Whether turning or milling the heavy duty machining capability of a mill-turn centre - capable of automatically changing 1m boring bars - provides a powerful platform for high productivity machining.

Yamazaki Mazak's CyberTech Turn 4500M made its UK debut at MACH 2006. This powerful turning centre has a maximum machining diameter of 860mm and, depending on which bed length is specified, a maximum machining length of 3048mm. Heavy-duty machining capability is provided by a main spindle unit with a 37kW/2400 rev/min capability that delivers a 'staggering' 326.3kgf/m (2360ft.lb) of torque.

The CT4500M is more than just a turning machine, though, and is also equipped with a powerful, 11kW, 3000 rev/min milling spindle.

The resulting turning centre is the ideal solution for those companies with a requirement to machine long, large diameter components, typical of those found in the aerospace and oil industries.

The large turret of the CT4500M has capacity for twelve, 32mm square shank tools and can also accommodate boring bars with shanks up to 50mm diameter.

A further plus point is the fact that rotary tools can be located in any of the turret positions and productivity is boosted by the use of random, shortest path, non-lift indexing, which is achieved in a time of 0.4s.

Additionally, two boring bars with 80mm diameter shanks and up to 1m in length can be located in the boring bar stocker.

This feature facilitates the machining of deep bores without the need for time-consuming manual intervention.

For shaft work a servo-driven tailstock, with a stroke up to 2550mm, simplifies setup as its position is recognised by the Mazatrol 640MT Pro CNC, and both its position and thrust settings are controlled by M-code functions.

For further workpiece support automatic programmable travelling steady rests are available.

Furthermore the CT4500M comes with a choice of spindle bore diameter.

As standard, the machine has a 132mm bore and options are available for 185mm, 275mm and 320mm if required, with either a 305mm or 381mm bore through the chuck.

Finally, for a machine of this size agility has not been compromised and rapid traverse rates in the X and Z axes are 24m/min and 30m/min respectively.

The contouring capability, so often required on aircraft and oil industry components, is enhanced by the C-axis, which has a minimum programming increment of 0.001 deg.

Other machines in the CyberTech Turn range offer variations such as the addition of a lower turret or, in the case of the entry-level CT4500, supplied without a milling spindle.