The Italian company OMAG has developed an innovative five-axis machine that combines the functions of a former and a lathe for processing stone materials. It has a working area of 55m, and it can create all manner of shapes and profiles direct from CAD/CAM files. The custom spindle motor-with a very large peak torque capability of 400Nm-and the application-specific CNC system were supplied by NUM (www.num.com), which has been a technology partner to OMAG for more than 20 years.

Marco Battistotti of NUM Italy says: “A willingness to partner with a constructor of special machines and share the risk of creating specific applications and CNC solutions is at the heart of NUM’s business philosophy. In OMAG’s case, there is a strong co-operation in the technological development for new machines.”

OMAG’s Blade5 machine has an overhead gantry supporting a multi-axis machine head; its capabilities include sawing, milling, routing, turning, sculpting and polishing. The stone being processed can either be held in position or rotated. The gantry’s X, Y and Z axes, as well as the dynamic inclination and lateral rotation of the machine head, are controlled by NUM-Drive C servo drives and NUM BPX brushless motors; all five axes are capable of fully interpolated motion, under the overall control of an NUM Axium Power CNC system.

The all-digital approach to control helps to ensure highly accurate and repeatable processing of the workpiece; the cutting co-ordinates are downloaded as ISO files from the machine’s host PC to the Axium Power CNC system. In addition, OMAG has developed a macro that evaluates the dynamic motion control commands from the CNC system in real time, to correct for tool wear and ensure optimum contact with the workpiece at all times.