Polish Manufacturer of Lathes Returns to the American Market
The icon of the Polish industry and a world-renowned manufacturer of technically advanced numerical lathes returns to the American market.
The Factory of Turning Machines in Wrocław, belonging to the Belgian concern HACO, is a company with a long tradition, which developed its sales in the United States already during the Cold War. Still as the communist WAFUM-PONAR, and later as FAT, the company cooperated with the American dealer TOOLMEX from the early 1970s, which distributed these lathes on the American market with the designations TUR and TUD.
Conventional lathes
Conventional lathes
What is this FAT brand?
The FAT brand is associated with a very good, reliable product. Years of experience have made FAT lathes perceived all over the world as: high-quality, professional, European product.
One of the most important episodes in the history of the company and the Polish industry was the cooperation agreement of 1970 between PONAR-WAFUM (today’s FAT HACO) and the German manufacturer Gildemeister (now part of DMG MORI). The communist thaw and the opening of the communist bloc countries, including Polish to the west, led to the conclusion of an international agreement and an increase in the export of machines from behind the Iron Curtain. As a result of these events, the company has been awarded a long-term contract for the production of multi-spindle automatic lathes under license from Gildemeister. It was from these machine tools that in 1974 the company adopted the name “FAT” Factory of Automatic Lathes, which it uses to this day.
Multi-spindle automatic lathe under Gildemeister license, made by FAT
The most important moment of the last decades was undoubtedly the takeover of the plant by the HACO Group in 1998. As a result, many investments were made and the production of modern lathes at the highest technological level began. (www.fathaco.com)
Heavy Machining CNC Lathes
Over the years, the company has specialized in the production of powerful, impressive lathes used for machining heavy workpieces weighing up to 100,000 kg (220462.26 pounds), with a diameter of 3000 mm (118.11 inches) and a length of up to 22 000 mm (866.14 inches), spindle boxes up 400 kW power on the chucks has also been realized. These are machines from TUR 3MN and TUR 4MN series.
One of the largest CNC turning machines produced by FAT for an American customer
The sales volume of these lathes, specially designed according to the customer’s wishes, is increasing year by year. Cooperation with the customer at every stage of production, from the moment of inquiry, through design, assembly and final acceptance, results in the creation of new solutions and the creation of machines that best meet the needs of the contractor. The universal assembly system of individual elements allows for individual selection of the headstock with appropriate power and torque and for adjusting the machine to the specific weight of the workpieces. Many solutions has been developed for different materials, classic steel, Inconel and titanium, all kind of plastics, carbon fiber and electrical isolator epoxy.
The four-guide bed design allows the tool head carriage to pass freely without colliding with the working steady rest and tailstock. This means that the operator does not have to disassemble the workpiece to move the steady rest. This results in significantly higher performance for machining long workpieces along the entire length.
CNC lathes TUR 3MN and TUR 4MN series
The special bed, made of a single cast iron piece, provides excellent vibration damping properties even with heavy, efficient machining. In addition, as in all lathes manufactured by FAT HACO, guides, carriages and other cooperating elements are manually scraped and lapped. This technological process ensures: the accuracy of machining, rigidity, precision, ergonomics and maintaining the geometric properties of the machine for a long time. The customer’s unique requirements for this size of machine in terms of accuracy, positioning and repeatability are achieved thanks to the use of state-of-the-art measuring scales and the precision of manufacturing and assembly of individual parts.
TUR 3MN machine bed
The lathe can be equipped with several solutions, prepared especially for the customer:
– For efficient machining, a Baruffaldi turret is mounted. The special design of the tool disc allows turning, drilling, milling, threading and even grinding of workpieces. This means that multiple operations can be carried out in a single machining cycle without interrupting the workflow and without the need to install additional tools.
– Quick-change tool system changer allows the turret to be easily removed and replaced with an attachment designed for long boring bars. The anti-vibration technology allows the use of boring bars with a length of 2,000 mm (78.7402 inches) and longer.
– Tool magazine, increases production flexibility. It allows you to store many types of tools in the tooling system and allows you to easily adapt to different machining tasks. The tools are changed on the turret automatically depending on the machining program without physical intervention from the operator.
– A large selection of steady rests allows you to optimize the machining process. Steady rests improve work with long/heavy workpieces as well as thin/light workpieces. There are manual, hydraulic steadies – self-centering, mounted to the bed or moving with the bottom bracket, as well as with automatic access to the machine axis.
– Siemens numerical control.
The compact design of the machine provides great ergonomics for the machinist and allows it to be transported easily without the need to disassemble precisely fitting elements. This reduces installation time at the customer’s site as much as possible.
Further lathes from this family intended for European and American contractors are currently in the production process.
Interview with a customer who uses TUR 3MN machine in the refining industry
Contact FAT HACO
If you are interested in purchasing a machine from FAT HACO, we encourage you to contact our representative in Houston (Texas), who will answer all your questions and choose the right machine tool for your needs.
Below are contact data of our dealer.
Tim Koch
Tel. 713-898-2711
Mail: sales@fathaco.com
