Metal Cutting

Machining Centers & Milling Machines

The term “machining center” describes almost any CNC milling and drilling machine that includes an automatic toolchanger and a table that clamps the workpiece in place. On a machining center, the tool rotates, but the work does not. The orientation of the spindle is the most fundamental defining characteristic of a machining center. Vertical machining centers generally favor precision while horizontal machining centers generally favor production—but these are loose generalizations, and plenty of machining centers break out of them. Another common machining center type is the five-axis machining center, which is able to pivot the tool and/or the part in order to mill and drill at various orientations.

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 2013

What it Takes to Tackle Tungsten

By: Mark Albert
When this aerospace job shop settled on machining tungsten alloys and other heavy metals as its specialty, it had to have a machine tool, cutting tools, workholding and process know-how to succeed.

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
Hurco VMX42HSi

High Speed Machining Center Features Motion Control

By: Modern Machine Shop
Hurco will showcase the high speed VMX42HSi mill equipped with direct-drive servos, an 18-k integral spindle and X/Y/Z travels of 42" × 24" × 24".

May 2013

High-Speed Milling of Small, Complex Parts

By: Modern Machine Shop
GF AgieCharmilles' Mikron HSM 200U LP (linear performance) milling machine is said to increase speed, efficiency, precision.

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. 


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