Victor Taichung Vturn-S26/60, 780 mm swing, 105 mm bore, gearbox torque for heavy UAE oil-field turning.
Short gaze. Big iron. The Vturn-S26/60 stands there, silent but pretty sure it could chew through a 200 kg billet before your coffee cools. I blink, grab the spec sheet, then realise I already smudged coolant on it. Typical shop day.
Yet the longer you look, the more details pop. Victor Taichung rolled out the first S-series back in 1996, kept tweaking every couple of years, now the sixth revision sits in front of us. Roughly 2600 lathes of the family leave the Taichung plant each year according to their open factory tour slides, that is not hearsay, I asked a sales engineer during EMO.
It starts simple, right. Swing over bed sits at 780 mm so a UAE oil-field jobber can load those chunky flange blanks without begging a neighbour for capacity. Turning diameter bumps to 660 mm, turning length stretches to 1530 mm in the /60 layout, the /85 stretches even further, will talk about that later. The numbers land in the sweet spot where a general subcontractor can cover pump shafts one day, valve sleeves next day, then slip in a batch of threaded repair bushings before night shift.
Before more talk here comes a table, because tables calm my brain after three espressos and a customer call.
| Axis | Travel (mm) | Rapid (m min) | Ballscrew Ø (mm) |
|---|---|---|---|
| X | 325 | 24 | 40 |
| Z | 1600 | 30 | 50 |
I know, numbers only tell half the story, but glance at the ballscrew diameter, that is chunky and helps damping when an operator decides to hog at 8 mm depth of cut instead of the recommended 5. Seen it, lived it.
Two sentences to land the table back on the ground. Those axis strokes mean the machine can finish a mud-motor mandrel in one hit, no reposition, no ugly blend lines. Rapid speed is not class leading, still it keeps idle time low enough to let the coolant foamer struggle to catch up.
The motor, built by Victor’s own foundry line, feeds 30 kW continuous into a 2-step gearbox. Low range pumps out 1870 Nm at the chuck. Top range gives 2500 rpm for smaller bars. There is a 105 mm bore, so a 3-inch API drill collar slips through. Heard someone moan about wishing 120 mm, sure, grab the S32 then.
Talking about controller, Fanuc 0i-TF Plus comes standard in the UAE spec, others go with Siemens, but most operators I meet in Abu Dhabi stick to Fanuc so training cost basically zero.
Victor uses a BMT-65 turret now, earlier gens had VDI but chatter complaints pushed them to bolt-mount. Twelve stations, live-tool drive rated 5000 rpm at 11 kW if you tick the milling option. Y-axis? Not on the S26, step up to the Vturn-Y26 if you crave that. Still, with angled holders you chase 70 % of the features clients ask for.
There is a tiny but neat hydraulic disk brake on the turret, clamps in 0.2 s, keeps indexing repeatable inside 0.003 deg. Does your QC guy care? Probably not, but the CAM guy will smile when finish passes line up hole patterns nicely.
I wander off, sorry. Back on track. The UAE configuration drops a 415 V, 50 Hz transformer in the base. No external box clutter. Also includes a coolant through disk with 20 bar pump, decent for carbide drills up to 25 mm. Optional 70 bar booster exists, price jumps, still cheaper than scrapping Inconel chips welded on the insert.
You might notice the vibration feet come separate, ship loose, do not toss them, they matter on epoxy floors common in Jebel Ali.
Now let us peek horizontally. Same base casting hosts Vturn-S20, S26, S32. The S20 gives 570 mm swing, 70 mm bore, motor 22 kW. Good for automotive shafts. The S32 ups the bore to 140 mm, motor 37 kW, bed width 560 mm so weight climbs to 9000 kg. Our S26 lives in the middle, which is why many job shops pick it, they can nibble both ends of the market.
Quick coffee, come back, scribble this lineup:
None of them give the gearbox torque spread Victor does at this tonnage. You feel it when threading 4 TPI on super duplex, machine does not slow, surface stays pretty.
Climate is brutal. Summer hits 50 °C daytime, shop roofs get hotter. The S26 shipped to the region carries oversized spindle chiller, extra radiator fins, and the fan drive is IP66 sealed. Good luck frying that. Also, Victor holds a parts depot in Sharjah free zone, deliveries land within 24 h for most wear parts. Operators care less about marketing fluff, they just want to stop the beeping alarm, swap a proximity switch, roll again before the supervisor stomps over.
Another local angle, power. DEWA tariff sits high in peak hours, energy draw matters. Gearbox lets you stay in low speed at 10 Hz inverter frequency, amps drop, meter spins slower, finance guy grins.
I asked Ali, guy at Ajman valve plant, he runs S26 for 18 months. He said, quote, “If I crash it, it is my fault not the machine, axis can take a punch, turret keeps square.” That sums it. No sugarcoating, chips still block the auger when running gummy bronze, keep a shovel handy.
Before next list, a few words. Victor sticks recommended intervals on a laminated sheet inside the electrical cabinet door, nice touch, no pdf hunting. Now the bullets.
Ignore those and you will hear the sound of money burning.
I nearly forgot the extras list, let us do a small table again after a bit of chatter. Many buyers overspend, truth is most jobs run fine on base spec plus maybe one or two candies. Keeping it real saves dirhams.
| Option | Why pick it | My score |
|---|---|---|
| Hydraulic steady rest | Shafts over 1000 mm flex, steady tames them | 8/10 |
| 70 bar coolant booster | Hastelloy drilling, tool life doubles | 7/10 |
| Renishaw probing | First off part approval, less scrap | 6/10 |
| Parts catcher | High mix work, prevents dents | 5/10 |
Wrapping that up, choose what brings money, leave bells for Instagram.
I ramble, true, but the gist shines through. The Vturn-S26/60 sits smack in the zone where Gulf job shops hustle, not too small, not skyscraper big, torque on tap, controller familiar, parts depot one emirate away. The blend of gearbox punch, 105 mm bar capacity, and that competent BMT turret shapes a machine that keeps invoices flowing.
Each digs a different feature yet lands on the same purchase order. That says plenty.
Enough chatter. Coolant pump gargles, shift change looms. Time to close the door, hit cycle start, watch blue chips curl. Simple joy, really.
