Used machine tool stock comes from the part exchange service that the company offers on its range of new lathes and machining centres.
Envisioned as an alternative to internet auctions, the system, available on machines listed under the ‘used equipment’ tab on http://shop.dugard.com, publicly displays the current highest offer and a colour-coded thermometer that indicates how near to the mark that bid is (in addition, the asking price is also published). Used equipment sales have no set end-date. Acceptable offers are automatically routed to an e-commerce page where a 10% deposit is taken; the remaining amount is paid in the usual way. Previously, customers could view used machines online but had to negotiate a purchase price by telephone or in person.
The system also enables web customers to specify and place orders for new entry-level Dugard Lunan machines.
A highlight of the company’s biennial Open House is the 2000XP (named for an x-axis travel of 2,060 mm, with 850 and 815 mm in Y and Z), the largest of five new vertical machining centres spun off of the former E series. Although built on the same cast iron base, the XP series offers faster spindles (up to 12,000 rpm), faster rapids, more tools (36) and higher-spec coolant (20-bar through-tool) compared to the new three-model E series (spindle speed up to 10,000 rpm; 24 tool-ATC). Still, the XP series’ price remains at a level similar to that of the previous E series, Eric Dugard tells Machinery.
GSK (left) and Syntec CNC
As for the control, most Dugard machines offer a choice of various models of Fanuc, Siemens or Heidenhain CNCs. But at the event two other Asian controls were shown: a Chinese GSK control, said to be the one of the most popular CNCs in China, and a Taiwanese Syntec PC-based CNC offering 3D simulation and conversational graphic display on an integral 15 in LCD screen. It was shown on a Dugard 32 Sub-Spindle sliding-head lathe (32 mm bar capacity; up to 150 mm part length) offering Y and C axis.
One of the most affordable machines on show was the compact 3-axis Dugard Lunan 500A (travels of 500 by 320 by 400 mm in X, Y and Z), in a machine footprint of 1,600 by 1,840 mm. It comes with 10-tool drum automatic toolchanger and offers spindle speed up to 10,000 rpm.A 4th-axis unit, a rotary table, is an option.
