Manufactured by Duplomatic S.p.A. Meccanica Applicazioni in Italy a Company well known for their hydraulic (tracer) copying units, their FC1 "Die Matic" milling machine was capable of being operated both as a conventional ram-head miller, in the manner of, for example, a Bridgeport, or as a fully-automatic, hydraulically-controlled die sinker. Today die sinking - making a shaped cavity in a steel block used for stamping out parts, plastic injection moulding, etc. - can be done in a number of ways, but was originally undertaken by either a modified form of vertical miller or pantograph engraver. The control process usually involving a stylus tracing a path around a master copy, with the movement transmitted at either a 1 to 1 - or other ratios - to a high-speed cutter under manual or hydraulic control.
The FC1 Die Matic was designed to b used as both an automatic die sinker and a  stand-alone, ram-head vertical miller - the latter arrangement being achieved by simply releasing the clamp on the head's quill and, if a hand feed to the 1080 x 250 mm table's longitudinal travel was required, locking off its hydraulic feed.
Fitted with both a wheel-operated fine down feed and a quick-action lever for drilling, the R8 taper (Bridgeport type) spindle was driven through its eight speeds of 66 to 2000 r.p.m. by V-belt from a 1.5 h.p. motor. It was, in addition, equipped with three rates of power down-feed that ranged from 0.04 to 0.129 mm per revolution of the spindle. Apart from hydraulically-powered longitudinal travel, all table feeds were by hand - and lacking the option of "rapids".
Full technical details are given in the catalogue below.