Which Mazak VMC from the 90's is the most bombproof

Bit of a vague question but I' m being forced to look at Mazak purely on the fact that there is an excellent ex Mazak service team in Scotland and not much else.
As I do all my own maintenance and other repairs I see my son having problems as i start to wind down and step back from the business.
Apart from these ex Mazak guys I can think of no other people up here that I would recommend.
I hate Mazak England and Scotland with a vengeance and I'm not impressed with mazak worldwide either,but I respect the metal.They make some good solid iron.
I need 40 - 50 taper spindle but 6000 rpm would be plenty.
40" long travel but could live with 30"
Could probably go older than 90's as the M2 control seemed ok.

Need more info or is this enough

I don't know anything about Mazaks but congrats. on your 4000th post!

i work on 200 ms and i am satisfied work great and is precise 0,001 mm . not much complicated and is clutter

I like the V414 series , solid machine , made in Japan , 40 taper

Had a VTC 16B , good machine , MAZAK M PLUS control , middle of the road machine , all the money was in the control
Very fast to set up , programing was easy ( Went to the Kentucky U.S. plant for training )
Well supported in my neck of the woods , I'm only 60 miles from the plant.

These are verticals , we have in the last couple of years put 2 horizontals with pallet tech system in service.
Not the bulldozers like our Matsuura's , but they are much faster.

Good Luck,

Sorry to hear Mazak is not supported as well as here.

V414 or V515 has hyd tool changer one less electric motor and drive to go bad. Mazak is still making them almost the same except for the sheet metal, that should tell you something.

Thanks guys,keep it coming.
I've requested a quote on a VTC 16C with 56" X and twin magazines.

The V414 and V515 are rock solid machines, with the table only moving in X, the column moves in Y, and of course the head in Z. Kinda like a typical horizontal machine, except vertical spindle.

The VTC series are traveling-column machines, with a fixed table. Not quite as rigid, but plenty accurate, and flexible with the fixed table.

Mazak's from about '90 to '96 will have the M32 control, after that it is the M+ control up to around 2000, when the Fusion control came out.

Good luck in your search!

The m/c I've priced has the M32B control.
Is this ok?
Does the fact it has twin tool magazines indicate it may have a decent amount of memory?
We do a lot of profilling of burnouts up to 80mm thick with a 25mm endmill hanging out the spindle about 90mm.

cnctoolcat is right about the VTC 16C is a traveling-column machine , the column is on a X , Y ways.

With that much travel and 2 magazines , one on each side. You can mount a divider wall between each side and use like a double pallet machine.
You have to program to use tools from only side running and only open one door at a time with a M0 between each side.

The M32 control is easy to program and do about anything most people need. Check and see if they got extra memory or any other options.
Mazak's of those years had lot's of options , both hardware and just some factory code change to turn on .

I have seen a Mazak solution to an problem from a Mfg. of forged flange axles , they had to put bolt pattern and do mill work to flange end of axle.
They just put holes in table ( table does not move ), slide shaft down hole , clamp on flange. Load one side while other side is working.
Many other solutions would have cost a lot more money. Worked well enough they bought 3 machines , ran 24/7 for years till someone in China
just bid somewhere around nothing plus shipping and put them out of business.

My experience with VTC series showed it lacked being as ridged as I would have liked. OK for AL, brass , plastic etc.
Ran real Fast , no hydraulics to worry about , air spindle tool retention with springs , very little extra to maintain . Work light was an issue.
But run steel hard and fast , I ran through a lot of tooling.

I have run some of the same kind of jobs on a Matsuura, and it's day and night,
Run some jobs for years , put tools back in cabinet use again and again,

Hope this helps,

Good luck ,

Crash28,I have thought about other manufacturers but I'm going Mazak because there is a whole ex Mazak service team in business in Scotland,based 20 miles away from me.
To go other manufacturers you need to bring them from 400 miles away and have at least a $1500 bill before they get in the door..There is also the official Mazak team at about the same distance.

Have you considered a horizontal?

Heavey Metal said:

Have you considered a horizontal?

Click to expand...

I have wanted an HMC for years but they mostly need a lot of space.At the moment I want three verticals.