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IndustryArena Forum > MetalWorking Machines > Haas Machines > Haas Mills > New Mini Mill landed safe and sound
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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Posts
    6618

    New Mini Mill landed safe and sound

    Everything went according to plan. Well, almost. I needed a 1.5" box end wrench.
    Exactly 5 weeks into an estimated 4 to 5 week lead time, it arrived. Driver got here last night and parked down the road a bit. Forklift was here at 8 AM and machine right behind him. 6 foot forks easily handled the pallet from the wrong side. We had a hard time figuring out which one to unload. That was a VF5 and VF6 on the back.
    Tight squeeze though the door after we remove the Echain. Had 83" opening, so had 3" extra to play with.
    Probably going to be a couple weeks before it sees any use. I am getting an air dryer. All of my equipment has been begging for that.
    Anyway a few pictures.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails truck.jpg   forking.jpg   fromside.jpg   halfopen.jpg  

    inshop.jpg   inside.jpg  
    Lee

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2014
    Posts
    72

    Re: New Mini Mill landed safe and sound

    Sweet! Will be looking forward to seeing it making chips.

    Ive been looking at upgrading my tormach and was wondering why you decided on Minimill over a DT-1 if that was an option for you.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Posts
    6618

    Re: New Mini Mill landed safe and sound

    I did consider those as well as the tool room variants. The Mini Mill just seemed to suit our needs better. I would have liked more tools on board, but 10 will make almost all of our production parts.
    We don't really do anything with 3D work. The Pulsar has been taking care of our tapping needs, so the MM will easily cover that too.
    The money and the smaller tooling is what kept me away from the DT1.
    Lee

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Posts
    6618

    Re: New Mini Mill landed safe and sound

    A few things that I noticed so far. The data plate says it was manufactured 06/17, so it is indeed brand new. As for power type, it only has a 3 and not a 3/1 like many older models had.
    I know these can be run on single phase, but some of the language in the provided literature is also misleading and contradict that notion. Probably copied and pasted from a VF1 manual or something.
    I read through many old threads here too and noticed at least one other Mini Mill that was labeled like this.
    I feel something that important should be more clearly defined. Just an observation.

    Also the new improved bullet proof glass sticker is not present in the corner of the door. I don't mind that at all.

    Love the total enclosure. There is a small cutout on the top toward the rear that is still open. I suspect that is for the relatively new exhaust system. Other than that, totally enclosed when the door is shut.

    Now this has a grease system on it. I will need to source that stuff at some point. Past threads mention it lasts a very long time.
    Does it also have an oil system?
    Not sure on that, but I haven't studied it much.

    There was no USB backup drive with the machine. Is this something that HFO provides when they initialize the machine?
    Lee

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Posts
    6618

    Re: New Mini Mill landed safe and sound

    Okay. No oil on this one. Liquid grease is what they call it. I presume I just order it by the canister from Haas?
    I will confirm that later.

    It did come with a nice coolant strainer. I already had something similar in one of my shopping carts. Happy to see that. Another oddity I will need is a proper sized pan and rake to pull the chips out of the auger well.

    Replacement canister is pricey, but they may have a refill instead much cheaper.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails air lube panel.jpg   coolant strainer.jpg   grease cartridge.jpg   air lube panel.jpg  

    coolant strainer.jpg   grease cartridge.jpg  
    Lee

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Feb 2014
    Posts
    72

    Re: New Mini Mill landed safe and sound

    Will be watching this for sure. I modeled my garage a while ago in CAD and added my tormach, a VF2 and minimill to it to compare my space and the minimill is really the one that looks to fit appropriately. The VF1/2 just takes up too much space.

    Anyways, really wanting to see what youre able to manage for MRR. Hope you get it up and running quick.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Posts
    6618

    Re: New Mini Mill landed safe and sound

    The Mini is not much bigger than the Pulsar width wise. It is taller and deeper and require's more space behind it, so quite a bit deeper. I had the space to put any of the machines that I considered here easily.
    If I did any sort of job shop work at all, I would have ordered a VF1 or 2. As the Pulsar has shown me, we just have no need for anything larger. If we eventually do require a larger machine, I know where they make them at.

    Still finishing up this part of the shop. Don't even have the garage door installed yet. The rest of the insulation and sheeting will get done this week. Wiring and adding a new air dryer should be completed over the weekend, so I will be ready one day next week for HFO to come out. Just a little bit of a learning curve on this one, but all well documented and will become second nature soon enough. Looking forward to the automation.
    Lee

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Posts
    381

    Re: New Mini Mill landed safe and sound

    Quote Originally Posted by LeeWay View Post
    Okay. No oil on this one. Liquid grease is what they call it. I presume I just order it by the canister from Haas?
    I will confirm that later.

    It did come with a nice coolant strainer. I already had something similar in one of my shopping carts. Happy to see that. Another oddity I will need is a proper sized pan and rake to pull the chips out of the auger well.

    Replacement canister is pricey, but they may have a refill instead much cheaper.
    The grease canister on our VF-2 has been in there for a year and a half, that we have been using it, and it is still over halfway full. Granted, we have used it lightly on 1 shift, so take that with a grain of salt.

    As far as the "proper sized pan and rake" are concerned... They normally supply a rake with the machine. Ours was zip-tied to the back of the machine by the casting. We also use a motor-home brush on a broomstick to sweep it out fairly cleanly when changing to a different part material. For the pan, I am not sure if they still do, or not, but they used to send the feet and any misc. hoses in a Rubbermaid tote. That tote fit perfectly under the lip on our machine to catch the chips we pull out.

