Tornos DECO 20a

The Tornos DECO 20a is a Swiss-type bar lathe: a horizontal sliding-headstock machine with a standard guide bushing, one main spindle and a counter spindle, built around bar up to 20.5 mm (0.807 in) and parts up to 200 mm (7.87 in) long. Tornos's current lineup does not include it, so anyone reading this is most likely assessing a used machine and should confirm the listed figures against that machine's own documentation.

Both spindles are listed at 10,000 RPM and both have a C-axis. Power is split unevenly: 5.5 kW (7.4 hp) on the main spindle and 3.7 kW (5 hp) on the counter spindle, roughly two thirds as much. That matches the usual division of labour on a bar machine, with the heavy turning done through the guide bushing and the counter spindle left for back-drilling, cross-work and finishing the cut-off face.

Tooling is arranged as 5 independent tool systems, with a front slide as the primary tool carrier and a back slide as the second, and the table lists 4 tools cutting simultaneously. Overlapping operations are the reason to choose a machine like this; a part that only ever has one tool in the cut will not run faster for it. No tailstock is listed, and the bar feed range is given as 1 - 20.5 mm. A separate row lists 1.000 in as an optional main-spindle bar diameter, worth asking a seller about if 20.5 mm (0.807 in) is marginal for the work.

Rapid traverse is 30 m/min (1,181 ipm) and the machine weighs approximately 3,200 kg (7,055 lb). The control is listed as Tornos TB-DECO / TISIS with a Fanuc PNC-DECO CNC, so find out which software version a used machine carries and whether your programmers know it. For bigger bar, the DECO 26a takes 26 mm (1.024 in) with the same 200 mm (7.87 in) machining length.