[kevinish12]

Hi All,

This is my first post, so be gentle haha. I'm sure most of you are cutting metal and love that haas switched from way oil to grease lube for the ball screw and linear guides. However, I'm cutting wood and it's been a nightmare. We have 3 VF5-XT's and I'm wondering if anyone has experience or knowledge of converting a haas back to way oil for the ball screws and linear guides.

I've also heard that the new machines they're buildling are using a liquid grease that's somewhere between grease and oil. Anyone know much about that?

Thanks in advance!

-Kevin

[nicknackks]

The new machines are HLG (Haas Liquid Grease). Do you have a grease gun style for the axis lube or the clear plastic canister that takes the SHC 007 (Bright red mobil product)?

[kevinish12]

I have the clear canister with the red grease.

[greg7639]

The reason they are going to liquid grease (purple color) instead of red is they have a issue with the red grease. You don't want red grease machines they have a major issue with lines plugging up and wasting your rails/bearings. If you have these machines and you don't use much grease you probably have plugged lines and a major issue. I know because I have 2 with the problem.

[extanker59]

The reason they are going to liquid grease (purple color) instead of red is they have a issue with the red grease. You don't want red grease machines they have a major issue with lines plugging up and wasting your rails/bearings. If you have these machines and you don't use much grease you probably have plugged lines and a major issue. I know because I have 2 with the problem.

So should we contact Haas? Is this a recall type thing? We have a VM2 with the red grease.

[nicknackks]

There is no recall with the red grease system. However, Haas has recommended a change in the lube cycle timer. The issue occurs when the machine lubes, and then sits for a period of time with little or no movement to distribute the grease among the axis. This allows the grease to solidify slightly instead of lubricating the rails. The change in the lube timer will allow the axis to lube more often and distribute grease better along the axis. As far as switching from red grease to way oil, if you google "haas lubricant table" the Haas DIY website lists SAE 140 wt Non-Synthetic Gear Oil, API/GL-4/ISO 460 as a emergency substitute for the Haas Purple Grease, but if your machine is not in warranty I don't see why you couldn't just switch to that.

[kevinish12]

There is no recall with the red grease system. However, Haas has recommended a change in the lube cycle timer. The issue occurs when the machine lubes, and then sits for a period of time with little or no movement to distribute the grease among the axis. This allows the grease to solidify slightly instead of lubricating the rails. The change in the lube timer will allow the axis to lube more often and distribute grease better along the axis. As far as switching from red grease to way oil, if you google "haas lubricant table" the Haas DIY website lists SAE 140 wt Non-Synthetic Gear Oil, API/GL-4/ISO 460 as a emergency substitute for the Haas Purple Grease, but if your machine is not in warranty I don't see why you couldn't just switch to that.

The tech changed my lube cycle timer from every 24 hours of motion to every 8 hours of motion. But I still wasn't getting grease to the X axis on a regular basis. However, the Y axis is spilling out grease from the trucks. We have a brand new grease line in the X axis, but maybe it's blocked already. We ended up isolating the X axis and putting a zerk fitting in and we manually pump grease in twice a day now.

Has anyone tried just switching from the red grease to the purple grease without changing anything in the grease lines?

[nicknackks]

The tech changed my lube cycle timer from every 24 hours of motion to every 8 hours of motion. But I still wasn't getting grease to the X axis on a regular basis. However, the Y axis is spilling out grease from the trucks. We have a brand new grease line in the X axis, but maybe it's blocked already. We ended up isolating the X axis and putting a zerk fitting in and we manually pump grease in twice a day now.

Has anyone tried just switching from the red grease to the purple grease without changing anything in the grease lines?

I'm not sure if the purple grease system uses different flow restrictors or what the exact reason is but I know it's not recommended. I will do some asking and find out if you could simply change the flow restrictors and flush the system and be on your way. I will post back when I know more.

[extanker59]

There is no recall with the red grease system. However, Haas has recommended a change in the lube cycle timer.

Can you tell us where to change the "lube cycle timer" and what to change it to?

[Ydna]

We had some trouble with a 2012 VF2 using the red grease. Upon disassembly, one of the Y-axis rails was pristine but the other one had a lot of rust and pitting. To be fair most of the rust was on the top of the rail which isn't critical like the angled sides of the rail, but the rust is evidence of grease not being applied to the bearing truck unlike the other one which had perfect coverage.

There's a set of "ax lube" parameters that apparently control the grease cycles. One of them was distance in meters while the other was a time setting. On this particular machine, again 2012, the distance parameter was set to zero while the minute timer was 1440. I have no idea if those are "correct" or not, but I ended up changing the minute timer to 400 arbitrarily.

If anyone has any suggestions for parameters I'd love to hear em...

[nicknackks]

Machines that have Mill software version 15.05 -17.xx and Lathe software version 8.05 - 10.xx use Parameter 811 (AX INTRVL METERS). This is "distance traveled based" axis lubrication. Mill software version 18.xx and Lathe software version 11.xx and newer use Parameter 861 (AX LUBE TIME INTRVL), "time based" axis lubrication.

For these "distance based axis lubrication" machines, look at how many times you refill the grease reservoir in a year.
If you refill the grease reservoir (2) or more times per year, do not change parameter 811.
If you refill the grease reservoir (1) time per year, change the value of parameter 811 to half the value shown. This doubles the amount of grease the machine uses.
If you refill the grease reservoir (1) time in two years (0.5 times per year), change the value of parameter 811 to 1/4 the value shown.


Note: The control ignores Parameter 811 when Parameter 861 has a value greater than zero.

Although the grease system is well designed to efficiently lubricate the axis components, Haas recommends adjustments to the lubrication cycle. Change the value of Parameter 861 (AX LUBE TIME INTRVL) from 1440 to 480. To do this, follow the steps below.

Step one: Press the emergency stop button. Press the "SETNG GRAPH" key. Key in the number seven and press the down arrow. Press the right arrow until "off" is selected then press enter.
Step two: Now press the "PARAM DGNOS" key. Key in the number 861 (or 811 depending on your software version) then press the down arrow. Make sure the correct parameter number is highlighted. Now key in the recommended value (i.e. 480) and press enter. The highlighted value should change from the previous value to the value you keyed in. If it does not, make sure that Setting 7 is set to off (step one).
Step three: Press the "SETNG GRAPH" key. Key in the number seven and press the down arrow. Press the right arrow until "on" is selected then press enter. At this time you should be able to release the emergency stop and continue normal operation.

Note: I am not responsible for damages that you do to your machine while changing parameters. If in doubt, always call Haas Service or your local HFO.