A recent entrant to the Y-axis lathe sector is a twin opposed spindle lathe that offers shaft turning or sequential front- and back-working of chuck-type components.
A recent entrant to the Y-axis lathe sector is the Japanese manufacturer, Takamaz, which supplies the majority of its annual output to domestic car producers, mainly as automated turning cells fitted with high speed servo gantry loaders. New from this machine builder is the XY-120 twin-opposed-spindle lathe with +/-30mm of Y-axis movement on the turret. It is available in the UK through sole agent, Yuasa Warwick Machinery.

Maximum distance between the 5.5kW (optionally 7.5kW) main spindle and the 3.7kW counter spindle is 680mm, offering shaft turning or sequential front- and back-working of chuck-type components.

Optimum turning diameter is up to 170mm in the main spindle but 35mm less after synchronous transfer to the sub spindle.

Speed is 4,500 or 6,000 rpm, according to preference, and the machine can be supplied with a 35mm or 42mm bar magazine.

The turret has 12 tool stations, all of which are driven by a 3.7kW motor at up to 4,000 rpm.

VDI toolholding is optional.

A full C-axis is provided on both spindles, allowing complex prismatic operations to be performed at both ends of the lathe, including machining of off-centre features and keyways using the Y-axis.

Linear rapid traverse rates in X, Z, Y and A (the 380mm of sub-spindle movement) are 18, 24, 12 and 18m/min respectively, and the spindles position themselves at about one rev per second.

Non-cutting times are consequently short and productivity is maximised.

Siting of the machine within a factory is flexible, as footprint is 2.40 x 1.65 metres and only 1.7 metres of headroom is needed.

Control is by the Fanuc 18i-TB 6-axis CNC system with Takamaz user interface.

Standard functions include high speed rigid tapping, tool load monitoring, workpiece/tool counter and alarm message displays.