Manufacturers wishing to carry out prismatic and rotational metal cutting in one hit within a 300 x 440 x 305 mm working volume can now take advantage of a new high-productivity Brother 30-taper, five-axis mill-turn centre.
The machine follows Brother’s introduction of the Speedio M300X3, which joins the smaller M200X3 that offers 200 mm of X-axis travel. Sole agent for sales and service in the UK and Ireland is Whitehouse Machine Tools.
Both multi-tasking machines are characterised by an 18.9 kW/40 Nm tool carousel deploying 22 cutters at up to 10,000 rpm, or 16,000 rpm with the Big Plus dual-contact spindle option. Below the carousel is an A-axis trunnion carrying a high output, direct-drive, C-axis turning table. Rated at 4.6 kW/1500 rpm in the new machine, it is over 25% more powerful than the table in the smaller model and generates up to 102 Nm of turning torque. When milling, a 30 m/min cutting feed rate maintains a high level of productivity while 400 Nm of C-axis clamping force ensures accuracy is maintained.
A-axis rotation from +120 to -30° allows the machining of features at the rear of components and facilitates the loading and unloading of parts at the front of the machine. The axis is tilted by a backlash-free roller drive to promote accurate metal cutting. A holding force of 500 Nm, without the need for mechanical clamping, delivers high-speed indexing combined with rigidity when milling parts at an angle or turning them in the horizontal plane.
Non-productive time is minimised by repositioning the X, Y, Z, A and C axes simultaneously during tool change, which takes place in 1.5 seconds chip-to-chip. Linear rapids are 50 m/min and the A and C axes move at up to 50 and 200 rpm respectively.
For further information www.wmtcnc.com
