Automatic tool storing mechanism

An automatic tool storing mechanism comprising:

• a plurality of main magazines for holding a number of pots, each said pot provided with a respective tool;
• transporting means for transporting one of the pots provided with a respective one of the tools, called a tool-mounted pot, one by one, between a main-magazine-side position proximal to the main magazines and a waiting position distal to the main magazines and proximal close to a main spindle, the main spindle being spaced from the main magazines in a first direction;
• a tool exchanging arm which takes out a preused or unused tool from the one pot when the one pot is waiting at the waiting position and attaches the unused tool to the main spindle and removes a used tool from the main spindle and places the used tool in the one pot, and
• a sub magazine temporarily storing a plurality of pots, each said pot provided with a respective tool, the sub-magazine located between the main magazines and the waiting position, wherein pots with tools are taken out or removed from the main magazines and are transported to the sub magazine, and wherein the pots with tools are transported, one by one, from the sub magazine to the waiting position;
• wherein the transporting means comprises:
• a first linear guide having a longitudinal axis extending in the first direction, the first linear guide being proximal to the main magazines, and being configured to guide the tool-mounted pot from a position proximal to the main magazines and in the first direction to a first pot-transfer position;
• a pot moving means comprising a pot moving arm for transferring the tool-mounted pot in a second direction, orthogonal to the first direction, from the first pot-transfer position to a second pot-transfer position;
• a second linear guide which guides the tool-mounted pot from the second pot-transfer position to the sub-magazine, the second linear guide having a longitudinal axis extending in the first direction, the second linear guide being offset from the first linear guide in the second direction;
• and
• a third guide, located between the sub-magazine and the waiting position, configured to guide the tool-mounted pot from the sub-magazine to the waiting position.