VK 2306 12.34 HP Channel Baling Press

The HSM VK 2306 on the 12.34 HP drive is the smallest fully automatic channel baler HSM builds in this frame, and it is the one to choose when you want automatic baling but do not have the volume to keep a bigger pump busy. It presses at 240 kN, ties three wires around every bale and runs unattended off a conveyor — the difference between this SKU and the 20.12 HP version next to it is purely how fast the ram cycles, not how hard it presses or what it makes.

A channel baler is a different proposition from a vertical press. Material enters through a 620 x 600 mm aperture at the top, the ram cycles automatically on a light barrier, and finished bales are pushed out of the end of the channel already tied. Nobody stands at the machine. That is why the VK 2306 suits a sorting line, a shredder discharge or a conveyor from a production process, and why it is oversized for a loading dock where someone carries cardboard over by hand.

Bales come out at 700 x 500 mm in cross-section with a length you set between 600 and 1,200 mm, weighing 140–250 kg depending on material. At 5,260 mm long the VK 2306 is the shortest machine in HSM's automatic range, which is frequently the reason it gets specified over the otherwise similar VK 2310.

Key Features

• 240 kN pressing force — identical to the larger-drive VK 2306 and to both VK 2310 models.
• Three-wire tying, enough to hold a 250 kg bale of springy OCC or film without a second pass.
• 620 x 600 mm feed aperture, the compact one in the range; the VK 2310 opens the same width but 1,000 mm long.
• 5,260 mm overall length, roughly 835 mm shorter than a VK 2310, which is often what decides the specification.
• Variable bale length from 600 to 1,200 mm, so you can match the bale to whatever your haulier or mill wants.
• Fully automatic operation. Material goes in the aperture, the ram cycles on a light barrier, the bale is tied and ejected without an operator at the machine.
• Wire tying as standard, so bales hold their shape under the springback of film and OCC.
• Continuous feeding from a conveyor belt, an air feed or a shredder discharge — this is a machine designed to sit at the end of a line, not to be hand-loaded.

Specifications

What's in the Box

HSM does not publish a scope-of-delivery list for the VK range, and a channel baler is in any case a project rather than a delivery. The press arrives as a machine to be positioned, levelled, connected to a three-phase supply and commissioned. Feed conveyors, chutes, platforms and guarding are separate items specified against your site.

Baling wire is not included. The VK range ties with steel baling wire supplied on rolls; the exact gauge for your machine is confirmed at commissioning. Plan wire as a consumable line in the operating budget.

Who Should Buy This — and Who Should Not

Buy the 12.34 HP VK 2306 if you need automatic baling in the smallest possible footprint and your feed rate is modest — a single sorting line, a shredder outfeed, a production cell producing punch waste or offcuts. You get exactly the same 240 kN press and the same bale as the 20.12 HP machine, for less money and less connected load.

Buy the 20.12 HP VK 2306 instead if the line will occasionally surge and you cannot afford a backlog at the baler. The bigger drive does not make heavier bales; it makes them sooner, at a published idle throughput of 113 m³/h.

Buy a VK 2310 instead if your material is long — offcuts, trim, unfolded cartons. The 2310's aperture is 1,000 mm long against this machine's 600 mm, so it takes material this one would need pre-cutting for. The cost is 835 mm of extra machine length.

Do not buy a VK 2306 if you are hand-feeding. An automatic channel baler that gets fed by an operator with an armful of boxes is an expensive way to do what a V-Press 860 does for a fraction of the price. Automatic baling pays when the feed is automatic too.