Heavy duty machining with an impressively small footprint
With its introduction in 2011, Heavy duty machining got a productive new twist, and the Dugard HD range is still impressing our customers.
The range has proved to be immensely popular, with over 100 sold and installed throughout Europe and the Middle East. As the Heavy Duty name suggests, these machines have a very sturdy construction – built both to perform and to last – while their footprint is up to 40% smaller than other similar capacity machining centres.
Unique Configuration
All models in the HD range have an inverted X axis, meaning the X axis slideway sits underneath the Y axis (on most machine tools this is the other way round), and it’s this feature that dramatically reduces the machines’ footprint. Plus, the table is fully supported across the full X axis movement, eliminating table overhang and X axis distortion. This unique configuration gives enhanced rigidity and is particularly useful for manufacturers using a 4th axis unit (on any point of the machine bed), as it maximises material removal rates without compromising tool life, surface finishes or machining speeds.
An impressive workhorse
The HD range really can take on a huge amount of heavy duty machining. It has a BBT50 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. X axis travel ranges from 13000mm to 2200mm, Y axis travel is 800mm to 1000mm with the Z axis travel from 600mm to 900mm and the maximum table load is 3000kg. The spindle is available with an 8000rpm or 10,000rpm direct drive motor option to deliver the optimal result for the end user. It has a 24 station bi-directional automatic toolchanger as standard, with an option for 32 tools. X, Y and Z axes have refrigerated cooling through ballscrews which gives superb repeatability even during heavy duty cycles and each machine has Fanuc 0iMD, Heidenhain iTNC 530 or Siemens 828D control options. Plus each machine has a choice of either boxways or roller linear guideways.
Glowing reviews from customers
Everyone who has bought a machine from the HD range knows they made the right decision. With the combination of reliability, precision, and most importantly, a fantastic end product, our customers routinely give the HD range 10/10.
Chris Roberts from Dicker Precision says: “The Dugard HD 1886B machine is just brilliant; it’s so solid. Whatever stress we try to put it under it performs every time. The surface finishes are excellent, thanks to the rigidity. We’ve won new work because of the investment which is really pleasing.”
The HD range is being used in a wide range of industries including aerospace, power generation and food industries that are cutting difficult materials from stainless steel through to Inconel and titanium alloys. We’ve recently posted a case study from Jenkins engineering (which you can see here). They bought their HD because they’ve seen a significant increase in business from the offshore oil industry. In that video Paul Jasiewkicz explains exactly what attracted them to their new HD1886B, “We wanted the ability to get more work done on a larger machine whilst maximising our floor area. We were looking for a bigger work envelope where we could do more machining in the Y-axis and we also wanted more power.”
The HD range has proved tremendously popular with all our customers, as it’s proven to increase their productivity while fitting into a surprisingly small workspace. If you need any information on our Dugard HD range, please get in touch – email [email protected] or call 01273 732286.