Rigid 5-axis 400 mm trunnion VMC with 15 000 rpm spindle for compact UAE shops
Short line. Then a long one that drifts a bit because when you stand in front of the Chevalier UNi5X-400 you notice the trim column, the tucked-in trunnion table, the not-so-loud spindle whine coming from the preload ceramic bearings, and somewhere in the back of your head the math starts, how many parts per shift can I squeeze out if I push feed up 15 percent just once.
Back to the basics.
The frame is a one piece Meehanite casting, mass close to 7 t. That helps with damping, especially if you mill Ti-6Al-4V blanks for aerospace fittings popular in Abu Dhabi repair shops. Axes rides on oversized roller linear guides, block spacing feels generous, no visible overhang, good sign.
Before we drown in adjectives, numbers help to anchor the picture.
| Axis | Travel mm | Feedrate m/min | Drive motor kW |
|---|---|---|---|
| X | 550 | 40 | 3.5 |
| Y | 550 | 40 | 3.5 |
| Z | 500 | 40 | 4.0 |
| B (tilt) | -110° / +30° | 25 | 2.6 |
| C (rotate) | 360° | 25 | 2.6 |
Plain table, plain facts. The values land roughly in the middle of the midsize five-axis pack, yet the symmetry of X and Y travels saves you when the fixture grows sideways.
Two remarks after the table. First, Chevalier kept the trunnion pivot low, centerline sits around 200 mm above the pallet so tall parts clear the spindle nose. Second, both rotary axes use direct drive torque motors, no belts, no backlash to chase at 20 k rpm tools.
Quick, blunt bullet list coming, because the spindle is where many shops make or lose money.
Breath again. Those points translate into consistent chip thickness and nicer surface on AlSi alloys used by Dubai window façade suppliers.
Forty pockets standard. Carousel swings in behind a guarding curtain, chip splash stays contained. Tool-to-tool time advertised at 1.8 s, real floor numbers read 2.1–2.3 s depending on mass. Good enough. If your parts cluster around 10 cutters, leave the rest of slots permanent with probing styli and a brush wheel, neat little hack.
Chevalier sells roughly 1100 machining centers a year, around 17 percent leave the factory with five axis kinematics. They kept the controller choice simple, Heidenhain TNC 640 for people living on conversational cycles, Fanuc 0i-MF for folks tied to legacy macros. Either way, you get 3-D quick-look simulation and TCPM, so you position relative to tool tip not axis center, which is crucial when you chase ±5 µm trimming on mold inserts.
Daytime temp in Jebel Ali climbs past 45 °C, night shift drops to 28 °C once the AC finally catches up, axis length needs protection. The UNi5X-400 circulates spindle and rotary motors through a shared chiller, plus a simple laminar coolant curtain along column ribs. Not glamorous, it works. Expect drift below 8 µm over eight hours, data comes from an end user cutting Inconel rings for oil tools.
Intro line, then the list.
One more sentence, sometimes you do not need any of these, but quoting them early helps you negotiate lead time slots.
Competitors usually named: DMG MORI CMX-70U, Haas UMC-500, Makino DA300. Short snapshot.
Haas frame weights about 6 t, Chevalier roughly 7 t, hence lower vibration on heavy rough.
Makino carries 250 kg, Chevalier 200 kg, tiny deficit, but the Makino costs nearly double per UAE customs invoices, that fact alone sways job shops counting every dirham.
DMG MORI uses Siemens, some operators in Sharjah prefer Heidenhain for plain English prompts, less button clicks, subjective yet real.
UNi5X-200 exists, same architecture, trimmed down X/Y/Z to 420/420/400 mm and table 200 kg. UNi5X-800 ups numbers to 800 mm platter and 600 kg payload, yet footprint explodes. The 400 sweet spot fits through a standard 3.2 m height door, big deal during plant retrofit.
Aluminium heat sink housings for solar inverters in Abu Dhabi, five sides done in one clamp, cycle under 17 min per piece. Dental abutment blanks from CoCr milled in Ras Al Khaimah, high spindle speed chews happily. Last, valve blocks for ADNOC contractors, tough 316 stainless, torque motors let you blend deep pockets without tool marks.
Grease lines grouped in one fold out panel, axis covers slide off without cranes. Mean time to replace a screw encoder measured by a distributor tech at 35 min, that is coffee break short.
Users on Practical Machinist say backlash correction numbers stay under 2 µm after 18 months. That lines up with what I saw at a Dubai subcontractor, same machine cut graphite electrodes all day, still holds 0.01 mm punch tolerance.
Chevalier sits on the market since 1975, portfolio spans more than 50 machining center models, five distinct five-axis variants, three iterations of the UNi5X-400 so far, each time spindle torque lifted a bit. Companies that need flexible mid-size capacity, think mould shops or precision parts makers in Dubai Investment Park, pick this unit because it delivers balanced travel, tidy footprint, and parts come out right without babysitting every move.
