A machining center is a CNC milling machine equipped with an automatic tool changer and, usually, a magazine of many tools — so it can perform milling, drilling, boring and tapping in a single program without an operator swapping tools by hand. The term distinguishes a fully automated mill from a basic CNC mill.
Machining centers are classified mainly by spindle orientation — vertical (VMC) or horizontal (HMC) — and by axis count, from 3-axis up to full 5-axis. They are the backbone of prismatic-part manufacturing.
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