[AMCTony]

I took about 400 pictures at the show. No one said anything to me about my camera. I even took pictures of some of the trade show girls (yes I asked them first). I look at it this way, People have products they want to sell me and I want to remember exactly what I looked at. I will post some pics of the VF-12.

[tobyaxis]

YES!!!!!!!

Is the Monster in Action?????

[AMCTony]

Here they are. I also have full res if anyone would need them (15.1 megapixel)

[AMCTony]

This says it all...

[tobyaxis]

Looks like HAAS Stole the Show at WestTec.

http://www.eapprentice.net/index.php...stec-2009.html

[AMCTony]

Haas very much dominates westec both times I have been there. They really do run a good display of their technology.

[tobyaxis]

I have an HFO not 6 miles away from my home, LOL. I always go to the open house when they have one. Last Fall my better half and I went. We had food, fun scored HAAS SWAG. Nothing like T-Shirts (which I will be asking for next time) but these cubes that were machined in the Office Mill O2A. That little thing is FAST!!!!!!!!!!

Here are a few shots before we unwrapped it and a few of the SWAG

[AMCTony]

Haas swag is the bomb. The hats and shirts are my favorite especially since it is like an advertisement of what I do as well as for Haas. Many conversations were started because of my hat. Good for business.

[Donkey Hotey]

Well, since this has become our own little Westec trip report thread:

I just posted about the new DXF import and Live Image features on the lathe, here:
http://cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=77455

There was something else that I read in the "What's new" brochure Haas was giving out. They have a new feature in the software that monitors your manual overrides when you're running a program. Lets say you turn the coolant on where you forgot to put the entry, you cut back some cutting speeds in areas where the cutter is pushing too hard and you increase feeds or RPM in areas where it's cutting too slowly. At the end of the run, the software presents those changes to you and you can incorporate them into the program automatically. I wish I had known this at the show. I would have liked to see that.

Did anybody else catch that? Talk to anybody about it?

I also missed that they had two new lathes: the SS30 and ST30. They were side-by-side and I assumed they were the same. They weren't I'll have to bring in the brochure for that one, just to get the differences straight.

[MikeOD]

I didn't visit the forum after my last post before coming back home, sorry about that...Greg I DO recognize you now, was a pleasure talking to you.

Anyone recognize the man in black standing in front of the pictures posted of the VF-12 ?

The new feature in the control is called program optimizer, it stores the original feedrates and other things it's changed in comments in the code so you know whats different in the future as well.

So I'm back on the east coast and looking forward to the new stuff finding it's way into production...the VF-12 is bigger than my apartment (and I think it has better lighting too), rigid tapping at 5000 RPM in the DT-1 is just flat out awesome, and the new lathes are just all around killer machines.

[Donkey Hotey]

Anyone recognize the man in black standing in front of the pictures posted of the VF-12 ?

Is that Gene? I didn't even ask this year. I didn't see him and figured it was a subject best left alone.

There was another story to be told from the show.

Last year, I purchased a stack of old machinery magazines & brochures from a guy on eBay. One of the items was an original written quote for the very first "Haas Brothers" 5C indexer! It included the three color brochure and a handwritten quote on company letterhead from the original Sun Valley, Ca location.

I brought it along to share with Mike Steinbock (my sales rep). He saw it and immediately started chuckling. The guy who signed the sales sheet was Bob Burrows who I guess still works for the company--and happened to be at the show.

Mike called him on his phone from one side of the booth and told him that he had an issue to discuss. As we made our way over there, I told Mike to tell him that I had an old written quote and I wanted them to make good on it.

We got there, Mike introduced me and he went into a totally believable story about an undated quote and me being a good customer, etc, etc. He asked if there was any way they could make good on a 5C indexer for $2,650, including the controller. Just about the time Bob changed colors, I pulled out the brochure.

It was a trip down memory lane for the two of them. I honestly liked the brochure but it was clear that it still meant something to Bob. I offered it to him and he took it. I guess he shared it with Gene later. I guess with all of the growth, things like that don't necessarily hang around for long. It was good to see it go back to the originator.

No, I didn't get a new indexer for $2,650.

[Donkey Hotey]

The obligatory shot from outside the hall. Nobody who drives ever gets to see this (the parking is underground).


This was a pretty impressive 5-axis mill part that was on display at the Fidia booth. They had one in the machine that was running. The 'basket' is a separate piece that plugs into that base (which explains how they machined the inside).


This was my favorite from the Makino booth. Chet from Makino was very proud of this part--as he should be. In this close-up, you can see the 4 parts. In the lights of the hall, you couldn't tell that the rotor was made of three separate, identical and interlocking pieces. Courtesy of current wire-EDM technology. Just outstanding.


Here it is 'exploded.' He asked that we not slide the pieces apart because it's so hard to get them back together again.


Here's a link to the video of the prototype Haas DT-1. As already mentioned, it's roughly a Minimill envelope with a 15K inline, TSC, BT30 spindle. It produces a maxiumum torque of 15 ft/lbs at 7500 RPM. Editing the video, I realized that I just missed the tapping cycles which it did the small ones at 5000 RPM and 1/2-13 at 1000 RPM. It features an all new tool changer which swaps tools in 0.8 seconds. Amazing to watch.

Movie of the DT-1.

[Haas_Apps]

All,
Yes, I am back from Westec and no I did not get on the internet once. I thought I would have time but did not.
In reading through this thread I realize that we had many new things at Westec and some of them had little attention (M-Net, Program Optimizer). I intend to discuss this at a meeting tomorrow morning.
With that said I would like to know what you found to be the best thing at the show? I do not want to limit it to just Haas as I am looking at what we can do better. If it was not something in the Haas booth, can you also tell me what was the most exciting thing in the Haas booth?

[AMCTony]

Fidia had one hell of a big machine in there. The floor felt like it was alive from it!

[Kool Parts]

Thanks for the pictures guys! I always love to see events through the lens. Funny there is usually very few posted on the forums.
Gary

[Excelmachine]

I haven't met any of you forum/zone guys yet in the Haas booth...but I assure you, I'm there (well right now I'm in the hotel up the street...but tomorrow I'll be there again).

The new drill/tap machine (DT-1) is very cool indeed...what Greg didn't point out, is that it's rigid tapping at 5000 RPM ...and the VF-12 is bigger than my apartment...I a very excited to see the production version of the DT-1 hit the showroom floors...I think that machine has tremendous potential.

The show has picked up the past day and half or so...today was a very good day for attendance...but I am definitely looking forward to getting back to the other side of the country after tomorrow

Any idea on where I might find more info on the DT-1 machine on the Haas website? I tried looking but couldn't find anything. This sounds like an ideal machine for what we would like to do for our next machine. Thanks!

[peter@slater]

You guys took way better pictures of the big Haas machines than I did. My came out a bit blurry, but the main problem was that I couldn't fit the whole machine into the picture!

[Haas_Apps]

This is all we have right now.

http://www.haascnc.com/news_press_details.asp?id=317

Any idea on where I might find more info on the DT-1 machine on the Haas website? I tried looking but couldn't find anything. This sounds like an ideal machine for what we would like to do for our next machine. Thanks!

[peter@slater]

[Excelmachine]

Thanks for posting the info on the new DT-1. I will have to say it's a good thing I saw this as we were discussing the possible purchase of a Fanuc Robodrill and this seems to be very comparable. I personally like the Robodrill after having used one for over a year at a previous employer but being as we currently have a VF-3, the bosses like the idea of keeping the same controllers on the shop floor. Looking forward to getting more info.