DMG Mori has entered the vertical machining centre market at the lower end of the price range with a new, nominally half-metre-cube model, the M1. Costing £54,000 (the least expensive in the company’s portfolio), DMG Mori builds the machine at its factory in Poland. Finance for the M1 is available through the group’s own leasing company, DMG Mori Finance.

Company director James Clist says: “Repayments on an M1 would be only £830 per month and, as for all our machines and automation, we offer a six-month break before repayments start. During that time it is feasible for a firm to earn £30,000 of income based on single-shift working, before the first instalment is due. If the machine works a double shift, it could be amortised before the user even starts paying for it.”

The machine features a 2400 kg, monolithic, thermally stable bed casting. Axis travels are 550 x 550 x 510 mm and, at 850 mm, the length of the fixed table is much longer than the X-axis stroke to allow for considerable component overhang. Table width is 650 mm, while maximum load is 600 kg.

BT40 (or SK40) tools exchange from a 24-station magazine by a twin-arm ATC into the direct-drive, 9 kW/43 Nm spindle, which can have a maximum rotational speed of either 10,000 or 12,000 rpm. Among the options is 20-bar through-spindle coolant.

Control is by a Siemens 828D and programs are fully compatible with the 840D CNC system. NC cycles generated by a CAM system can be easily imported and a DXF reader is available, as is the Siemens ShopMill user interface. DMG Mori currently has stock of the machine within the UK.

For further information
www.dmgmori.com

Yamazaki Mazak has unveiled a new, high-accuracy, simultaneous, five-axis vertical machining centre, the Variaxis C-600. The C-600, which is the successor to the Variaxis j-600/5X, is capable of machining workpieces up to 500 kg in weight. Among the build features is a 600 mm diameter fully supported trunnion table with roller gear cam on the B and C axes.

The machine offers 42 m/min rapid traverse rates in the X, Y and Z axes, and a chip-to-chip time of 4.5 seconds. A high-rigidity spindle can perform the heavy-duty cutting of steel, as well as the high-speed machining of other non-ferrous materials such as aluminium, as it is available with four different spindle options. Choices range from a 12,000 rpm standard variant, up to a 15,000 rpm high-torque option, or 18,000 rpm high-speed and 20,000 rpm high-power spindles. In addition, the new Variaxis features a 30-tool magazine as standard, complete with double-arm automatic tool changer. Options include 60, 90 and 120 tool magazines.

Mazak’s latest C-600 employs the company’s SmoothAi spindle function, featuring AI adaptive control that suppresses milling spindle chatter by intelligently adjusting cutting technology based on feedback from integrated machine sensors. Modularity extends to a variety of coolant packages that are available for different applications up to 70 bar pressure. Dedicated iron, aluminium and composite, and casting machining packages are also available as options.

Another noteworthy point is Mazak’s ‘Smooth Machining Configuration Plus’, which allows operators to easily adjust features that include cycle time, finished surface and machined shape on the CNC display according to material requirements. This function is especially effective for complex workpieces with contours defined in small program increments.

For further information
www.mazakeu.co.uk

Shortlisted for the Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards 2021 and a finalist in 2020, 27-year-old Alun Cheung attended Farnborough College of Technology and then spent a few years working for a nearby composite components manufacturer. After spells at two contract machining firms, in April 2018 he decided to start his own subcontracting business, SLAC Precision Engineering Ltd.

At a time when his friends were buying their first houses, Cheung used the money he had saved to rent a factory unit in Basingstoke and put a deposit on a Hurco VM5i three-axis vertical machining centre. The investment allowed him to take on work suitable for machining within a 457 x 356 x 356 mm working volume, and he quickly established a loyal customer base within the aerospace, automotive, medical, and oil and gas industries.

Two years later, in May 2020, Cheung purchased a larger Hurco VMC, a VM10i with a 762 x 406 mm table, more than doubling his capacity. At the time he was busy fulfilling a contract for a new customer in the satellite communications sector, involving the production of a couple of dozen different, mainly aluminium components in batches of 1-50. Many of the parts fitted perfectly on the VM5i, and those that were smaller could be fixtured two at a time on the table of the VM10i, helping to cope with the required production volumes.

“It was the touchscreen CNC running Hurco’s WinMAX software, which offers both conversational and G-code programming, that persuaded me in favour of purchasing their VMCs,” says Cheung. “Their user interface makes it very intuitive and easy to control for millennials.”

For further information
www.hurco.co.uk

GF Machining Solutions has introduced the Mikron Mill P 800 U ST machining centre, which integrates milling and turning in a single machine. This compact model provides 800 mm of X-axis travel, an 800 rpm C-axis rotation speed and a maximum table load of 800 kg.

The Mill P 800 U ST offers a gantry-type concept in direct response to the needs of component manufacturers serving the automotive, aerospace, energy and general machining industries. A small footprint makes it easy to integrate the machine into facilities where space is at a premium.

Being able to fully produce prismatic and turned components on a single machine also eliminates transfer-related part run out and accuracy errors, and helps alleviate production bottlenecks. The five-axis simultaneous Mill P 800 U ST is also capable of four-axis simultaneous turning, a capability often required by customers that need to have the cutting tool positioned at a 90° angle to the workpiece surface to avoid tool shape errors.

Mill P 800 U ST machines incorporate a 20,000 rpm HSK A63 spindle that GFMS says is the industry’s fastest for a milling and turning machine of this size. Water-cooled torque motors for the A and C axes ensure accuracy and stability, while speed has received a boost through the axes’ 0.3-second clamp time in any position.

With the new machine’s gantry concept, the workpiece on the 500 x 730 mm table is fully accessible without rotating the table. This design eliminates errors related to table rotation and avoids the need for hand polishing. The tool changer for the machine is also located so as to avoid moving the table during tool changes.

For further information
www.gfms.com

A Leicester-based precision engineering company has reaffirmed its commitment to high-quality, high-accuracy production by becoming one of the first to invest in Yamazaki Mazak’s new British-built CV5-500 simultaneous five-axis machining centre.

JWA Tooling (JWA) is a specialist provider of high-precision manufacturing solutions to some of the world’s largest blue-chip companies, with capabilities including precision CNC milling, turning and wire EDM. The company had previously invested in a Mazak VCN-530C vertical machining centre to meet customer demand for larger batch sizes. Since its installation in November 2019, the machine’s reliability and speed has proved vital to JWA’s day-to-day operations, freeing up its skilled workforce to take on more complex tasks.

To build on the success of its previous machine, JWA has invested in another VCN-530C, and purchased one of Mazak’s first five-axis CV5-500 machining centres. Conceived, designed and built in the UK, the CV5-500 offers high-rigidity bridge construction with a fully supported trunnion table that travels in the Y-axis direction under the bridge.

The CV5-500’s 12,000 rpm spindle is capable of a peak performance of 18.5 kW and 119.4 Nm, making it suitable for the wide range of materials with which JWA works. Its rapid traverse rate of 36 m/min in the X, Y and Z axes also allows for highly agile performance, and the machine can process workpieces up to 500 mm diameter by 320 mm high, and up to 200 kg in weight.
Peter Wood, operations director at JWA, says: “Frankly, it’s just a great machine – it’s well-built, and the best five-axis machining centre I’ve seen at that price point by far. We’ve certainly got high hopes for it going forward.”

For further information
www.mazakeu.com/cv5-500