A 'quasi sliding-head lathe' combines the advantages of sliding-head operation with the fast set-up time of fixed-head lathes, set-up times being reduced to 30 min.

Already a user of four Traub sliding-headstock turn-mill centres equipped with a conventional guide bushing, Galway precision engineering firm, Caragh Tool and Die (www.caragh.ie), has taken delivery of its first Traub TNL26K quasi sliding-head lathe from Geo Kingsbury Machine Tools, UK agent for the German manufacturer. Said Pat Ryan, Caragh's engineering manager, 'For relatively short parts, say up to four times diameter, the new machine combines the advantages of sliding-head operation with the fast set-up time of fixed-head lathes. We have slashed bar changeover from four or five hours, which is the norm on our full 'sliders', down to around half an hour on the TNL26K, as there is no guide bush to adjust.

'Reducing bar change time by a factor of 10 is a huge benefit when you are only producing short runs, although the savings are still apparent for larger batch sizes.

The machine allows us to take on complex, high accuracy work that in the past would have been uneconomic.' Instead of bar up to 32mm diameter being supported by a guide bush through which it slides, the material is clamped in an easy-to-set collet mounted on a quill-type headstock that travels 100mm into and out of the cutting zone.

Removal of the guide bush has allowed bar sizes of up to 36mm to be accommodated.

The sub-spindle, 13 CNC axes and tooling layout in two turrets and gang toolposts for front- and back-working are identical to those of a conventional Traub slider (sliding head automatic - Ed), allowing similarly comprehensive, single-hit, close-tolerance machining.

The TNL26K has been bought partly to support Caragh's medical division, Meditech, established in 2003 to provide machining services and turnkey manufacturing solutions to medical device OEMs.

However, the lathe is currently also used to manufacture components for the semiconductor industry.

Caragh Tool and Die was formed in 1983 and operates from a 2,000m2 factory employing around 70 people.

At the outset, the company was a subcontract supplier of jigs, fixtures and tooling to the growing number of multinationals in the region, but later expanded its activities into the component supply business.

Today, output from the Galway plant is split 30/70 between tooling and components, which it supplies to an international customer base in the automotive/transport and information technology industries as well as to the healthcare sector.