Low-Rail Gantry Portal Milling Machine

Zimmermann has introduced its new 5-axis portal milling machine with a low-rail gantry, the FZG. According to the German-based machining company, the device is suitable for processing particularly long machine components.

In a statement, Zimmermann technical leader Daniel Demlang said the FZG would be particularly useful in aeronautics and rail applications. “Especially in future-oriented industries such as the aerospace, energy or rail sector, producers must be able to process large and, above all, particularly long components,” Demlang said, such as wing structures, railway wagon side sections, tanks for energy storage and exterior components for aerospace.

The FZG features a thermo-symmetrical design, Zimmerman says, with a new base structure from the company’s previous thermos-symmetrical products, the FZP and FZU. Demlang said the FZG was lowered to ground level so the portal can be moved to almost any length horizontally.

According to Cornelius Kiesel, president of Zimmerman in America, the thermos-symmetrical design helps the FZG hold up to adverse conditions, allowing the machine structure to absorb thermal influences by expanding in “non-critical directions,” Kiesel added.

The FZG also has a modular structure with available equipment such as process-cooling, lubrication or an onboard movable vacuum dust extraction system.