The range of cost-effective vertical machining centres available from Hove-based C Dugard Ltd has further evolved after close collaboration with the company’s long-standing Taiwanese partners to instigate enhancements based on customer feedback (www.dugard.com).

As a result, the Dugard 550, 760, 1000 and 1350 three-axis machining centres now have a smaller footprint, a larger work envelope, faster rapid travels and a wider choice of CNC systems — and they are ‘more cost-effective’ than the previous models. The final specifications were agreed upon at the recent EMO show, and the machines are available in the UK from stock.

Enhancements over the previous machines include extended Y-axis travel on the smaller 550 and 760 machines; and despite their increased work envelope, Dugard has managed to reduce the overall footprint of both to less than 2 ¥ 2m — an area that also includes the ancillary equipment such as tanks, pumps and conveyors.

To create uniformity across the range, each of the four machines now offers spindle speeds of 20-11,000rev/min, with the 550 and 760 machines featuring a 10kW Fanuc spindle motor, while the 1000 and 1350 feature an 18.5kW Fanuc motor.

The two larger machines also include a pneumatic counter-balance on the Z axis.

The pneumatic cylinders are directly mounted to the column and vertically moving cast head to eliminate the requirement for weights and chains in the column; this configuration ‘enhances the kinematic movements of the Z axis and improves its speed and precision’.

The new range also increases the control options, adding the high-performance Mitsubishi M80 CNC to the Fanuc and Siemens systems previously offered.

The Dugard 550 and 760 both include a 16-station ATC with a BT40 spindle taper, rapid-traverse rates up to 36m/min, and work envelopes of 550 x 440 x 460mm for the 550 machine and 762 x 440 x 460mm for the 760.

For the 1000 and 1350 machines, the work envelopes are 1,000 x 540 x 560mm and 1,350 x 640 x 660mm respectively.

Options include fourth- and fifth-axis ‘interface tables’, 20-, 24- or 28-station tool-changers, through-spindle coolant, chip flushing and wash gun, along with both spindle and tool-setting probes.