AM Staff

Haas’s EC-630PP HMC palletized system meets the needs of jobshops using horizontal machining centers.

Jeff Law, product manager for horizontal machining centers at Haas Automation Inc. (www.haascnc.com), says vertical machining centers have been the workhorse machine for most jobshops.

The machines are affordable, flexible and easy to use and, for lights-out automated operation, Haas offers pallet systems for several of its vertical machining center models.

However, Haas has been seeing that many jobshops are realizing the benefits of horizontal machining centers, so the company recently developed a horizontal machining center, the EC-630PP HMC, that features a fully integrated, 6-station pallet pool paired with a 50-taper EC Series horizontal machining center.

Because of its large 630-mm (24.8 in.) pallets, one would consider the machine geared toward high-volume production alone, but the EC-630PP HMC also applies to small and medium-sized job lots.

Each of the pallets in the machine’s pool handles loads to 2,640 lb.

Shops can schedule the pallets individually according to priority and sequencing requirements, allowing for high-priority parts to be machined first and/or staged more often.

The system automatically returns completed pallets to a holding location or, if sequenced, to a protected operator station for immediate unloading and re-loading. The machine’s enclosure accommodates workpieces to 39.4 in. in both diameter and height.