The Giddings and Lewis Variax mill.

They were definitely thinking outside the box on this one. Interesting concept but some of the claimed advantages seem dubious. The machining envelope appears limited for the size of the machine and the control enclosure is never shown in frame. The tool changer seems like a bit of a kludge and makes the whole system difficult to guard – everything would need to be isolated and caged as a cell. Work piece access also appears difficult and would require a lot of reaching and bending at the waist.

I’ll give them credit for trying something new and developing the concept as far as they did.