[JohnF]

Unless there's something missing from my belt conveyor this thing is almost a complete waste of time. I run aluminum wheel centers and remove quite a bit of material from some larger ones. This conveyor constantly rolls the chips and stringers up underneath the tailstock and I spend as much time trying to get the da*ned chips out as I do machining. I pry and push and cuss but the conveyor just keeps rolling up more chip wads. I made the mistake of cutting some steel for a fixture and 2 of us spent 2-3 hrs getting the chips out.
Any suggestions/ideas as to WTF is wrong with this thing?

JohnF
Phoenix.

[gizmo_454]

I have had issues with the conveyor in our SL-10, as well. Granted, your conveyor is bigger than the one on our SL-10, but it sounds like you are making bigger chips as well. The only way I have found to keep chips from balling up in the mouth of the conveyor is to find a way to break the chips up. In aluminum, I have resorted to using steel and/or stainless chipbreakers for roughing. They tend to have a tighter breaker and force the chips to curl more, which in turn causes them to break up. Then I use my aluminum grade/chipbreaker to finish the part. I know this isn't a huge help when dealing directly with the conveyor, but if you can find a way to break the chips up more, you will find the conveyor works OK. I say OK because I wish ours was a filtering conveyor. The problem with breaking the chips up like I do is keeping them out of the sump. The chips are now small enough to get washed right through the conveyor. I know, solve one problem and create another. Haas should talk to LNS about having them build conveyors for their machines.

Good luck!

[JohnF]

I have had issues with the conveyor in our SL-10, as well. Granted, your conveyor is bigger than the one on our SL-10, but it sounds like you are making bigger chips as well. The only way I have found to keep chips from balling up in the mouth of the conveyor is to find a way to break the chips up. In aluminum, I have resorted to using steel and/or stainless chipbreakers for roughing. They tend to have a tighter breaker and force the chips to curl more, which in turn causes them to break up. Then I use my aluminum grade/chipbreaker to finish the part. I know this isn't a huge help when dealing directly with the conveyor, but if you can find a way to break the chips up more, you will find the conveyor works OK. I say OK because I wish ours was a filtering conveyor. The problem with breaking the chips up like I do is keeping them out of the sump. The chips are now small enough to get washed right through the conveyor. I know, solve one problem and create another. Haas should talk to LNS about having them build conveyors for their machines.

Good luck!

Thx Giz
Most of my chips are broken up fine but I take a thin finish cut to make it easier for the polishers, this is where most of my stringers come from and I can't break those fer nuttin. The stringers are what ball up in those cute little barrel shaped wads that push up under the tailstock. All the chips feed out just fine under the "barrels". My other machine handles the stringers just fine but it's for running smaller centers. I max out my axis range on that one with 14" parts, the big Haas lathe runs my 15-18" parts which is what generates the most stringers.

JohnF
bogartracingwheels.com