Takamaz XG-4

The Takamaz XG-4 is the high-speed gang-tool lathe of Takamaz's small-part range: a built-in motor spindle running to 8,000 rpm with a 7.5 / 5.5 kW rating, a 4 in collet, and gang tooling on 200 mm (7.9 in) of X and 250 mm (9.8 in) of Z. Its workpiece limits are 30 mm in diameter, 50 mm in length and 0.3 kg.

Speed is the point of this machine. On a part no larger than 30 mm across, a turning or drilling tool can only reach its proper cutting speed if the spindle turns fast, and 8,000 rpm gives it that room where a slower spindle would leave small diameters, centre drills and small bores running below the speed the tool wants. The spindle is a built-in motor design, with the motor on the spindle itself rather than driving it through a belt, and it runs on Ø65 mm bearings.

Tool changes are slide moves, not turret indexes, because the tools are arranged in a gang along X. With 18 m/min rapids on both X and Z, the move from one tool to the next is short, which on a cycle measured in seconds is a large part of the output. The spindle centre sits 950 mm (37.4 in) above the floor.

The J-WAVE PLUS is the same frame with a slower spindle: identical 200 mm X and 250 mm Z strokes and footprint, but 4,500 rpm and a 5.5 / 3.7 kW rating. Against the J-WAVE PLUS, the XG-4 offers 8,000 rpm instead of 4,500 rpm and more power on the same 1,506 × 1,250 mm (W × L) of floor, and is the one to choose when the parts sit at the small end of the 30 mm range.