A tool replacement apparatus according to the present invention includes: a turning tool magazine capable of attaching or removing a tool to/from a spindle of a machine tool; a tool replacement control unit which controls operations of turning the tool magazine and attaching or removing a tool to/from a spindle; and a setting unit which sets a rotatable range of the tool magazine. The tool replacement control unit includes: a determining unit which determines whether or not a designated rotation angle in an instruction for turning the tool magazine is within the rotatable range set by the setting unit; and a unit which stops an operation of replacing a tool when the determining unit determines that a designated rotation angle is out of a rotatable range.

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 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 replacement apparatus according to the present invention includes: a turning tool magazine capable of attaching or removing a tool to/from a spindle of a machine tool; a tool replacement control unit which controls operations of turning the tool magazine and attaching or removing a tool to/from a spindle; and a setting unit which sets a rotatable range of the tool magazine. The tool replacement control unit includes: a determining unit which determines whether or not a designated rotation angle in an instruction for turning the tool magazine is within the rotatable range set by the setting unit; and a unit which stops an operation of replacing a tool when the determining unit determines that a designated rotation angle is out of a rotatable range.