Niigata HN800-V

The Niigata HN800-V is an 800 mm pallet horizontal machining center built on V-shaped slideways. Niigata describes it as the first machining center to adopt its V-slide system, and the claim it attaches to the design is geometric: consistent positioning accuracy across the whole machining area, not only near the middle of the strokes.

The reasoning is straightforward. On a flat box way there has to be a small clearance at the side gibs, and that clearance lets a slide yaw. A V-shaped way is seated by the weight of the unit itself, so the sliding parts are constrained without a gap and attitude errors such as yawing are suppressed. Niigata uses a VV guide surface on the Z axis and a V-and-flat arrangement on X. The ways are hardened, the mating surfaces are hand-scraped, and the slide material is chosen for low wear and vibration damping.

In capacity the machine mirrors the HN80E. Travels are 1,530 mm (60.2 in), 1,230 mm (48.4 in) and 1,020 mm (40.2 in); the pallet carries 2,500 kg (5,511 lb); the workpiece can reach φ1,750 mm × 1,400 mm. The spindle is a high-torque gear spindle with BT50 tooling, 6,000 min-1 and 1,948 N·m (1,437 lb-ft).

Where it departs from its sibling is traverse speed. The HN800-V rapids at 50 m/min (1,969 ipm), which Niigata highlights as notable for a sliding-guide machine. The tool magazine holds 62 tools as standard, with chain options up to 263 tools and matrix options up to 230. Indexing is 1°, or 0.001° as an option.