The Spanish Sacia Universal Machine Tool was unusual in that the basis of its operation was founded on a milling machine rather than a lathe - and consequently its range of turning operations, and the ease with which it could perform them, was somewhat limited. The main column, which could be raised and lowered, was surmounted by a cross bar which carried a vertical milling head - capable of being traversed from side to side and swivelled through 360 degrees around its vertical and horizontal axes - and a tailstock assembly for use in the "lathe" mode.
Two separate motor drive systems were fitted, one to drive the spindle and its power down feed - the another for the table feeds. Both were infinitely variable, the head motor producing spindle revolutions from 65 to 3000 rpm and the table motor feeds in both longitudinal and traverse directions from 0 to 650 mm per minute. The power down feed drove the 90 mm travel spindle through 0.08 mm per revolution.
Another novelty of the machine was an absence of a feed-screw handwheel at either end of the table; instead both table feed handles were positioned at the front of the machine and transmitted their motion through a series of bevel gears and worms and wheels.