

Listings include tool magazines among machine tool accessories, and vertical machining centres fitted with 24-tool magazines.

05

Trace the magazine components

This is a functional reference built from the sources cited; it is not one maker's specification.

06

Fill the specification fields with values for your tools

A tool magazine quotation needs values for your tools. The table explains each field, gives published values where a reviewed source states them, and says what to obtain from the supplier.

07

Send the taper, tool list and cycle data together

Paste it into your enquiry below or into an email to a maker, then replace every bracket.

Spindle: [taper; holder standard]
Tools: [number; largest diameter; length; weight]
Large tools: [which need empty neighbours]
Time: [tool change; chip-to-chip]
Machine: [new or retrofit; mounting]
Options: [tool ID; covers]

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