Vertical machining centres have a rugged construction (heavily-ribbed Meehanite) which absorbs vibration and limits the effects of thermal distortion even during the heaviest of cutting conditions.

Mills' new NM 410 and 510 vertical machines are packed to the rafters with productivity-boosting standard features- and are available at special introductory prices. Market-leading machine tool specialist - Mills Manufacturing Technology - is launching the latest generation of high-performance Doosan Daewoo vertical machining centres into the UK. The new machine models - the NM 410 and 510 models - are both equipped with significant productivity-enhancing features which, combined with their special introductory price - demonstrates Mills', and Doosan Daewoo's, intention to make serious in-roads into this sector of the machine tools market.

Said Mike Jenkins, managing director at Mills: 'Manufacturers producing high-precision complex parts, and who are operating in tough production environments, frequently tell me that, to remain ultra-competitive, they need access to the very latest milling technology - but don't want to break to bank acquiring it.' He said: 'Through our new NM 410 and 510 machines - we're confident that we have the optimum milling solution and we're equally certain that the machines will prove to be a big hit with customers.' Such confidence is not misplaced.

Just a cursory look at each machine model's specification will satisfy even the most critical examination.

The new NM 410 and 510 machines provide users with substantial, and sophisticated, milling capability.

This is evidenced, amongst many other features, by the NM 410 and 510's Fanuc 0iMC control.

This control is fully-functional and straightforward to use - and has conversational programming capability.

Through a series of drop-down, easy-to-understand menus and prompts - operator time spent on job set-ups (including correct identification and selection of machining priorities, parameters and strategies, etc) is substantially reduced and process reliability significantly enhanced.

Irrespective then of an individual operators' experience or familiarity with the machine (or control) - valuable time and resource does not have to be spent on training - and, as a consequence, machine up-time is optimised.

Such high levels of productivity are not just ensured by the NM 410 and 510's control.

Both machines are powerful performers too.

The machines have a rugged construction (heavily-ribbed Meehanite) which absorbs vibration and limits the effects of thermal distortion even during the heaviest of cutting conditions.

Fast cutting capability and component accuracy and finish are further guaranteed by the machines' rigid, linear guideways and high-speed servo motors which, coupled directly to centre-mounted, pretensioned ball screws, deliver 36m/min rapid traverse rates on all axes.

To handle a multitude of prismatic machining applications - thereby increasing the machines' flexibility and appeal - the NM 410 and 510 are equipped with fast and powerful spindles (15kW, 8,000 rev/min 40 taper or 15kW 12,000 rev/min 40 taper) respectively.

To optimise cutting performance still further - 20 bar through-spindle-coolant capability is provided as standard.

Both machines have generously-proportioned and fast ATC capability (NM 410: 24-position, 1.5s tool-to-tool - and NM 510: 30-position, 2s tool-to-tool).

The NM 410 and 510 machines are compact.

Both have good-size working envelopes and table load capacity.

NM 410 table size - 920mm x 430mm; X, Y, Z travels - 760mm x 410mm x 510mm; maximum table load - 600kg.

NM 510 table size - 1200mm x 500mm; X, Y, Z travels - 1020mm x 510mm x 625mm; maximum table load - 800kg.

Concluded Jenkins: 'These new vertical machining centres represent excellent value for money.

The fact that we are introducing them into the UK, with up to GBP 10,000 off their list price, represents a fantastic opportunity for customers.'