Citizen Cincom B12-VII

The Citizen Cincom B12-VII is Citizen's ultra-precision Swiss-type automatic lathe for bar stock up to 12mm, representing the state of the art in micro-Swiss machining for the medical, watchmaking, and miniature electronics industries. The B12 designation places this machine at the smallest end of Citizen's Cincom lineup, targeting parts where dimensional tolerances are measured in microns and surface finish is critical to component function. The VII (7-axis) configuration delivers simultaneous multi-axis control that fully develops the B12 platform's machining capability for complete part production in a single clamping.

The B12-VII features Citizen's LFV (Low Frequency Vibration) chip-breaking technology as standard, which is particularly important at the 12mm bar size where chip tangling is a dominant production problem. Micro-diameter turning operations in stainless steel, titanium, and cobalt-chrome alloys used heavily in medical device manufacturing generate fine, stringy chips that wrap spindle tooling and cause workpiece damage. LFV imparts a controlled oscillatory motion to the cutting tool that mechanically breaks chips before they can form. At the 12mm scale, this capability is not a luxury—it is a production requirement for lights-out operation in difficult materials.

With 7 axes of simultaneous control and a full complement of gang turning, driven tool, and back spindle positions, the B12-VII enables complete front and back machining of complex micro-parts without secondary operations. The machine accommodates the sub-1mm diameter range that defines watchmaking, dental implant pilot drills, guidewire components, and other micro-precision parts. Main spindle speed runs to 15,000 RPM to support the high surface speeds required for efficient cutting at small diameters, with a commensurate back spindle for simultaneous back-work.

Citizen offers the B12-VII in guide bushing configuration, which is the standard approach for small-diameter Swiss work where the guide bushing provides the workpiece support at the cutting zone necessary for precise turning of long, slender parts well beyond their self-supported deflection limit. Machine footprint is compact even by Swiss-type standards, enabling dense machine layouts in precision shops. The Mitsubishi Meldas control with Citizen's proprietary Swiss-type software manages full 7-axis simultaneous coordination and LFV parameter scheduling across all tool positions.