Used Dörries Machines We Buy

Who Makes Dörries Vertical Lathes

Starrag, the Swiss machine tool group, is the current owner of the Dörries brand. In Starrag's words, its umbrella brand "unites the product ranges" it sells, and Dörries is one of them.

Starrag's own timeline dates Dörries to 1884, when it was established in Vussem, Germany. In 1988 Dörries and Scharmann were merged under the ownership of the Voith Group. In 1996 the business of Dörries Scharmann AG moved into a new operating company, Dörries Scharmann GmbH. Starrag acquired the Dörries Scharmann Group in 2011, and its history lists Dörries in that deal at Mönchengladbach, Germany.

Starrag's case studies name the company behind these lathes today as Dörries Scharmann Technologie GmbH (DST) in Mönchengladbach, a subsidiary of the Swiss Starrag Group.

The Dörries Lines Starrag Builds Today

Starrag's Dörries product page, as we read it in November, lists three series. The VT series is single column. The VC series is double column, built in portal design. The VC-V series is double column with a linear table axis: a fixed portal frame, an adjustable cross rail and a hydrostatically guided Y-axis table base.

On the VC, Starrag lists hydrostatic guideways for the linear axes, movable cross rails, a Siemens SINUMERIK ONE control and workpieces up to 350,000 kg. Starrag says Dörries covers turning diameters from 1,400 to 12,000 mm and turning heights up to 10,000 mm, with drilling, milling or grinding as options. The VC model cards run from the VC 3500 to the VC 12000, and the VC-V cards from the VC 1600 V to the VC 12000 V.

The VT is the newest series. Starrag says it carries the robust features of the Dörries VCE series but was innovated from the ground up. It comes as the VT 14, VT 20 and VT 28, for workpieces up to 2,800 mm across, 2,650 mm high and 17,000 kg.

Dörries Models We See, and What MC Means

The Dörries machines on this page include CONTUMAT VCE and CONTUMAT MC lathes, VC MC V double column lathes, CTE lathes, SD and SDE lathes, and ECOCUT and FLP machines. Starrag still keeps pages for the CONTUMAT VCE 1600 and VCE 2400, which it describes as a compact single column vertical lathe with swing diameters of 1,400 to 2,800 mm that can also drill, mill and grind with added units. Starrag's current pages do not describe the SD, SDE, ECOCUT or FLP types, so we identify those from the plate and photos.

The letters after the size matter. In a Starrag case study on a CONTUMAT VCE 2400/200 MC, Starrag explains that the MC suffix stands for Machining Center: that machine carries an additional 30 kW drilling and milling drive. Another Starrag case study names a CONTUMAT VCE 2000 / 200 MC FC So at a Dutch valve maker, run by a Siemens 840 D sl control.

Age alone does not rule a Dörries out. Starrag tells of a mould maker that in 2013 bought a used Dörries CTE 320, produced in 1983 and fitted with a Siemens 840 D control in 2001, and had DST retrofit it. The same shop had earlier bought a VC 6500/600 MC produced in 1999.

What Decides the Offer on a Used Dörries

Size comes first: the swing or table diameter, the working height and the rated workpiece weight. On the CONTUMAT VCE pages, the VCE 1600 takes workpieces up to 9,000 kg and the VCE 2400 up to 17,000 kg. Next is what is fitted. An MC drilling and milling drive, head attachments such as angular milling heads, facing heads or grinding spindles, and the tool magazine all add to a Dörries. Starrag lists disc magazines with up to 72 pockets, chain magazines with up to 100 and column magazines with up to 210.

Then condition: the hydrostatic guides, the cross rail and its lifting unit, the main drive and the control generation. Last is the install. These lathes often sit deep in the floor; one CONTUMAT in a Starrag case study has a basement beneath it over 5 metres deep. Tell us how yours is set, because the foundation shapes the removal plan.

Starrag Service, or Selling Your Dörries Outright

Starrag supports Dörries machines through a field service department, a supply of replacement parts, spindle overhauls and its own retrofit department, and it lists a Dörries Scharmann vertical lathe retrofit among its service success stories. Its service head adds that a retrofit only pays on a machine of a certain size with a robust mechanical system. That route suits a Dörries you plan to keep. For one you want off the floor, we buy it outright, and records of a retrofit or a new control are worth sending with the details.