Colchester's top-selling Tornado slant bed CNC lathe is shown for the first time at a UK exhibition in its three-axis 'M' version with six driven tool positions.

Colchester's top-selling Tornado slant bed CNC lathe is shown for the first time at a UK exhibition in its three-axis 'M' version with six driven tool positions. The Tornado 220 M has full C-axis with disc brake positioning fitted to the spindle which ensures maximum productivity can be achieved when heavy duty cycles are demanded. The 220 M fills an important gap in the Tornado range and with the latest engineering design changes is available for the same price as the standard two-axis version of the outgoing, but highly successful Tornado 210 slant bed lathe.

It is available with 210mm or 254mm chuck size, 65mm bar capacity and in the growing in popularity for unmanned running, the Tornado 'Lights-out' package.

Central to 220 M performance is its patented 'Duo-Stable' construction provides a highly stable, true 60 degree slant bed turning platform.

The base foundation with its engineered polymer concrete fill, strategic reinforcement and integral cast iron bed, reflects an increase in machine weight of 50 per cent which is coupled with a 25 per cent improvement in damping.

Larger headstock and a stiffer, five-bearing spindle design, wider, lower and heavier slideways and improved thermal characteristics set the stability factor for high performance two and three-axis machining.

Use of the proprietary Sauter VDI 40 driven turret sets the credibility standard for the 220 M which has a 3.7kW tool drive through a Fanuc 1 Series motor with a torque rating of 9.55Nm, up to its 4,000 revs/min.

As standard, a Heidenhain linear scale is fitted to the X-axis to ensure high accuracy tool positioning in conjunction with the Fanuc 21iTB control and a 360,000 position integral Heidenhain encoder on the spindle giving a full C-axis capability.

Once a fixed C-axis position is determined, the high power disc brake on the spindle locks the programmed position to provide a rigid workholding datum for operation of the third-axis tooling.

Furthering the specification of the 220 M is the inclusion of a CAM package within the control software to help on-machine programming.

This can also be supplied as an off-line system option to support higher productivity requirements of customers wishing to minimise changeover times.