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Find SuppliersPosted on Jul 8, 2020
Horizontal milling centers are critical equipment for machining metal parts and components in addition to their primary purpose of die manufacture.
In the automobile industry, for example, they are used for efficient grinding and drilling of engine parts as well as for making dies for body components. Many other products commonly used in daily life and in industrial settings are manufactured on horizontal milling centers. This type of machine has a blade-mounted spindle that comes out sideways, which machines workpieces in the horizontal direction. The column moves along the X-axis, the saddle along the Y-axis, and the table along the Z-axis. This combination enables three-dimensional machining. Moreover, some models incorporate an additional B axis on which the table rotates horizontally, hence allowing to process workpieces using a total of four axes with more flexibility.
This capability to machine four surfaces of a part in one cycle with a four-axis horizontal milling center with a B axis is a major advantage. Why? Simply for the fact that the operator doesn’t have to switch between the four sides of the workpiece manually. This not only saves time and as a result money, but it also eliminates a major source of inaccuracies which in turn results in increased precision overall. Besides, because a horizontal milling center is performing its machining operation from the horizontal direction the chips fall down naturally. It is therefore less likely that machining chips accumulate on top of the workpiece hampering the tools machining motion and cause downtimes when the operator needs to stop the machining process to clean the work area. But there are more pros as well as some cons of horizontal milling centers. Let’s take a closer look at some of the most important ones.
:: Read more: Why Horizontal Machining Center Wins in Certain Cases
Chip Evacuation
The setup of horizontal mills helps to pull out the chips during the cutting process. Gravity helps the process. This means that the final products usually have cleaner surface finishes and require fewer production or manufacturing later in the process.
Solid Construction
Horizontal milling centers are usually very heavy, rigid machines that can carry out larger volumes of manufacturing work. The construction of every piece of the machine is designed to last longer for Horizontal milling centers under the particular forces at work. This significantly reduces vibration during machining operations, reducing the amount of deflection and resulting in a more smooth cutting process when compared to their vertical counterparts.
Productivity
Due to the integrated pallet changer and the 4 sided tombstone, these machines enhance productivity and are ideal for highly complex machining jobs for large number batches. Due to its unique mechanical design, a horizontal milling center can do the equivalent machining work of two or three conventional machine tools. This is ideal for cost-effectiveness in time and production.
::See products: Vertical Machining Centers
The Price
Horizontal milling centers cost significantly more than vertical mills do. Typically, fabricators that own these machines have been established for some time and have worked their way up to owning these machines. See, that’s a good problem!
Error Probability
As with most things, the chance of error exists. As opposed to VMC’s that introduce the chance of human error due to “eyeball opportunities”, Horizontal milling centers run the risk of errors occurring because visibility can be limited due to the tombstone-spindle placement. Operators have less visibility to catch mistakes that might occur and correct them before they become disastrous.
Fewer Trained Operators
As horizontal milling centers are less common across the nation (due mostly to upfront purchase and maintenance costs), there are fewer skilled operators available to run these machines. Fortunately, even this con has an advantage. Because the pool of “experts” is smaller, those who do have the skill to operate these machines are typically more experienced and knowledgeable, helping to ensure that each project is completed with precision.
Generally speaking, the CNC horizontal milling process is most suitable to perform secondary machining for example to provide finishing touches to a custom part. But it has more applications than just that. It can also be used to manufacture complex, custom designs and parts from start to finish. What’s even better, horizontal milling centers can machine parts of a wide range of materials, including:
· Metals
· Plastics
· Ceramics
· Composites
· Glass
When selecting a material for a milling application, you have to consider many different factors, such as the characteristics of the material (hardness, tensile strength as well as chemical and temperature resistances) and the cost-effectiveness of machining the material. Of course, this is something you need to evaluate for all types of machine tools, but especially horizontal milling centers. All these criteria determine whether a certain material is suitable for the milling operation and whether it can meet potential budget limitations of the milling application, respectively. The chosen material affects the type of machine tools that you ultimately decide to use as well as the design you are looking for. On top of that, it also dictates the optimal machine settings, such as cutting speed, feed rate, and depth of cut.
When it comes to applications, the possibilities are endless for Horizontal Milling Centers. Due to the versatility, innovative functions, as well as advanced machining capabilities horizontal milling centers, are widely used across many different industries. When you improve the reliability of your parts, it is more likely that your engineers come up with new innovative solutions that lead to the creation of more advanced, specialized tools. Some of the most common industries and applications that have been highly influenced by and nowadays that rely on the advanced machining capabilities of a horizontal milling center are aerospace defense, automotive, energy heavy industries, mold making, original equipment manufacturing and many, many others.
You can find a wide range of horizontal milling centers in all price ranges of our site. Just head to our horizontal milling center section or check out our search function to find hundreds of manufacturers in our product database. If you want to know more about horizontal milling machines and their applications make sure to check out our other blog entries.
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