In its quest to reduce non-cutting time to the absolute minimum, the Japanese manufacturer Brother has introduced a new vertical-spindle machining centre on which the 2.9sec pallet change, X- and Y-axis movements, indexer rotation and tool change take place simultaneously.

Called Speedio R450X1, this compact 30-taper machine is available in the UK through sole agent Whitehouse Machine Tools Ltd, Kenilworth (www.wmtcnc.com).

Linear-axis movements are 450, 320 and 305mm in X, Y and Z, with 50m/min rapids and up to 30m/min cutting feed rate in each.

Moreover, the machine is 15% more rigid than the preceding model. A 19kW 10,000rev/min spindle motor with a maximum torque of 40Nm is standard (optionally 26kW 92Nm); a 16,000rev/min motor is available for high rates of removal across a spread of materials. Fast acceleration and deceleration deliver start-up and stop times of just 150msec.

Tool change is also fast, with a tool-to-tool time of 0.9sec and a chip-to-chip time of 1.7sec for the standard 22-station magazine. If the machine is fitted with the 14-tool magazine option, cutter exchange is even faster, with 100msec pared off both times.

Optional extras include hydraulic ports for jig mounting, through-spindle coolant, air-assisted tool cleaning, automatic oil lubricator, manual pulse generator, tool-
breakage detection and a rotary indexer for five-sided machining.

Control is by Brother’s own CNC-C00 with 12in colour LCD screen. Features include short-cut keys for rapid screen selection, high-speed program data download via Ethernet, and production monitoring — both on-screen and remotely. The standard 30-block look-ahead can be increased to 200 blocks for very accurate high-speed profiling.

A video of the Brother Speedio R450X1 machining aluminium workpieces can be seen in the video section of Machinery Market's web site (www.machinery-market.co.uk/Brother Speedio R450X1).