VK 5012 40.23 HP Channel Baling Press

The HSM VK 5012 with the 30 kW (40.2 hp) drive is the mid-power build of HSM's 500 kN channel baler: a fully automatic, continuously fed press for a plant that is already filling a compactor or a walking-floor trailer with loose cardboard and film. What separates this build from its sibling is simply the motor. The 45 kW version of the same press cycles faster and holds throughput on denser, springier material; this 30 kW build costs less to install and less to run, and is the right choice where the infill rate is steady rather than peaky.

A channel baler is not a bigger vertical baler. There is no door to open and no bale to wrestle out. Material enters a long press channel through a light-barrier-controlled aperture, the ram compresses it against the friction of the channel, and completed bales are pushed out of the end of the machine and tied automatically with wire. Nobody handles the bale until a forklift picks it up. That is what makes it a fit for a line that runs all shift.

Key Features

• Light-barrier controlled pressing cycle. The press decides when to stroke based on how full the chamber is, so it can be fed continuously by conveyor belt, air feed or a similar automatic system without an operator standing at it.
• Fully automatic wire strapping. Four wires as standard, with five-fold strapping available as an option for expansive materials such as film and shredded paper that try to spring the bale apart after ejection.
• Large loading aperture. The 1,020 x 1,250 mm opening takes bulky, uncrushed cardboard and full big bags without pre-breaking, which is usually where a smaller press starts costing labour.
• Solid steel press chamber with wear-resistant liners. The chamber and channel are lined with highly wear-resistant steel, because abrasion in the channel is the failure mode that ends the life of a cheap baler.
• Material-adaptive control software. The controller adjusts the pressing sequence to the material being run, which matters on a mixed stream where cardboard one hour is film the next.
• Optional frequency-regulated drive. HSM states this option saves 40 % of the energy used by a standard drive. On a press that runs several shifts a day, that is a line item worth pricing.
• Bale length set in software. Anything between 600 and 1,200 mm, so bale weight can be tuned to your forklift, your trailer plan and your mill's preference.

Specifications

HSM does not publish an installed machine weight or a sound-pressure figure for this press in its public article data, and the two third-party figures we found disagree by roughly two and a half tonnes. Rather than print a number we cannot stand behind, we will confirm the exact shipping weight, rigging requirements and noise data for your configuration in writing before you order.

Who Should Buy This - and Who Should Not

Buy the 30 kW VK 5012 if you are baling a steady stream of cardboard, mixed paper or film from a distribution centre, a supermarket group, a printing plant or an e-commerce fulfilment site, and you want bales a mill will accept without re-baling. It suits sites that currently pay to haul air in a compactor and would rather sell a tied bale.

Do not buy it if your material is heavy, dense or arrives in surges - a 30 kW drive will become the bottleneck long before the 500 kN press force does. In that case take the HSM VK 5012 with the 45 kW drive, which is the same chassis and produces the same bale but keeps cycle time down under load. If your volume is under roughly a tonne a day, a channel baler of this size is over-specified; a vertical press from the HSM V-Press range will cost far less to buy and install. And if you need to bale material with a bulk weight much above 60 kg/m³, this press is outside its stated application range - ask us before ordering.

This is an installed machine, not a delivered appliance. It needs a 480 V three-phase supply, a prepared level floor, forklift access to the bale discharge end and, in most cases, a feed conveyor. We quote installation and commissioning separately.