The Swiss CNC specialist NUM (www.num.com), which has a subsidiary in Coventry, has helped China’s Original Point Machine Tools (OPMT) to develop an advanced eight-axis CNC machining centre capable of processing many different types of materials, including metal, ceramics, glass and cemented carbide.

OPMT is a relatively small but fast-growing company based in Guangdong Province in southern China. It is rapidly acquiring a reputation for innovative and complex engineering; after developing a highly successful four-axis milling centre for an automotive production line, it created a compact five-axis milling station for the dental industry.

For its latest project, it was asked by Guangdong University of Technology in Guangzhou to develop a machining centre that combined high-speed laser cutting and milling capabilities.

OPMT chose to partner with NUM, the Xi’an Zhongke Microcrystalline Manufacturing Co and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, which helped with some of the complex materials-processing issues.

The result is the ML125 multi-function machining centre with a dual laser head, capable of switching between a 20W pico-second laser for very-high speed cutting and an ultra-fast 10W femto-second laser for improved process quality.


The latter is capable of drilling and cutting almost any type of material, and its very short wavelength means that it is suitable for micro/nano processing applications.

Entirely controlled by NUM’s latest-generation Flexium+ 68 CNC system, the ML125 machining centre has eight servo axes, two independent NC channels and fast application-specific I/Os embedded in the NCK hardware.

Movement of the fully articulated laser head is controlled by five NUMDrive X servo drives, with high-speed interpolation between all five axes, and the CNC system provides a full RTCP (real-time transport control protocol) function.

Bruce Zheng, CEO of OPMT, said: “The requirements of the industrial processing market keep changing, so our machines need to be extremely flexible.

"Partnering with NUM helps us to achieve this; its open-architecture CNC systems are easy to integrate with third-party products such as motors, and the company is prepared to offer the long-term commitment and technical support needed for the successful completion of complex machine projects.”

The ML125 machining centre is now installed in a research laboratory at Guangdong University of Technology.