Eric’s interview with MTDCNC about the HD range

Thursday March 5 2015

Heavy duty machining has now been made more productive with the launch of the new Dugard HD2210B machining centre.

With a high number of installations throughout the UK, the HD2210B has been of particular interest to manufacturers in the aerospace, power generation and food industries that are cutting difficult materials from stainless steel through to inconel and titanium alloys.

This 22 tonne workhorse has a BT50 taper spindle with dual taper and face contact for improved precision plus a geared motor providing over 900NM of torque to maximise material removal rates with remarkable torque at low speed ranges. The spindle is available with a 6000rpm or 10,000rpm direct drive motor option to deliver the optimal result for the end user.

The new HD2210B machine has an inverted X-axis, which means the X-axis slideway sits below the Y-axis and not the other way around as on most machine tools. The benefit of this innovation is that rigidity is enhanced throughout the complete length of the bed and this is particularly useful for manufacturers using a 4th axis unit on any point of the machine bed, as material removal rates can be maximised without compromising tool life, surface finishes or machining speeds.

The machine has a 2.2m X-axis travel in a compact footprint that is upwards of 40% smaller than alternate machines due to the slideway configuration. The machine works with 80mm diameter heavy duty ball screws that are refrigerated to maintain precision by keeping the working ball screw at a constant temperature.

The machine is driven by a powerful Fanuc 0i-MD CNC control unit that provides the customer with the high speed processing control for enhanced productivity. To improve the appeal for the shop floor operator, Dugard can also offer the machine with the option of a Heidenhain control unit or the Siemens 828D.