Published 9/4/2007

VMC Maximizes Productivity

Edited by: MMS Editorial Team

Available from Clausing Industrial, the Colchester-Harrison Storm VMC 1600S is equipped with Meehanite castings and hardened, ground solid box ways. According to the company, this design improves productivity when milling and drilling with the machine’s 22-kW, 6,000-rpm ZF geared headstock. Featuring structural ribbing for lateral stiffness, dampening and thermal stability, the machine has XYZ axis travels of 1,600 × 800 × 700 mm, a table size of 1,700 × 815 mm and a table-loading capacity of 2.2 tons.

The saddle and table are powered at 15 m per minute in the X and Y axes through 40-mm pre-tensioned ballscrews. To offset the weight of the geared headstock, mechanical counterbalance is rigged inside the column and the Z-axis servomotor is directly coupled to its ballscrew. Rapid traverse is 12 m per minute, and cutting feed rate is infinitely variable to 5,000 mm per minute.

The 6,000-rpm spindle, which features a standard BT 50 taper, is also available in an optional 10,000-rpm, belt-driven variant or with a BT 40 taper. In addition, the machine is available with either a standard 24-tool, twin-arm toolchanger or a 32-tool chain-type magazine with twin-arm exchange. Tool change time is within 2.5 seconds. Control options include the Anilam 6000 M, Fanuc OiMC and Heidenhain iTNC 530.

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