With their ability to perform milling, drilling, carving, engraving and tapping, vertical machining centers (VMC) are popular machine tools in many shops. They’re often used to make metal components for the aerospace, automotive and mold making industries.
VMCs are also ideal for machining complex parts with extreme tolerances. This is why they are central to the transformational 3rd industrial revolution, known as Industry 4.0.
Precision
VMCs are critical to the production of complex, mass-production components for industries like aerospace, automotive, and mold making. Their accuracy and precision ensure that machined parts fully meet industry, application and design specifications.
CNC vertical machining centers provide higher accuracy than traditional machine tools. This allows for better surface finishes, tighter tolerances and shorter cycle times. This is especially important when producing curved, box-type components like cams and impellers. The rotary indexer feature on a VMC is another way to achieve greater accuracy. This feature can be used to quickly access multiple sides of a part, allowing for angular access to holes and other features on complex pieces. It can also be used to ream holes, fine-tuning their size and improving finish, alignment and accuracy. This helps improve quality, reduce cycle time, and reduce setups and downtime.
Versatility
The primary function of a
vertical machining centers is precision milling, but it’s also capable of drilling and tapping. This versatility makes it perfect for a wide range of applications, including aerospace components and automotive parts.
Unlike CNC routers, which are often used for non-ferrous metals like plastic or high-density foam, VMCs are built to machine different types of materials, including metal. However, their ability to do so is limited by the design of the spindle.
A VMC’s structural design and visibility make it easy to observe the cutting process, allowing operators to catch any issues before they become problems. This reduces downtime and helps manufacturers maximize their production time and efficiency. By leveraging the best machining techniques, optimizing tool changers and utilizing practical work-holding methods, you can shave a significant amount of parasitic non-cutting time from your cycle times. The result is a more efficient and productive shop that improves part quality, lowers costs and shortens lead times to stay competitive in the market. Get to know about this
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Efficiency
VMCs can perform a wide range of mechanical operations, including milling, drilling, threading and more. This is critical for a shop that cuts a variety of materials and needs to be able to meet the power, torque and speed requirements of each material type.
Using the best machining techniques, optimizing tool changers and leveraging practical work-holding methods are all important aspects of getting greater efficiency from your vertical machine center. Combined, these can reduce cycle times, lower setup and changeover costs and help you stay competitive. It’s also worth remembering that it isn’t just the top HP rating on a spec sheet that matters. What matters more is how that HP translates across the entire speed range of the machine, because it’s that constant performance that makes the real difference in productivity. For example, a machine that can rotate a part and let chips fall into a chip conveyor is much more efficient than having to stop the program and shoot coolant or air into the cavity.
