This year’s MACH show was the most successful ever for Hurco Europe Ltd, High Wycombe (www.hurco.com), which logged a 10% increase in visitors to its stand compared with the previous event. During the exhibition and the week immediately following, the company took 27 orders valued at nearly £2 million — 70% up on 2012, which itself was a record year for Hurco.

Demonstrations of the VM10i — a third-generation vertical machining centre — attracted the most attention. It has longer travels and faster rapids than earlier models, a 10,000rev/min spindle and Ultimotion high-speed profiling software as standard. Noteworthy was the helical pocketing demonstration in steel, which showed the exceptional speed and rigidity of the machine. Managing director David Waghorn said: “Machinists were able to make a direct comparison at the show between this model and other low-cost entry-level machines. This resulted in orders on the stand; and in many cases, the customer had come to the show expecting to buy an alternative brand.”

Representing the higher-power, high-capacity VMX range were a VMX30Ui five-axis trunnion machine and a VMX24HSi — the latest high-speed machine with an 18,000rev/min HSK63A 35kW spindle. Demonstrating five-axis working was the VMX42SRTi with a swivelling B axis and a horizontal rotary C axis built flush into the table. Mr Waghorn says this five-axis configuration is becoming increasingly popular, due to the ease with which it can be switched between five-axis and three-axis work without losing capacity. The machine is equipped as standard with 20-bar coolant through the spindle.

The 14-model Hurco lathe range was represented by a TMM10i with 18kW spindle, 250mm chuck and milling capability on all of its 12 VDI 40 axial tools. There was also a TM6i — a compact, two-axis CNC lathe with 42mm bar capacity. All of the latest Hurco machines incorporate Version 9 WinMax software, which includes Ultimotion software with up to 10,000-block variable look-ahead. This is now a standard feature on Hurco machines, giving up to 30% faster cycle times and improved surface finish.