C Dugard's Dugard Eagle 450-XP is a high speed drill/tap/mill centre that occupies a very compact floor area of just 2.4 m by 1.5 m. The machine can be almost tailored to a specific production requirement with, for instance, a choice spindle taper of BT 30 or BT 40, from spindles having a high torque 8,000 revs/min, a mid-range 12,000 revs/min or high speed 15,000 revs/min. There is also a selection of control systems from Fanuc or Siemens, a fourth-axis package as well as electronic tool length measurement and spindle probing options.

The Eagle 450-XP has a 700 mm by 320 mm table carried on a wide slideway design of a heavily ribbed Mehanite casting that weighs some 2.2 tonnes. Travels in X, Y and Z are 450 mm by 350 mm by 380 mm that are covered at a rapid traverse rate of 36  m/min in each axis. Positioning accuracy is + 0.005 mm and repeatability + 0.003 mm.

A choice can be made of 8,000 revs/min spindles from Fanuc with a 5.5 kW drive or 8.5 kW from Siemens. In addition, the Dugard Eagle 450-XP+ version can be specified with a 15,000 revs/min Fanuc drive. Toolchange is via 12 position carousel as standard on the 450-XP with a chip-to-chip time of 10 secs or a 16 station, twim-arm toolchange with a chip-to-ship time of two secs. A chip management system is standard with powerful flushing and screw conveyor to the rear of the machine. Control options are Fanuc Oi with 7.2 inch LCD screen or Siemens 802D carrying a 10.4 inch colour TFT with graphic display. Rigid tapping is standard.

Wed 14th May 2008