A method is proposed for controlling tool change operations on a machine tool, wherein a machining procedure on a workpiece includes a sequence of machining operations having in each case a particular tool and in each case a particular duration, and for a tool change, tools of a tool spindle are provided by a second storage device in communication with a first storage device, and wherein there is associated with the machining procedure a sequence of tool provision operations in which a tool provision operation has in each case a particular duration, wherein the method includes a determination stage wherein the durations of the machining operations and the tool provision operations are determined, and a control stage wherein the tool provision operations are temporally grouped in relation to the machining operations such that the tool provision operations bring about a minimized idle time in the machining procedure.

A position compensation system of a tool changer includes a storage unit for storing a coordinate indicating a reference position of a turret, a rotary position coordinate detector for detecting the rotary position coordinate of the turret, a compensation necessity determiner for determining whether or not it is necessary to perform a rotational compensation to return the turret to the reference position, in accordance with a rotational deviation of the detected rotary position coordinate from the stored rotary position coordinate, and a compensation request part for requesting an operation or work related to the rotational compensation when it is determined that the rotational compensation needs to be performed.

A method of tool and parameter selection is presented. Tap test data is generated for a machine by performing tap testing on the machine with a plurality of tools. Geometric features of a part to be machined in a workpiece by the machine are extracted. The plurality of tools is filtered by applying a series of rules based on the geometric features of the part to identify a selected tool for a machining operation to form the part. In some illustrative examples, cutting parameters are set for the machining operation using the tap test data for the machine with the selected tool.

A machine tool includes a rotation device, a tool holder, and a power feeding actuator. The tool holder is configured to be rotated with a tool about a first axis. A power receiver is provided in an outer circumferential edge region of the tool holder. At least one sensor is electrically connected to the power receiver. The power feeding actuator is configured to supply electric power to the tool holder via the power receiver. The power feeding actuator includes a power feeder configured to supply the electric power to the power receiver, and a first mover configured to move the power feeder between a power feeding position and a retracted position. The power feeder is configured to supply the electric power to the power receiver at the power feeding position. The power feeder is not configured to supply the electric power to the power receiver at the retracted position.

A tool system for fitting interior components, in particular dashboards or parts thereof, with connector clamps, includes a tool to hold an interior component in such a way that the interior component can be fitted with connector clamps. The tool system further includes a lifting and centering unit for holding the tool, and the lifting and centering unit includes lifting elements for lifting the tool from a working position into an alternating position and centering elements for centering the tool in the working position. The present disclosure also relates to a method for changing a tool of such a tool system.

The disclosure relates to an apparatus for manufacturing and/or processing of objects. Tools can be attached both to a work holder and to one or more rest holders, and can therein be connected with control interfaces for electrical connection to at least one respective control unit. The disclosure relates further to a corresponding method.

The present disclosure relates to an automatic tool changer for a machine tool which can change a tool mounted on a tool post by moving both of a magazine and a tool post to be concentric in order to change a tool in a horizontal type machine tool such as a lathe or a horizontal type turning center; a method of controlling the automatic tool changer and a machine tool including the automatic tool changer.

A machine tool which is designed to carry out a specified sequence of work steps is provided. A tool and a processing time is assigned to each work step. A tool magazine is designed to keep a number of tools ready for the machine tool and includes a feeder for conveying tools from and to a transfer point for the machine tool. In a method for assigning tools to spaces of the tool magazine, a number of work steps are determined from the sequence, the respective processing time of each work step being shorter than a specified cycle time of the tool magazine. A work step is iteratively selected from the number of work steps; a previously used tool and a subsequently used tool are assigned spaces of the tool magazine; and the work step is removed from the number of work steps.

A machine tool for processing a workpiece comprises a processing station which has a tool receiving member in which a processing tool for processing the workpiece can be introduced and replaced, a tool store which has at least one storage space for a processing tool, a tool handling device which can be moved by a controlled drive into a tool-transfer position, a movement unit which can move the workpiece and the tool store and which can be moved by a controlled drive into any of a setup position, a processing position, and a tool changing position, a control device for the drive of the tool handling device which can define the tool-transfer position of the tool handling device, and a control device for the drive of the movement unit which can define the setup position, the processing position, and the tool changing position of the movement unit.

A tool changer is composed of a support shaft, a forward/backward movement drive motor moving the support shaft upward and downward, a rotation drive motor rotating the support shaft about an axis, a tool change arm having tool grippers formed at both ends thereof, and an air blow mechanism discharging compressed air to a tool and a next tool gripped by the tool grippers. In tool change using this tool changer, in a positioning operation, the tool change arm is rotated by degrees and compressed air is discharged toward the tool and the next tool by the air blow mechanism.