Colchester CV 400

The Colchester CV 400 is a CNC turret mill: a knee-type vertical milling machine with a 254 x 1,370 mm (10.0 x 53.9 in) table, an ISO 30 spindle and a 2.2 kW (3.0 hp) motor running to 5,000 rpm. Colchester's own text writes the name as CV-400 and offers the machine for both education and industry.

Its layout is the familiar toolroom one. The table travels 845 mm (33.3 in) in X and 370 mm (14.6 in) in Y, the knee moves 390 mm (15.4 in) and the quill 110 mm (4.3 in). Anyone who has used a manual turret mill will know where everything is, and an MPG hand wheel is part of the standard equipment for jogging and setting up. Precision ballscrews are fitted on X, Y and Z.

What the CNC adds is contouring, repeatability and pocketing that a manual machine cannot do economically. The standard control is the Fanuc 0i-MF Plus with Manual Guide i, and a Siemens 828D with ShopMill is the option. Colchester says that people with basic machining skills can be producing parts within a few hours, and that the machine is fully compatible with CAD/CAM systems.

The limits follow from the figures. An ISO 30 taper and 2.2 kW (3.0 hp) mean small cutters and light cuts, and the table carries at most 350 kg (772 lb). No automatic tool changer is listed; the air power drawbar speeds up manual tool changes. An interlocked table guard is standard. The specification table for this model prints no control row, so the control details above come from the feature list on the same page.