Designed for the manufacture of single, high-precision blades for aerospace and power generation applications, the Liechti Turbomill 500g simultaneous five-axis machining centre ‘delivers unrivalled accuracy, power, speed and process reliability’.

The new machine has been recently introduced by Liechti Engineering AG, a subsidiary of Switzerland-based GF Machining Solutions, a world-leading provider of milling, laser machining, automation and EDM solutions.

The Liechti Turbomill 500g, offers a whole host of features that includes Liechti’s g-technology and 100rev/min Tool Pivot Point machining capability on the B axis which ensures fast and accurate contouring around blade edges; reduced movement of the linear axis delivers shorter cycle times, higher positional accuracies and less mechanical wear, which help manufacturers produce high-quality, competitively-priced blade components in double-quick time.

The machine, equipped with a 20,000rev/min HSK-A63 StepTec spindle and up to 2,000rev/min turning capability, boasts 2g acceleration/deceleration rates and 60m/min linear feed rates, ensuring that the Turbomill 500g gets down to business fast — helping reduce part cycle times by up to 30%. These ultra-fast processing speeds do not compromise accuracy or quality as the Turbomill 500g can achieve blade accuracies of +/-0.015mm, and surface finishes of 0.4µm.

To ensure high-productivity through unattended operation, the Turbomill 500g can be equipped with a bar feeder that automatically loads bar stock into the machine ensuring non-stop production. The Turbomill 500g also features direct-drive motors on all five axes for consistent high-quality part production, and an internal bed cooling system and intelligent thermal compensation helps stabilise machining temperatures and reduce the effects of thermal drift.