The road to the new Voortman V631: Focus on milling

Continuation of success - the Voortman V631

It can be said with certainty that the Voortman V630 is one of the most sold machines of Voortman Steel Machinery, up to this day. This machine has lived up to its reputations in reliability, speed and innovation, and has proven to be a breakthrough machine in the steel fabrication branch.

The three-headed drill is fully CNC controlled, which resulted in a revolutionary accurate and fast processing machine during its launch and market approach. The innovative software enables simultaneous movements of several axes, allowing multiple processes to be carried out at the same time. 

By combining the Voortman V630 with other Voortman machines, several processes in a fully automated production line can be carried out. Rough profiles are outputted as ready-made products.  Another frequent combination is the Voortman V630 with the VB Range sawing machine where the two separate machines work together in a combined drilling and sawing process. 

Time for a successor

The development of a successor, the Voortman V631, started several years ago in order to continue to meet the demands for new functionalities. With the current V630 as base, new to implement functionalities has been looked upon and selected for the new machine. This includes various requirement and wishes from product management, existing customers and the ever-changing market.

An important development in this market is the increasing demand for milling functionality. That is also the most striking difference between the two machines. With the need for milling, a stable and robust frame and the necessary kilowatts of power is an absolute must have addition.

Why milling

The reason for the increased demand for milling functionality is easy to explain, according to our lead engineering within Voortman Steel Machinery. With drilling, you are limited to round holes and limited sizes. And for each diameter you will also have to change your drilling tools. With milling, you can make round holes of unlimited size only with a single milling tool. With the addition of slotted and rectangular holes, the limitation to round holes is also eliminated. You will also have to deburr every manual drilled hole in order to allow further manual operations to proceed safely. The milling process does not require any post-processing. This saves manual handling and therefore time and money.

Applying experience

Where the Voortman V630 is equipped with external components, the decision was made to integrate a bottom marking unit as well as a chip conveyor at the development of the V631. The development of a new machine also brings other benefits alongside extra functionalities. By also placing the electrical components at the back of the machine, it is possible to assemble and test the machine as a whole, after which it can be installed more quickly as a complete unit at the customer side.