Design of an Automatic Tool Changer System for Milling Machining Centers

Abstract

In the field of manufacturing processes it is observed that the trend is to produce more and more faster, efficiently parts with high complexity, which involves using a high number of tools in the machining process. One of the main solutions for high speed and efficient manufacturing is based on the full automation of the entire manufacturing process. The automatic changing of the tools involved in the manufacturing process is carried out by the automatic tool changing mechanism, thus the auxiliary non-productive time consumed with the tool change is highly minimized. In this paper we present a novel automatic tool changer which is both simple and compact, and any milling machining center provided with chain or disc tool magazine can be equipped with. Also by adopting the use of this tool changing mechanism other subassemblies of the tool changing system, such as the tool transfer mechanism and the waiting position, are substituted by this changing mechanism. The auxiliary movements needed to bring the tool from the magazine into the waiting position are overlapped with the machining time, so that the total time for exchanging the tool in the spindle with the tool from the magazine is minimized.