Types of Drilling Machines for Panel Furniture

Short answer: the drilling machines used in panel and door production are not one machine but three, and they are told apart by a single question — how many holes do you need at once? A hinge drilling machine carries 1 to 4 heads, each head holding 3 spindles on its own axis, so one pass drills the two or three holes a hinge needs, on up to four lines at the same time. A line drilling machine carries 21 spindles in a single row. A CNC door lock hole mortising machine does the one job the other two cannot: long grooves and lock holes in a door slab.

This page compares the four models we build, with the published specification for each, and what decides which one a workshop needs. Every figure below is taken from the model's own specification page; where a page does not publish a value it is marked not published rather than estimated.

Three Jobs, Three Machines

• Hinge holes. A cup hinge needs two or three holes on the same centreline, in a fixed relationship to each other, and they must be repeatable panel after panel. This is the work of a multi-head hinge drilling machine.
• Lines of holes along a panel. Shelving, adjustable pins and dowel lines need a row of evenly spaced holes at the same height. This is the work of a line drilling machine, where the row is set by the spindle count rather than by moving the panel.
• Long grooves and lock holes in doors. A door slab needs a groove down its length and a lock hole through its edge — operations with a long travel and a large cutter, which is a different machine again.

Hinge Drilling Machines: Heads and Spindles

The MZ73031 and MZ73032 hinge drilling machines are published on the same parameter table, because they are the same machine family built with a different number of heads. The model code is published as MZ73031/2/3/4 — one to four heads.

The distinction that matters is between heads and spindles:

• A spindle drills one hole. Each head on this machine carries three spindles on its own axis.
• A head is a complete drilling unit that can be positioned independently. Four heads means four hinge positions set up at once.

So the variants in the table read: one head is 1.5 kW and 280 kg; four heads is 6 kW of overall power and 500 kg. The vertical spindle heads adjust over 250–1200 mm, which is the range of hinge positions the machine covers without moving the panel.

What One, Two, Three and Four Heads Buy You

The published variants of the hinge drilling machine are worth reading as a ladder, because each step changes the machine's weight and its power in the same direction:

Read the table as a setup decision rather than a speed decision. Adding a head does not make the machine drill faster; it removes a changeover. A single-head machine drills one hinge position and then the operator moves the panel or the head for the next one. A four-head machine has four positions set up and cutting at the same time, which is worth the extra 220 kg and the extra floor length only if your work repeats the same four positions across a run.

If your batches change every panel, the wider machine buys you nothing — and the vertical spindle heads still adjust across 250–1200 mm on every variant, so the reach is not what you are buying either.

Line Drilling: The MZ73211

The MZ73211 takes the other approach: instead of several small heads, it carries 21 spindles in a single row on one 1.5 kW motor. One pass drills a complete line of holes across the width of the panel.

Its published limits are the ones to read before ordering: maximum drilling diameter 30 mm, maximum drilling depth 60 mm, maximum vertical length 1200 mm, maximum horizontal length 300 mm, and a maximum board size of 2400 × 1700 × 1700 mm. The spindle speed is 2900 r/min and the working air is 0.6 MPa.

Note the trade in the numbers: the 21-spindle machine has a smaller maximum drilling diameter than the hinge machines — 30 mm against 50 mm. Spindle count and hole diameter pull against each other, which is why a workshop doing both jobs usually keeps both machines rather than trying to do everything on one.

Door Lock Holes and Grooves: The MXZ4028

The MXZ4028 is a CNC door lock hole mortising machine — the only machine in this group designed around the door slab rather than the cabinet panel. It is also much the largest: 3700 × 1700 × 1600 mm and 1000 kg.

Its power is split by function rather than published as a single figure: 14.5 kW total, made up of a 6 kW side groove unit, a 2.2 kW upper groove unit, a 2.2 kW upper hole unit and a 2.2 kW side hole unit. The spindle runs at 18000 r/min — a different order of speed from the 2900 r/min of the panel drilling machines, because it is cutting with router tooling rather than twist drills.

The published work envelope is a maximum groove length of 2800 mm, maximum groove width 80 mm and maximum groove depth 130 mm.

