Duff & MacIntosh distribute a range of technical teaching equipment designed for use in higher education and VET. Amongst their range is equipment related to mechanical engineering, hydraulics, refrigeration and automotive engineering.
Duff & MacIntosh have announced the distribution of the Unimat CNC mill and lathes, part of ‘TheCoolTool’ range, which specialises in producing smaller machinery for use in classes that can teach the principles of machine use and automated production without the resources and capital costs full scale machinery requires.
The desktop system is designed to introduce the concepts of machining and production, and can be used in computer aided design and computer aided manufacture. The modular design allows a large amount of applications. Both capital and operating costs are much lower than full scale machinery.
The Unimat CNC mill and lathes are equipped with 2A stepper motors. Following are the typical characteristics of Unimat CNC mill and lathes:
- Cross Slide: travel 32mm (extendable)
- Longitudinal Slide: travel 145mm (extendable)
- Accuracy: maximum 0.08mm
- CNC lathe with thread cutting function
- CNC-Lathe - up to 6 axes
The machines are controlled through the free software EMC2 included in the CoolCNC bundle, so students can install the software legally and exercise at home. The CAD application can be converted into machine code in a CAM application. EMC2 offers a graphical interface as well as insight into the G-code allowing students to gain the knowledge of automated production facilities, such as planning and processing of selected components. The emphasis on automation of production processes as well as on CAD-CAM also provide and introduction to quality management.