MHI Develop Double Column Machining Center

High pressure machining with 5 micro meter level accuracy possible in new MHE machining center

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) has completed the development and begun full-scale marketing of a double column machining center - dubbed the "LH250" - capable of high-precision machining of workpieces up to 2 meters in length.

The new unit not only offers significantly enhanced vibration absorption capability in the machine structure and greater rigidity in the high-speed main spindle, it also incorporates MHI's unique main spindle lubrication cooling technology and suppresses self-heating of the machine normally caused by long hours of continuous operation, which take a toll on machining precision.

Through these innovations, the LH250 has achieved machining with 5 micrometer (µm, 0.001 millimeter) level precision, the highest level in the same size machine category. MHI targets broad use of the machine at machining shops that handle difficult-to-cut plate materials such as aircraft parts, and dies and molds.

The LH250 has a 2,500 millimeter (mm) long and 1,000 mm wide table with loading capacity up to 3,000 kilogram (kg).

IMHI's machine tools are widely used at company factories and at partner companies for various machining needs, a situation that enables MHI to incorporate the detailed requirements of machining shops into new product development. The company developed the LH250 in full consideration of opinions voiced by its workshops involved in various business fields, including aerospace, power generation systems, and mass- and medium-lot manufacturing products. The new machine also integrates elemental technologies accumulated from MHI's operations in large-size double column machining centers and small-size high-precision milling machines.