The Eurotech Elite WL25 8-axis, dual-slide headstock machine without a guide bushing (shown in action at right) was the answer for Millennium Manufacturing, according to company president Dave Fricke.

"What we needed was the live tools, as well as a C-axis on the main spindle and subspindle. While multitask machines have these capabilities, they are expensive, have comparatively long tool indexes and usually start at a spindle size of 1 3/4-inches, often too large for our parts. We didn't need the guide bushing."

Eurotech Elite President Jeff Waltz estimated that about 80 percent of parts produced on conventional Swiss machines could be produced more efficiently without a guide bushing.

—Excerpted from "Convertible Swiss" - September 2007, CUTTING TOOL ENGINEERING



The following companies contributed to this report: