[Turbo442]

Hello,

I recently picked up a 2005 VF2. 10k spindle, probing and the usual other options. I have the mill set in place, leveled, powered up. She appears to be running fine so far, no errors. This is my first Haas machine, I was hoping I might find some one local that could spend a little time with me to help me come up to speed. Maybe show me some tips and tricks, calibration stuff, best practices, Maintenance items. I have been reading through the manuals, watching the videos. Hopefully this is the right place to ask. I'm willing to pay for your time obviously. PM me.

Matt

[Turbo442]

Here is the machine moving in through the 9'x8' door.


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[HFO Tech]

Every region has their own Haas Factory Outlet. You should contact them and they should be able to send you an apps guy or service guy with enough knowledge that you seek.

[HFO Tech]

Also Haas has a website Haascnc.com with Haas tip of the day videos, and diy help section to help with maintenance needs. If it's something that you don't feel like trying to fix yourself their should be a local HFO for you to contact.

[Turbo442]

Also Haas has a website Haascnc.com with Haas tip of the day videos, and diy help section to help with maintenance needs. If it's something that you don't feel like trying to fix yourself their should be a local HFO for you to contact.

Yes, thanks for the advice. I have been watching pretty much everything I can on YouTube. The Haas videos are pretty awesome. Tons of great info there!


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[HFO Tech]

No problem at all. I do have a few tips for you though. Keep your lube tank clean, and what I mean by that is once a month or every other month drop the tank drain the oil out of it. Clean the sludge out of the bottom of it and refill with new oil.. there will also be a lube filter to clean.the filter is a brass stone like filter inside the tank or just mounted next to it. Doing that will help keep your metering valves clear of dirt/debris so your spindle,ballscrew, and linear guide rails can be lubricated properly.

Don't leave a tool in the spindle over night or for long periods of time if you're not using the machine, it will shorten the life of the drawbar.

Keep your spindle taper clean and your tooling tapers clean of chips or debris.

Back up your machine files once a month or every other month.

Keep your coolant concentration under control because it will cause machining issues,prevent things from rusting, and keep the bacteria down.

If your electrical cabinet has two holes on the door for the vector drive install a filter material on the bottom hole to properly circulate air t keep the spindle drive cooler

These are just a few tips,but if you run into any questions or concerns feel free to look me up on here.

[Turbo442]

Thanks for the list of items. I had not considered the stress on the draw bar. I suppose that makes sense for any machine really. I am going to start going through the list of maintenance items HAAS recommends for the machine.

One question I have? I can't see how the coolant is suppose to drain from the auger channel back into the coolant tank. I am assuming there is a hole plugged somewhere but I'm having trouble locating it. I can't imagine the coolant is suppose to just hang out there.




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[erikfriesen]

There is one hole in the bottom of the channel in the centered with the other holes. If you had more holes you'll just get more fines in the tank. It usually drains down in a couple hours or so.

[Turbo442]

There is one hole in the bottom of the channel in the centered with the other holes. If you had more holes you'll just get more fines in the tank. It usually drains down in a couple hours or so.

Thanks! I will poke around under the auger centered with the group of holes up top. I should be able to find it now!


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[Turbo442]

Thanks! I will poke around under the auger centered with the group of holes up top. I should be able to find it now!


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Yep! Found it!


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[Turbo442]

Ok, I have another question. Is it ok to dead head the coolant pump while using the wash down hose? I have been leaving the coolant lines open but it can be messy depending on where they are aimed? Just wondering what is normal best practice?

[Turbo442]

Also, is there a best practice for loading a tool changer? Do people load the tool changer small diameter to large or large to small? Or is it completely random? Maybe you just load the tools in order of your current Gcode?

[HFO Tech]

If you have a umbrella tool changer you want to balance the heavy tools throughout the tool carousel.. if you load all the heavy ones on one side it will cause a problem when doing tool changes. It's fine if you shut off the other valves when you're using the wash down. H

[Turbo442]

Awesome! Thanks!


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[HFO Tech]

You're welcome! Happy Machining!

[Machineit]

Ok, I have another question. Is it ok to dead head the coolant pump while using the wash down hose? I have been leaving the coolant lines open but it can be messy depending on where they are aimed? Just wondering what is normal best practice?

Pumps actually work less when the valves are closed. The impeller does not have to actually move coolant, just move around what is in there already.

[Machineit]

If you have a umbrella tool changer you want to balance the heavy tools throughout the tool carousel.. if you load all the heavy ones on one side it will cause a problem when doing tool changes. It's fine if you shut off the other valves when you're using the wash down. H

If you actually use heavy tools that makes sense. But, otherwise load them in the order of use, or you will waste time and machine use by not do so.

Mike

[Turbo442]

If you actually use heavy tools that makes sense. But, otherwise load them in the order of use, or you will waste time and machine use by not do so.

Mike

Thanks Mike, that makes sense.


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[HFO Tech]

You can also space them out evenly 2,4,6,8,10 or by odd numbers so that way it's not taking that long rotating to the tool, but then again it's only a aluminum plate for the carousel. it doesn't take a whole lot to make one side sag some allowing slight misalignment for the z height because it sags. you shouldn't have too much of an issue. The only ones that I've seen cause a lot of problems are the VF-5 up when customers use bigger drills or bigger face mills.When you load it up just pay attention if one side of the plate is sagging more than the other side.

[Turbo442]

I have been messing around with VFQ Visual Quick Code. My VF2 was manufactured in Dec 2004. It seems this was around the time VFQ was initially released, please correct me if I am wrong. There is a ton of stuff listed for probing and tool setting. But only one macro??? I can find for general machining. It seems really really basic, like I cant even program multiple depths with a face mill. Am I wasting my time messing with VQC? Are there any interesting VQC programs floating around out there I could use or look at? Maybe everyone just does it in CAD CAM these days?