Global machine tool manufacturer DMG Mori has entered the vertical machining centre (VMC) market at the lower end of the price range with the M1, a new, nominally 0.5m-cube model. Costing £54,000, it is the least expensive machine in the company's portfolio and offers small job shops and sub-contractors the opportunity to access equipment from the leading machine tool manufacturer.

Built at the group's factory in Poland, it is sold in the UK through Coventry subsidiary DMG Mori UK and finance for the machine is available through the group's own leasing company DMG Mori Finance.

Director James Clist said: “Repayments on an M1 would be only £830 per month and, as for all our machines and automation, we offer a six-month break before repayments start.

“During that time it is feasible for a firm to earn £30,000 of income on single-shift working before the first instalment is due. If the machine works a double shift, it could be amortised before the user even starts paying for it.”

Mr Clist went on to point out that this allows the customer to remain cash-positive and it gives them confidence for the future. He said it is one of the ways DMG Mori is helping to support UK manufacturing, especially at this difficult time with the ongoing pandemic.

As to the machine itself, there has been no compromise on build quality. Occupying only six square metres on a shop floor, it is constructed on a 2,400 kg, monolithic, thermally stable bed casting that allows high metal removal rates combined with supreme accuracy and surface quality of machined components.

Travels on the X, Y and Z axis are 550 x 550 x 510mm and at 850mm, the length of the fixed table is much longer than the X-axis stroke to allow for considerable component overhang. Table width is also generous at 650mm and maximum load is 600kg.

BT40 (or SK40) tools are exchanged from a 24-station magazine by a twin-arm automatic tool changer (ATC) into the direct-drive, 9kW/43Nm spindle, which can have a maximum rotational speed of either 10,000 or 12,000rev/min — 20-bar through-spindle coolant is optional.

Control is via a Siemens 828D and programs are fully compatible with the 840D CNC system. NC cycles generated by a CAM system can be easily imported and a DXF reader is available, as is the Siemens ShopMill user interface. Cycle simulation, Advanced Surface and DMG Mori's proprietary NETservice 4.0 are all included.

Steve Finn, managing director of DMG Mori UK concluded: “In 2019 the UK market purchased more than 1,000 VMCs and until now we have been very much a niche supplier to this sector. Now that we have a product at an attractive price point, it will allow more companies to explore the world of DMG Mori.

"The M1 is built to exacting standards at our Famot factory, which has been extended recently to 50,000ft² and re-equipped at a cost of £58 million to streamline the manufacture of this and other machine tools within our range.

“We currently have stock in the UK and with the factory only two days' drive away, so machines can be delivered within short lead-times.”