[gtrjunkie]

I'd like to see a D&T match just like the H&T match. Been burned by this a few times by changing tool #'s, deleting sections of program with it in, missing one, and then when the tool runs, it reads the D of the tool before it which with my luck usually always has a neg. offset. Just happened today to another guy. He was doing an 8" bore +-.0008 with a copy mill. He changed the tool#, changed the D. The programmer had the tool doing another feature before the bore that was already done so the machinist took that part out of the program deleting the D with it so it ended up running the D from the previous tool which was -.002 which left the bore .004 O/S. Different H&T will alarm(unless off) but a T&D mismatch can be just as devastating.

[MICFDI]

The VF-10 has a problem with the holes in the auger system allowing to many chips into the coolant tank chip trap (we have to clean two times day). This wouldn't be a big problem as long as there was a way to get to and clean the trap out. Try it sometime, it's a joke. We have had two occasions running lights out, coming back and the whole shop is flooded. Needless to say, we are working on our own modifications to try and correct the problem.

All in all we are happy with our machines (two VF-4's and one VF-10), I wouldn't have a thing to complain about if it wasn't for such a ridiculous design. Not being able to get to something that needs to be cleaned out is a real problem.

[hairball]

A better spindle controller for the SS machines. I was told today that there is no fix for the spindle pulsing and uneven spindle load.

The cut I ran today was 12K 200ipm and the spindle controller could not keep an even spindle load. It ranged from 50% to 120%.

Please find a fix for this problem.

[Cory]

We don't have the chip auger on our VF-1.

I wish there was a larger drain in the auger trough for coolant. It seems like it's just a tiny crack that takes forever to drain. You have to wait for the entire trough to fill up with coolant, and then wash up into the actual drain before you get any coolant going back to the tank.

Furthermore, since we don't have the auger, the chips all just float up around the drain when the trough fills, and make a damn of sorts, making it even harder for coolant to get back into the tank.

[DSL PWR]

On the TM 1 it would be nice if the coolant guard had folding sides so you could put some longer parts on the table. It would even help if the whole guard had a quick detatch.

[Geof]

On the TM 1 it would be nice if the coolant guard had folding sides so you could put some longer parts on the table. It would even help if the whole guard had a quick detatch.

That is what the SawzAll was invented for; you can cut 12 gauge mild steel in a snap .

[axis]

you know what i love doing is getting my new mill in the shop and taking the sawzall to it ooooh ya making chips baby.

[DSL PWR]

That is what the SawzAll was invented for; you can cut 12 gauge mild steel in a snap .

My plasma cutter would be even quicker.


Just 'cause I can doesn't mean I should...

[JHamdan78]

its only 4 3/8-16 schs that hold down the tm-1 guards. dont be lazy. u can have it off and back on in 5 mins. (i do it all the time) the time u spend wishing , u could have had it off and 2 parts ran. lets go get ya head in the game...lol

[JROM]

We bought a brand new VF2-ss about two years ago. We already had a VF3 so we knew about Haas. Not the best machine you can buy but still a lot of bang for your buck.
I came in one morning and started up the VF2......Well it had lost it's mind.
It powered up and homed but had lost all its memory tool offsets ect. ect.
So I call for service and they tell me they can't get here for 3 days! That's a min. of 4 days down and still not know what's going on with the machine.

Bummer. Well the guy shows up and fiddles with the control for 45 min. and tells me that the mother board is toast $2,000 bucks for a new one. He goes out to his truck and brings in a box. Well i've been doing this for a few years
and I ask him "If you open that box We will have to pay for a new mother board? He says yes. I said wait a minute. How long have you been fixin Haas machines? He says about a year! I say before you open that box someone with a lot more experiance then you is going to have to tell me the mother board is toast! So he gets on the phone with the head teck and talks to him for about 10 min. Then he blanked the control of all data and reinstalled the software. FIXED it just like new just had to reload all my programs and tool offsets. It cost $100 bucks. A word to the wise!

[gar]

070807-1301 EST USA

JROM:

We have 5 HAAS machines dating from 1993. Have never had to have the basic machine program reloaded because said program got corrupted. At various times we have had miscellaneous main power problems, including the east coast blackout of several years ago, and no adverse effects. We have had on various occasions CNC programs corrupted.

That reloading the basic machine program made the machine work does not mean the problem has been solved. If a similar problem occurs again, then there is a basic cause that needs to be found. If the software and hardware have no defects or marginal components, then I would expect the machine to run 20 to 30 years without the basic program being corrupted. A hair dryer and CO2 are my standard test tools to look for a temperature sensitive component or board.

I have a customer with a fairly new, few years old, VF-3 that recently, several months ago, had an RS232 problem. Reloading the basic program, you might want to call this the operating system, I choose not to, solved the problem until about 2 weeks ago. I suspect there is a main processor board problem. I have not heard what has been done to correct the problem. This problem exhibits an inability to operate in DNC mode above 19.2 kbaud, but works fine, at 115,2 kbaud, when simply loading programs to HAAS memory.

There seem to be a lot of reports of problems with HAAS machines built in the last few years. But maybe this is because there are so many machines in the field. But I do think it somewhat relates to when they were built.