Specification: All Four Models

What Decides the Choice

• How many hinge lines per panel. Two hinges per door needs one head; a run of doors with four hinge positions set up at once needs four. Head count is a setup-time decision, not a capacity decision.
• Whether the hole row runs with or across the panel. The MZ73211 gives 1200 mm of vertical reach and 300 mm horizontal, which tells you the direction it is built to work in.
• Whether there are doors in the order at all. If there are, none of the panel machines will do the work — a door needs long grooves and a lock hole, and that is the MXZ4028.
• Power and footprint. 1.5 kW against 14.5 kW, 280 kg against 1000 kg. The door machine is a different scale of installation and of floor space.

Where Drilling Sits in Your Sequence

A question worth settling before you choose a model: does drilling come before or after edge banding in your shop?

• If the panel arrives already banded, its finished edge is available as a reference, but the panel is also at its final size — so the machine's maximum board size becomes a hard limit rather than a guideline. The MZ73211 publishes 2400 × 1700 × 1700 mm, and that is the number to check against your largest door or side panel.
• If the panel arrives bare, there is more tolerance in the size, but the finished edge is not yet there to work from, and the panels have to come back from the edge banding process afterwards.

Upstream of the drill, panel size is set by the panel saw and the edge by the bander. Downstream, the surface is finished — which is where the sanding machines and the polishing machines take over. Tell us your sequence and we will tell you what the drill has to accept at its infeed.

Power, Air and Floor Space

Three site numbers separate the four models, and they separate them sharply:

• Power. The hinge machines publish 1.5 kW per head — 1.5 kW at one head, 6 kW at four. The MZ73211 is a single 1.5 kW motor driving all 21 spindles. The MXZ4028 publishes 14.5 kW in total, split across its four units. The door machine is a different order of installation from the panel machines and will normally need its own supply.
• Air. 0.6 MPa on the hinge machines and the MZ73211; the MXZ4028 page does not publish a figure.
• Floor and weight. 280–500 kg on the hinge machines, 500 kg on the MZ73211, 1000 kg on the door machine, with outlines from 800 mm of machine length at a single head up to 3700 mm. In every case allow room to present the panel at the infeed and take it away at the outfeed.
• Spindle speed. 2900 r/min on the three panel machines and 18000 r/min on the door machine — router tooling rather than twist drills.

Drilling Machine FAQ

What is the difference between a hinge drilling machine and a line drilling machine?
A hinge drilling machine carries 1 to 4 heads, each with 3 spindles on its own axis, and is set up for the two or three holes a hinge needs. A line drilling machine carries 21 spindles in a single row and drills a complete line of holes in one pass.

How many holes can the MZ73211 drill in one pass?
21, one per spindle. Maximum drilling diameter is 30 mm and maximum drilling depth is 60 mm.

What is the largest panel the drilling machines take?
The MZ73211 publishes a maximum board size of 2400 × 1700 × 1700 mm.

Can a panel drilling machine cut door lock holes?
No. Long grooves and lock holes need the longer travel and router tooling of the MXZ4028 CNC door lock hole mortising machine, which runs at 18000 r/min against 2900 r/min on the panel machines.

Can one machine drill both hinge holes and line holes?
Not in our range. The hinge machines carry three spindles per head on individual axes; the MZ73211 carries 21 spindles in a single row. They also publish different maximum drilling diameters — 50 mm against 30 mm — so a shop doing both jobs usually keeps both machines.

How much space does the line drilling machine need?
The MZ73211 is published at 1800 × 900 × 1700 mm and 500 kg, and needs 0.6 MPa of working air.

What is the maximum panel the hinge drilling machine takes?
The hinge machine pages publish the vertical spindle head adjustment range — 250 to 1200 mm — rather than a maximum board size. On that machine the figure to plan around is the head reach, not the panel.

What air pressure do the machines need?
The hinge drilling machines and the MZ73211 both publish a working air pressure of 0.6 MPa.

Which Machine Do You Need?

Tell us what the panel has to come off the line with — how many hinge lines per door or panel, whether there is a row of holes to drill, and whether doors are part of the order. With those three answers the choice between the four models is usually decided in a single message.

The full range is listed on our drilling machine page, and you can reach us from the contact page. If your line also includes banding, the edge banding machines and the types of sanding machines are described separately.