Republic Lagun Millmatic III

With all three axes under CNC, the Republic Lagun Millmatic III is the fully programmable version of Lagun's Millmatic vertical knee mill. The maker's wording is that these mills have the capacity to function also as a CNC machine, machining in up to 3 axes: it is a knee mill first, and a CNC second.

That order of priorities shows in the hardware list. There are table and saddle locks, as on a manual mill, for clamping an axis during a heavy cut. The knee is listed as 11 1/2 (292 mm) wide and the saddle as 23 in (584 mm), and the spindle keeps the R8 taper that most toolrooms already own collets and holders for. High precision ball screws are fitted on X, Y and Z, which is what lets the third axis be driven.

Capacity matches a large knee mill. The table is 55.25 x 10 in (1,403 x 254 mm) with a 750 lb (340 kg) weight capacity; travels are 36 in (914 mm), 15.25 in (387 mm) and 16 in (406 mm) in X, Y and Z. The ram adds 22.2 in (564 mm) of adjustment and the quill, 3.38 in (86 mm) in diameter, has 5 in (127 mm) of travel. Spindle speed runs from 55 to 4,250 rpm on a 5 HP (3.7 kW) drive.

Three-axis control opens up work the two-axis Millmatic II leaves to the operator: programmed drilling cycles, ramped entries, stepped pockets and simple 3D surfaces. Lagun positions the series for single shot work, prototypes, one-piece jobs and short run production, and flood coolant is standard. The maker's page does not name the control for this model.