.

[Geof]

070807-1301 EST USA.....There seem to be a lot of reports of problems with HAAS machines built in the last few years. But maybe this is because there are so many machines in the field. But I do think it somewhat relates to when they were built.

.

Machines pre 2002 in my experience seem to be more or less bug free both hardware- and software-wise.

Between 2002 and 2005 I encountered sloppy attention to mechanical details; bolts not tightened and that sort of thing. Also when the LCD screen was first introduced there were a few serious software bugs; for instance a bolt circle drilling cycle neglecting to retract Z clear of the hole before returning to the center for the bolt pattern. There were also bugs when doing RESTART such as not bothering to go to the correct tool just firing up with whatever was in the spindle.

Since 2005 the mechanical details are better but there are still annoying software issues such as the system going down and needing reloading or reinitializing.

You learn to live with some of them .

[HAILINHAAS]

There are some good legitimate blogs here .. and some good ideas ... I'm tired of reading about Torque and FT/Lbs though ... How about some innovative ideas or issues that are troublesome. Thanks in advance.

[Rob_M.]

Lots of good stuff here. I'm in agreement with a better coolant/ chip auger drain system.

We bought a vf-7 last year. We were very excited about it just because it should be better, right? Well, what a piece, they've been out to fix this thing more than our two older machines. The software seems to have so many bugs. You load code and you get this "program integrity" error. Why? You can run the code 10 times and on the 11th time you will get this error. I hate using it, the guy who uses it all the time pretty much has his routine he has to go through when certain things happen, so he is used to it. When I use it I just end up getting frustrated. I'd rather use our VF-8 from 10 years go with the chitty tool changer than the newer VF-7.

With the speed of computers today does it really need to take so long to read through 10,000 lines of code. We have very fast computers now and cheap, put something good in these things.

The high speed machining sucks! Where is the high speed? Is there a "look ahead"? We've called Haas about it and we basically just got "that's just the way it is," or "it's trying to be exact," No attempts to dial in the servos or anything.
Last issue was the machine would alarm because the programmable coolant nozzle wasn't working correctly. What?
The TSC was making weird noises at one point as well, it took them a couple of tries to fix that.
Broken fittings in the lube system letting air in the lines.

What's with the super slow rotating side mount tool changer? If you have a tool on the other side of the carosel, it's rediculous how long it takes to get to that tool. Put a stronger motor in that thing or something. Why does it have to stop at every tool it passes? Is there a reason it can't be a smooth motion? Put an encoder on it or something.

The good thing about the machine is that because the spindle is so true we do get some nice finishes. We do alot of 3D contouring.

I hope the boss ventures out to try another brand with our next machine. He's not very pleased with the machine himself.

I sometimes wonder who is designing this stuff, do they use it? Do they try it first? Do they look at from a Machinist's view, or an operators view?

Something that I think would be cool would be an "actual feedrate" and a "programmed feed rate". The machine is not actually doing 300IPM all the time, let's see what it's really doing. Would be helpful I think in dialing things in.

[gar]

070911-0915 EST USA

HAILINHAAS:

Do you work for HAAS?

If so, then get HAAS to consistently use the correct units for torque, and you won't hear these comments relative to HAAS.

Even though we have not had problems with loss of the basic machine program on any of our machines I am beginning to hear of more cases where a lightning storm has caused this problem. Good circuit design can virtually eliminate these problems if there are no component failures in the memory or associated circuitry from the lightning.

The Cycle Start button needs to be more reliable. Possibilities are a reed switch, Cherry gold cross bar, Hall device or other solid state magnetic sensor, and there are others.

A much more adequate index in the manual.

DPRNT should allow any 7 bit character to be output.

When sending a program, new machines, eliminate any leading zeroes that that make the O-nummber greater than 4 digits. Then the program can be loaded on an older machine without editing, and makes O-numbers simpler.

On loading a program from an external source (RS232, floppy, or whatever) load whatever comes in, good or bad, flag all lines that have an error, and inhibit execution of the program if an error exists. This would greatly easy troubleshooting when there is a communication or data error because one can get some information from what is seen in memory, even if it is total garbage.

Provide registers (#-address) that display the warm-up compensation values.

.

[HAILINHAAS]

Haas listens to their customers. Haas needs your feedback in order to improve on issues that sometimes do not get back to the factory. This is one of the avenues that we check to see what people are saying. You might find out that your issues gets resolved by posting them here.

[JROM]

fix the coolent return lashup so it does not clog up and overflow onto the floor.

[mjs79]

I know tht but you have to go thru some steps I would like for my operator's to hit one button. I myself have no problem with that but when you hire button pushers sometimes it is easier!

wow i feel the love for your workers !

[Rocko1]

Speaking of coolant flooding , did anyone see the most recent American Chopper and their Haas CNC Mill flooding their tooling room the next morning when Jim the machinist came in, LOL. It seems you guys are not the only ones with the problem.

[Rob_M.]

also, get rid of the "dog leg rapid", just change it to a straight line. This has bitten us in the past in cavitys. I know there is a parameter to change this to a straight line but it also does not work.