Metal Cutting

Horizontal Machining Centers (HMCs)
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A horizontal machining center (HMC) is a machining center with its spindle in a horizontal orientation. This machining center design favors uninterrupted production work. One reason for this is that the horizontal orientation encourages chips to fall away, so they don’t have to be cleared from the table. More significantly, the horizontal design allows a two-pallet workchanger to be incorporated into a space-efficient machine. To save time, work can be loaded on one pallet of an horizontal machining center while machining occurs on the other pallet.

Featured Zone Content

August 2011

Cycle Efficiency


Automated machining processes enable this maker of high-performance mountain bike parts to manufacture efficiently with minimal staff.

June 2011

Make Maximum Use of the Magazine


This shop streamlined its selection of cutting tools to machine a number of parts on a pallet system. Cutting down on cutters delivered other benefits as well.

September 2010

The Many Ways Ford Benefits from MQL


Clean machining using minimum quantity lubrication has allowed Ford’s Van Dyke transmission plant to become fundamentally more efficient and effective at manufacturing six-speed automatic transmissions.



May 2013

Large Travel Size Increases Shop Productivity

By: Modern Machine Shop
By purchasing a Feeler bridge mill with a large travel size, Elite Tool increased productivity by reducing setups and doing more work in-house.

May 2013

On Display at Automotive Day

By: Matt Danford
Click through the pictures below for a brief overview of what I saw at Makino’s recent “Automotive and Part Production Day” event, hosted May 8 at the company's headquarters in Mason, Ohio. 

April 2013

Automation at Aztalan Engineering

By: Peter Zelinski
A contract manufacturer expands its capacity using various approaches to feeding the machines.

April 2013
shop management software incentivizes employees

Live-Monitoring Software Maximizes Automation Investment

By: Modern Machine Shop
By implementing its own shop management software, Lynar Corporation was able to increase productivity by 15 percent.

April 2013

Cramming for Competitiveness

By: Matt Danford
Low-profile clamps contribute to the high-density fixturing this shop needs to make the most of an equipment configuration that is increasingly renowned for reducing setups and keeping the spindle turning.


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