Where to go from here? I have a 2005 HAAS VF3-SS-YT which has been treating me well except for one big issue.....surface finish. Any time the cutter makes a change in direction in X or Y it leaves a swirl mark in the bottom surface cut which can measure almost a half a thou deep which makes my parts look like crap. (this is using a 3/16 end mill) My dealer spent some time going thru the parameters which made a small improvement but it is still not great. I was then told I needed a better foundation for the machine to sit on which I didn't buy but I wasn't going to get anymore help until I made this change. I am in need of another machine so I told them to build me a duplicate machine for me and set it up at their shop and cut me a part to show me that the machine is capable of making a good cut on a more solid foundation and then I will buy it and put a new foundation under both machines. They did this for me and sure enough, the new machine cut just as bad as the one I already have. Their next step was to say that a VM will leave a great surface finish and that they would change out the ball screws to the finer pitch ones out of a VM but I had them cut my part (which is aluminum by the way) in a new VM and it cut pretty much identical to the VF. I am now being told this is how Haas machines cut and if I want better surface finish I need to buy a high end machine.

My Haas dealer sells Toyoda's and wants me to buy an AF1000 but I don't know anything about them. They are going to have my part cut on one in the next couple weeks so that I can see the surface finish which I hope turns out good. Does anyone have any experience with the new Toyoda vertical mills, I guess they are built by Awea out of Tiawan.

Oh yeah, I am comparing the surface finish to a mid 90's vertical Okuma and two mid 80's horizontal Hitachi Seiki's that I own. The sales guy who sold me the Haas said it would cut better than any of my current machines and I made the mistake of not having a test piece cut first before the purchase.