Weeke BHX 055

In horizontal CNC panel machining (as used by the Weeke BHX series), panels stand upright on their edge during processing, with the panel surface facing the machine horizontally. Drill spindles approach the panel from above and from the side (through the panel width) for through-boring. This orientation enables automated panel conveyors to feed panels through the machine in a line, making it standard for high-volume furniture production lines where throughput is priority. In vertical CNC (pod-and-rail, flatbed), panels lie flat on the table. Vertical CNC provides more flexibility (routing, profiling, all 5 sides access) but at lower throughput for standardized boring operations. Furniture factories typically have both: a BHX-type machine for high-volume boring and a pod-and-rail center for complex machining.

The 32 mm system is the European furniture industry standard for component design and boring patterns. All shelf pin holes, hinge mounting plates, drawer slide screws, and assembly connectors are placed on a 32 mm pitch grid. Cabinet sides, shelves, and interior components are designed to this grid, meaning all hardware (hinges, drawer slides, shelf pins) from any European furniture hardware manufacturer (Blum, Grass, Hettich, Hafele) installs directly without custom boring. The Weeke BHX 055 drills at 32 mm pitch as its primary cycle, enabling fast interchangeable production of 32mm-standard furniture components. This standardization enables efficient furniture production with interchangeable components across different furniture designs.

The Weeke BHX 055 is designed to integrate with Homag Group production line equipment: (1) Panel saw (Holzma HPP or HPL) cuts panels to size; (2) BHX 055 drills the boring pattern; (3) Edge bander (Homag Ambition or Brandt) applies edge banding; (4) Assembly station joins carcasses. All machines use woodWOP programming from a common design file - the cabinet design in the CAD/CAM system generates the saw cut list, the boring program, and the edge banding sequence automatically. This integrated production line approach is standard in European furniture factories producing 50-300 cabinets per day. The BHX 055 can also operate as a standalone machine with manual loading for smaller production volumes.

Standard BHX 055 boring operations: (1) Row boring - rows of 5 mm diameter shelf pin holes at 32 mm pitch along cabinet sides; (2) Hinge cup boring - 35 mm diameter x 13 mm deep blind holes for concealed hinges (Blum, Grass, Hettich); (3) Assembly holes - 5-8 mm diameter through-holes for connector screws, cam locks, and dowel pins; (4) Drawer slide mounting holes - rows of screw holes at specified height for drawer slide attachment; (5) Back panel grooves or holes - for rabbet groove routing or back panel pins (with optional routing unit). The multi-spindle configuration drills many holes simultaneously - a typical 800 x 500 mm cabinet side with 40 holes is processed in 15-30 seconds.

The BHX 055 uses Homag's woodWOP CNC programming environment, the same software platform used across all Homag Group machines (routers, machining centers, edge banders). Programming workflow: design the furniture component in a CAD system (Cabinet Vision, Mozaik, or CAD Decor) or directly in woodWOP; define the boring pattern and routing operations; output the CNC program to the machine. woodWOP stores standard programs for common furniture components (standard cabinet sides, standard shelves) that can be recalled and batch-processed without reprogramming. For high-volume production of standardized furniture designs, the programming library approach enables setup in minutes rather than hours per part family.