Why do cnc mills have so many tool slots?

awaqa909

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I've seen cnc machines with either 20+ to 30+ slots for tools. Some of the machines I've gotten to push buttons on, have had 5~ tools which some are half way full, but never used. I don't think I've seen more then 7 tools used for one operation. The machines that are kept somewhat empty then have tools on the outside on shelves and even the populated machines have tools in shelves around them....

I just don't get why we have so many tools around here, when it seems like so few get used.


The button pusher,
Awaqa909
 
I guess it depends what there making, or what they could make .?
 
I've seen CNC machines with upwards of 100 tool pots. They are production machines that run a variety of parts that are left setup for long periods of time. The ones I've seen are used mainly on aircraft parts and mainly on aluminum. There may be as many as 10 to 20 different part numbers setup on the machine at one time. They just have to call up a different pallet and program to change what they run. search matsura on google to see some of the up to date production machines.
I worked in aircraft machine shops for 40 years and have watch the evolution from manual machining to CNC. Things have changed tremendously through the years.

macd55
 
In production, often tooling gets purchased for a specific job. Then when that run is done, some of that tooling may not be needed anymore for the next job. That run would have paid for the tooling. Some tooling can be specialities, used for one specific op & may never be used again. But you just don't go and dispose of it cause who knows what may come up in the future.

I can relate somewhat, I have automotive tools that I've only used once & haven't touched again in over 10 yrs. I really should sell but I don't like to sell any of my tools.
 
In a large scale manufacturing environment, there can be advantages of multiples of the same tools. For example, there may be 6 identical 1/2" end mills. All preset with any tool offsets already assigned to that tool number. After years of running a part number, perhaps even in the millions, experience (or these days with semi AI) tells the programmer when the tool should be discarded in favor of a new, sharp one. The concept of "lights out" machining has given rise to different approaches including defining tool life and making a change to a redundant tool at a given point, or with some controls, when the load factor indicates that the tool has dulled and reached the end of life.

Or on the other hand, some parts are simply that complex and the machines are capable of carrying out many different operations using multiple spindles and at times this can require more tools than you might think.
 
In our instrument shop, we would keep about 25 standard tools in the changer. All the programs were set to know those tools if they were needed. The last 10-20 locations in the changer were for job specific tools. The guy that ran our mill most of the time, would do an offset check every other week on the standard stuff. Made it real easy to switch jobs most of the time.

We did have a few jobs that took as many as 40 tools to run.
 
To drill and tap 1 hole...spot drill bit, drill bit, chamfer bit, tap/bottom tap. You use up tool slots quick there are never enough

So if you have 6 different tapped holes in a project, how many tool holders do you need, just for that? BTDT, and differing milling tools for differing parts. The machine this was on was a vertical, with a table about 40 by 60 inches. (too long ago, don't remember who made it.) It didn't have enough holders, we left 10 open for additional tools.
 
So if you have 6 different tapped holes in a project, how many tool holders do you need, just for that? BTDT, and differing milling tools for differing parts. The machine this was on was a vertical, with a table about 40 by 60 inches. (too long ago, don't remember who made it.) It didn't have enough holders, we left 10 open for additional tools.

6 taps, 6 drill bits, 1 spot drill/1 chamfer bit (typically you can use 1 bit for both) = 13. For milling you frequently have 1 roughing bit and 1 finishing bit, roughing bit to HOG most of the material out of the way as fast as possible, then you come in with your finishing bit to clean up. Extends the life of the finishing bit. And you may have 1-3 sizes of these.

I'm talking a production machine here where reduced cycle times are important. You try to keep tool changes to a minimum because tool change time over 5,000 parts adds up. Shops spend silly amounts of time talking to tooling venders about the latest new wave end mills of crazy geometry and coatings designed to reduce cycle times x% lol.

ALL the above ties way back to the design of your part and tool paths in your CAD/CAM software, to minimize as much as possible the number of tools and tool changes. For your tool paths you consider the order in which machining operations occur, so that you can line up your tools in the machine's tool holder in the proper order, e.g. so when the machine needs to change tools the next tool the program needs is in the adjacent tool slot not 15 tool slots away, again to reduce the time it takes to change tools.
 
I can think of many machines with 30 or more tools that stay in the machine/get replaced when dull because of frequency of use. It's easy for programming if they are in inventory and ready to run. It tends to promote the right tool for the job.

With as fast as they change now tool change time is not much of an issue. Then you have multi spindle machines......


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