With key sectors such as oil and gas making a resurgence in 2017, coupled with the ongoing buoyancy of automotive manufacturing and the fast-paced nature of the UK’s thriving medical devices market, Mazak will bring a stand fully-focused on showcasing its broad range of sector-specific metalcutting solutions that can enable manufacturers of all sizes and stages of the supply chain to drive productivity and cut downtime.
Productivity will be at the heart of its MACH 2018 stand, and Mazak will also use the platform to showcase its suite of Industry 4.0 solutions, which were first unveiled at EMO. The Mazak iSMART Factory works in partnership with Smooth Technology – claimed to be the world’s fastest CNC – to improve overall equipment effectiveness and facilitate data driven manufacturing via the seamless connection of the factory and office networks; the essence of Industry 4.0 in its purest and most accessible form.
Aerospace has been one of the long-term successes for UK industry, and for Mazak. The UK-made VTC-800/30SR is a vertical travelling column machining centre capable of full 5-axis contouring, perfectly suited to both aerospace applications as well as for general subcontract manufacturing.
The machine has been designed specifically for the machining of extremely long workpieces or can be converted into two separate work areas, enabling pendulum loading and batch manufacturing. It is equipped with an 18,000rpm 35kW (50% ED) milling spindle; while a swivelling B-axis spindle head, in conjunction with the NC rotary table, offers full 5-axis simultaneous machining.
Alongside will be another aerospace specific machine, namely the HCR-5000S, a 5-axis horizontal machining centre specifically developed for high-speed 5-axis aluminium cutting. Equipped with a 6,300mm diameter table offering a large 700mm diameter and 500kg workpiece capacity, this agile machine has ultra-fast acceleration and a high jerk rate, allied to an optional 30,000rpm 80kW high-performance milling spindle for ultra-high productivity.
The final machine suited to aerospace applications will be the Integrex i-800V/8 which combines full 5-axis milling, powerful turning operations and pallet-changing capabilities. Specifically, the machine has the ability to quickly process large, highly complex workpieces on a vertical platform. Equipped with a tilting high power 10,000rpm 37kW main spindle, the i-800V/8 also benefits from a 45kW turning table powered by a direct drive motor for a complete done-in-one solution.
