Linear or Box Guide Way Systems? Here’s Our Answer.

Doosan’s Horizontal Machining Centers are tailored to your application

French or ranch? Steak or chicken? Apple or pecan? And is anyone else hungry all of a sudden?

Life is better with choices, my friend. And it’s not just your taste buds that enjoy variation. Variety is the spice of life, and often a downright necessity. That leads us to one of the great debates in machining circles: the choice between boxways or linear guides on your horizontal machining centers.

The Great Debate: Boxways or Linear Guide?

Meet Frank. He cuts a lot of tough-to-machine materials such as titanium, super alloys and tool steel. He tends to use larger cutting tools, and insists the boxway’s rigidity dampens vibrations and turns out more accurate parts and longer tool life when high cutting forces are in play.

And then there’s Bill. He is all about that speed, baby. Smaller cutting tools, higher RPMs and lighter depths of cuts. For him the linear guide way has higher axis-traverse speed because the acceleration and deceleration rates can be faster. As a result, his cycle times are much lower.

Cooler heads eventually prevail and point out that there actually are pros and cons for each system. Frank and Bill both made the right choice for their particular application. And that’s the key to quality machining, isn’t it? Start with the application and check out the market for the HMC that will work best for your operation.

Have It Your Way with Doosan HMCs

There are a lot of Franks and Bills in the world who feel strongly about their choice in machine guide way systems. That’s why here at Doosan Machine Tools, we offer both boxway and linear guide options in our horizontal machining center lineup.

The Doosan NHM Series and its boxways are the go-to machines for people like Frank. The machine frame was designed with box guide ways in all axes in order to increase the stiffness and vibration dampening for the heavy duty cutting that makes up most of Frank’s jobs.

Guys like Bill swear by their Doosan NHP Series. They’re convinced it’s the best way to go for their high volume work. They cut a lot of aerospace aluminum and titanium parts , and the linear guides allow for higher acc/dec and feedrates thus reducing non-cutting time maximizing productivity and accuracy.

The bottom line? Both the NHM and NHP Series are wonderfully fast, rigid and accurate. But if you value maximum rigidity, go with the NHM. If speed matters most to you, get the NHP.

Whether you’re a Bill or a Frank or somewhere in between, we can set you up with the right HMC for your particular application. It always boils down to choices, and we have them all. Talk to your Doosan dealer. And speaking of choices, we’ll take French dressing, a medium-rare steak and apple pie for dessert (with a scoop of vanilla on top, of course).