[torinwalker]

I've spent the last three years bolting this and that to my custom-built controller for an old Excello knee mill. I'm quite used to the idea of throwing in a Mesa card, AMC Amp, and just about any old brushed or brushess motor I can find on ebay, and I generally get satisfactory results. Case in point: I'm wiring up a Nikken tilting/rotary table that - once I metered out the signals - is a simple matter of DC bus, encoder feedback, and a couple of limit switches and brake solenoids. The hardest part was finding enough suppliers with the correct military connectors in stock and at a decent price!

So now, after all this work of pimping up my CNC machine (think lipstick on a pig), I'm contemplating getting a Haas VF-2.

My first notion is to find and plug in a couple of axis cards with +/-10V analog out and 1024-ppr encoder input, some amps with the correct DC-brushed output, but "Ask Haas" told me flat-out, no way. And ... wait. What about the control? Are there 4th and 5th axis buttons that might be missing unless they were ordered as an option? Is the software only installed with up to 3 or 4 axes? I heard somewhere that an unlock code may be required to gain 4th and/or 5th axis control.

Does Haas supply a variety of axis cards and amps to suit my particular table? (Not that they'd support it specifically, but an AMP for example with a voltage input range covering the voltage of my motors.) AMC amplifiers have been particularly flexible for me in this regard. My entire machine runs AMC amps. I'm so fond of them, I have a stack of them just waiting for some new project. As luck would have it, these same amps even fit the motors on my Nikken table.

Anyway, what say all you Haas experts? Am I stuck between a rock and a hard place if I want to bring my Nikken 4th/5th axis over to whatever new Haas VF-2 I buy? Am I stuck shelling out another $20k for a Haas 4th/5th axis trunnion, or a combo-set of Haas rotary tables?

Is the Haas platform so proprietary or inflexible that I can't possibly integrate any other table?


Torin...
--
www.walker-tech.com

[underthetire]

I installed a Bosto-Matic rotary table on our Haas. Simply ordered the Haas with the 4th axis interface, once the machine got here, ordered a motor, zero return switch, and cable set from HAAS 4th. Think it was ~$1200 for everything. Yaskawa motor is what they sent, but i'll tell you what, everything connected together with plugs/sockets-no wiring at all was needed. Was worth the couple hundred more to buy everything direct like that. After paint and a new motor cover, hard to tell it didn't come from HAAS.

[torinwalker]

Well, I'll give it a shot - I'm hoping I can find some AMPs that match the existing motors - no sense in replacing motors when I need only find AMPs with the correct output... it makes no sense to change the motors if all the machine puts out is an analog signal and takes encoder feedback. However, perhaps Haas tweaks the performance by reading current output or something.

Ask Haas keeps referring me to the dealers without answering specific questions. I'm just too used to doing it myself to feel comfortable with vague answers.

It's good to know that Haas is at least flexible enough to work with their customers. I mean, after all, you're using their machine. They can't have their cake and eat it too!


Torin...
--
www.walker-tech.com

[underthetire]

Ya, your stuck with buying amps from Haas. Without that, you won't get the unlock codes. It's all part of the interface kit. I kinda doubt the new haas control will accept old low count encoders like those as well, but I could be wrong.

[JeremyMinnesota]

I had an old Troyke DL-9 rotary table that I wanted to use on my Haas VF-4 years ago (The Troyke rotary table came off a Milltronics machine CNC mill). By coincidence, the Troyke table used the identical motor as the Haas X,Y,Z axis on that machine. When calling the local Haas dealer, the service coordinator just kinda blew me off and told me it couldn't be done. But, then the service manager talked me through changing the settings and parameters and we got it working.

However... ...The Troyke DL9 rotary table wore out, and it is very unreliable, so I am now purchasing a new Haas 210 rotary table. I should have just purchased a Haas rotary table in the first place...