Yamazaki Mazak has ‘underlined its commitment to the British machine tool industry’ with the launch of its newest fully simultaneous five-axis machining centre.

Moreover, the CV5-500 will be the only machine in its class to have been completely conceived, designed and built in the UK.

It is currently being manufactured at Mazak’s European Manufacturing Plant in Worcester (www.mazakeu.co.uk/CV5-500)
and is being marketed at a ‘highly competitive price’, making it accessible by sub-contractors, start-ups and job shops alike.

The machine offers a highly rigid bridge construction with a fully supported trunnion table that travels in the Y-axis direction under the bridge — a design that ensures ‘an accurate and compact machining solution’.

Also featured is a new constant-overhang headstock that is designed to maintain machining rigidity even at the full extent of the Z-axis stroke.

It is equipped with an 18.5kW 12,000rev/min spindle (119.4Nm of torque) that is suitable for a wide range of materials.

An 18,000rev/min spindle is available as an option for high-speed applications; this model includes core cooling through the X-, Y- and Z-axis ballscrews for thermal stability.

The machine is equipped with a Sankyo table (driven via a roller gear cam) that gives 220deg of movement in the B axis and 360deg of rotation in the C axis.

The rapid-traverse rate is 36m/min in the linear axes, and workpieces up to 500mm in diameter, 320mm high and weighing up to 200kg can be accommodated.

Furthermore, Mazak’s Thermal Shield system maintains stable cutting accuracy by applying automatic compensation to combat temperature fluctuations.

The CV5-500 can accommodate various automation solutions due to the addition of a side-loading door, a robot interface and hydraulic and pneumatic fixture interface options.

The front of the machine remains uninhibited from automation equipment, giving the operator access for set-ups plus full visibility of the machining operations at all times.

A 30-tool ATC is standard (48-tool capacity is available as an option), and the tool-to-tool time is 1.3sec.

The ATC is designed so that tools can be replaced even in automatic cycle.

The new machine is equipped with Mazak’s SmoothX CNC, which is the specialist five-axis version of the company’s Smooth technology.