To be launched at MACH 2004 is a competitively priced, entry level 16mm capacity CNC sliding headstock automatic lathe offering highly productive 'one-hit' mill/turning of small parts.

Launching its competitively priced, entry level 16mm capacity CNC sliding headstock automatic lathe, Citizen has established a new benchmark for high productivity 'one-hit' mill/turning of small parts. Now available from NC Engineering of Watford, the Citizen C16-VIE features a yoke style tooling arrangement around the main spindle. This short movement, fast positioning design incorporates a gang post holding six turning tools, three driven tools and a high precision, four station toolpost.

This toolpost can present up to eight tools allowing machining operations to be carried out simultaneously at both the main and secondary spindles.

The higher level of flexibility gained from the new tooling layout is an important factor in expanding the capability of the machine to deliver a high productivity to investment ratio.

This is capitalised by Citizen's latest CNC control with its high speed central processor and macros which enable up to 20 per cent to be chopped from existing proven Citizen programs and machining cycles against the previous entry level B-series sliding head machine.

Also, influencing the price advantage of the C16-VIE is recent favourable currency movements and Citizen Machinery's development of its 'Supply Chain Management' philosophy in Japan which is able to significantly shorten production lead time and costs.

The built-in 16 mm main spindle has a 10,000 revs/min drive, full C-axis positioning as standard and a 200mm headstock stroke.

However, as a 1,000 (pounds sterling) option its capacity can be extended to 18 mm diameter.

The secondary spindle, which is also of built-in design, has the same 10,000 revs/min capability and full C-axis positioning is available as an option.

A feature of the gang toolpost is the incorporation of a motor-synchronised guide bushing with six tools configured for outside diameter turning.

In addition, three 8,000 revs/min driven tools with simultaneous high speed rigid tapping are available to produce external component features.

The new four station toolpost arrangement which has bi-directional sleeves is able to perform front and back drilling and tapping cycles simultaneously on a component at the main and secondary spindles.