    Looks like fun! DON'T SCRATCH THE PAINT! :wee:

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
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    6618

    Re: New Mini Mill landed safe and sound

    Heaven forbid we scratch the paint.

    No tupperware. All that was in a cardboard box. They did send a little hand broom. We have a washdown hose to get the chips out of the enclosure. They land in the auger trough. They drain there or maybe not depending on how much coolant is in the tank. We have some SS pans and baking pans here that we use for hauling lots of small parts or catching parts in the lathe. One of those will hold a days worth of our chips.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails augerwell.jpg  
    Lee

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Posts
    381

    Re: New Mini Mill landed safe and sound

    The bin that we got with our machine is a Rubbermaid Roughneck 14 gallon tub. Dimensions on the tag say 24 x 16 x 12.5. It fits well under the lip of our machine. As far as your picture... I'm not sure who thought of that cluster! I'm sure it works great if you have the chip auger, but without the auger, that's going to be a pain! LOL Our Mini Mill is a 2006 model and it has a flat bottom in there. It slopes down from the back of the machine like yours, but is flat from the right side of the opening to the front of the machine. Apparently, some engineer didn't consider the possibility that not everyone buys the auger for the Mini Mill. That's not going to allow much space for chips either. All I can say to that one is goooooooooooooood luck!

    :cheers:

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
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    6618

    Re: New Mini Mill landed safe and sound

    Yeah kinda tough. I think I have a solution. A piece of aluminum or SS profiled like the trough. Leave some clearance for a rubber strip to be screwed to the bottom edge.
    Install a handle up top. It would protrude out this side and rest on something attached to the two studs above the opening. Park it all the way back against the rear of the opening. Then when dumping chips, just pull it forward.
    Who needs a stinking auger?
    Now if I only knew of a shop equipped to fabricate something like this.
    Lee

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Posts
    6618

    Re: New Mini Mill landed safe and sound

    Setup the Haas tech to initialize the MM on the 5th. Most everything will be here by then. Maybe not the Orange vise.
    Lee

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Posts
    381

    Re: New Mini Mill landed safe and sound

    Sounds great! But, who needs an auger? Ugh... The sales man that sold us our Mini Mill said no one buys the auger for the MM since they are only making little parts. While that is true, a good share of the time, we machine several parts that will fill the bottom of our machine within 2 or 3 parts. Hence, we have graduated to the VF-2 sized machines. But we keep our Mini around for finishing parts off our trunnion equipped VF-2 and occasional misc. projects.

    In any case, sounds like you have it figured out! Surely you have a bandsaw and a welder in your shop. You'll have it done in no time!

    :cheers:

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
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    6618

    Re: New Mini Mill landed safe and sound

    Well the Haas Tech came by today as scheduled.
    Cleaned and prepped the machine. Lowered it as low as possible to still allow us to get the pallet jack under it. Releveled of course. Showed me the ropes so to speak, so we are all set. Now comes the other part. Setting up all this new tooling and switching files over to the Haas post in Fusion 360. Actually that part is all mine and is the fun part. It is the gateway process to actually making stuff.
    So much for not scratching it. The Haas tech lifted it off the shipping rig and drove it into the column. First movement. I am glad he got that out of the way.
    Cosmetic dings only. He did make note of it and that he could order and install a new one if I ever wanted it. He is our only local Haas tech. Lives in Pensacola. We fish at some of the same spots.
    I will hold that favor in my back pocket when my machine starts needing stuff out of warranty. I am certain that we will eventually make it look used enough not to notice the dimples.
    Lee

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Posts
    6618

    Re: New Mini Mill landed safe and sound

    Well, it is never as simple as you plan for. Maybe once you have a little experience, you can make better plans.
    Not the case for me.
    To start with the GMT vise should have came with the Haas T-slots. I did mention a couple times that this was going on a Haas. Still arrived with 11/16" T nuts.
    Still no word of shipment on the Orange vise, so i guess I just have to do what I gotta do.
    The slots have the wrong spacing to install the vise length wise. There is room to install it normally. No overhang on the rear of the table. Good thing we make small parts.
    It will work this way for the time being until it gets moved to the Pulsar.
    Then I ordered some Mic 6 plate to make a sub plate for the Orange vise among other uses. That will be okay. Just means I will have to reorient my drawing one more time in Fusion 360 for the Orange vise.
    No production on the Haas until at least next week I'm afraid.
    Lee

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    171

    Re: New Mini Mill landed safe and sound

    Lee,

    I have a precise model of the Mini Mill table that I did in Fusion 360. It's on GrabCAD in IGES and Step, but if you want it in f3d, just shoot me a private message and I'll email it to you.

    PM

  17. #17
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Posts
    1856

    Re: New Mini Mill landed safe and sound

    There's a model off the Haas mini mill table in fusion that's set up with joint origins on it
    http://danielscnc.webs.com/

    being disabled is not a hindrance it gives you attitude
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

  18. #18
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    171

    Re: New Mini Mill landed safe and sound

    Do you have a link?

    I am unable to find anything like that.

    thx

  19. #19
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Posts
    1856

    Re: New Mini Mill landed safe and sound

    It's in the cam samples folder, Lee the orange vices are there as well
    http://danielscnc.webs.com/

    being disabled is not a hindrance it gives you attitude
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

  20. #20
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Posts
    6618

    Re: New Mini Mill landed safe and sound

    That is excellent. Big time saver. I honestly was not aware those files were there. They don't have the exact Orange Vise file I need, but maybe I can scale it?
    It needs to be 1.5" narrower and 2.5" shorter.
    Thanks, Guys.
    Lee

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