Difficult-to-machine materials are still challenging the production industry. Examples are highly complex components of aircraft engines. Alongside innovative processes, also improved machine tool components are helping to comply with the demands of this task. This paper presents a design approach of a rotary table with an active magnetic bearing. Opportunities in machining through employing magnetic guides are presented and discussed in the beginning. In the following, a workflow for the magnetic bearing design in swivel rotary tables is proposed. The mentioned steps are executed based on a presently under design rotary table.