Vertical Machining Centers And Their Most Common Applications

Vertical Machining Centers (VMC) are most probably the most common metalworking machine found in every workshop around the world. Their operating principle is based on a rotating milling head that is placed on the top while the workpiece is mounted on an adjustable table at a plane that is parallel to the ground.

VMMs come in two types that boast different sets of capabilities and thus they are suitable for different applications. The first type is the "bed mill" that allows the workpiece table to move perpendicular to the rotating axis of the cutter. The other type is the "turret mill" that lets the workpiece table move parallel to the cutting tool in addition to the perpendicular direction.

Vertical Machining Centers (VMC) are most probably the most common metalworking machine found in every workshop around the world. Their operating principle is based on a rotating milling head that is placed on the top while the workpiece is mounted on an adjustable table at a plane that is parallel to the ground.

VMMs come in two types that boast different sets of capabilities and thus they are suitable for different applications. The first type is the "bed mill" that allows the workpiece table to move perpendicular to the rotating axis of the cutter. The other type is the "turret mill" that lets the workpiece table move parallel to the cutting tool in addition to the perpendicular direction.

Advantages over Horizontal Centers

Vertical machining centers are much faster and easier to set up compared to the larger and more heavy duty horizontal millers. This makes them ideal for the processing of smaller parts, or for performing less demanding metalworking tasks. In addition to this, vertical mills can perform much more intricate work at very tight tolerances, something that is practically impossible with most horizontal centers. Another significant difference is the retractable quill that is available in VMCs and helps in the accurate boring of holes.

Ways VMCs Are Used

Vertical Machining Centers can be used in a wide scope of metal processing tasks depending on the expertise and different cutting heads, rotary tables or offset boring heads that may be available. Here is a list with the most common uses for this type of machine tool:

1. Face or slab milling is the most obvious application of a VMM. The workpiece is mounted parallel to the working table as the cutting head removes material from the top surface, flattening, indentation or leveling the processed item.

2. In a similar way, if the workpiece is silently mounted, the milling is performed in an inclination. This angular cutting can produce dovetails for joints.

3. For even more demanding and complex results, there is the straddle milling that involves two parallel milling cutters mounted on the same arbor and separated by an exact spacing. This makes the simultaneous cutting of two points possible, which is very useful when in need to mill hexagons of bolt heads for example. This will also need the addition of a rotary index table as the milling arbor is not rotatable.

4. In the same way, machinists can also achieve high fidelity concaves or simply remove any rough edges through corner rounding. This required good calculation and measurement skills to get right.

5. Using special key-slot cutting heads that boast certain diameter and width, machinists can mill keyways along the axis of shafts. These keyways can have different shapes such as squares or round-end for example.

6. Spline and gear milling is also possible using vertical milling centers following the straddle milling principles.

7. Finally, vertical mills can drill and bore holes thanks to their adequate speed and torque values, as well as their retractable quill that helps in the accuracy part of the process.

Learn more about CNC machine tools and which one meets your needs by contact Absolute Machine Tools Inc.