[DruMor]

My boss and I were discussing last night about if we were to purchase a new machine in the next 12-24 months, how would we option it. On the Haas website we built our hypothetical new VF-4SS. The multi auger/conveyor system is $7700 extra over the standard auger. My question is, is it worth the extra cost? If we were to buy this machine its job would be strictly to cut aluminum, specifically cutting several of our existing parts that have pretty high chip volumes. One part in particular is 61lbs of aluminum chips per part. Currently in our VF-2SS the standard auger can't keep up on this part and I do have to spend quite a bit of time working chips out of the machine. I would think the multi system would be better, but is it $7700 better???? Is there enough coolant wash/spray that the chips will naturally wash into the augers and into the conveyor without manually sweeping/hosing them as I currently have to do?

How much farther out the end of the machine (if any) does a conveyor system stick out than an auger spout? Real estate is at a premium as this hypothetical machine would sit in the same spot as a VF-2 currently sits. If the conveyor doesn't take up any more room than the standard auger, the tape measure says this VF-4SS will fit.

[he1957]

Only comment/question regarding the time and cost of manually clearing chips.

How much is your labour time per hour? If you cost say $50.00 per hour and spend 2 hours cleaning 60 lbs of chips that's $100.00. At $7700.00 that's about 700 odd hours or about 6 months labour over a year - clearing chips.

Compare your labour time/effort for a manual tool change against an ATC.

Feel free to pick on my arithmetic and/or labour costs/efforts! :-)

[inertialabs]

Hi there, I am about to order a VF-4SS and I am asking myself the same question… Did you purchase the quad auger system, if so how are you liking it?

Thanks

[DruMor]

Hi there, I am about to order a VF-4SS and I am asking myself the same question… Did you purchase the quad auger system, if so how are you liking it?

Thanks

We ended up buying a new ST-20 lathe instead of the VF-4SS. It has the belt type conveyor instead of the screw auger, and after using both I like the conveyor better.

[deadlykitten]

hy onestly, anyone who questions at least 10k from a comon value of a cnc machine, means that is at the begining of the road; 7700 does not matter as value

even if, let's say, that 7700 was not a problem, again, don't spend money on it, if you can do it yourself, or if it is cheaper from somewhere else/after market

reading a bit more of these posts, i saw that you switched from mill to lathe / haha

if it still does matter : some cnc vendors sell entry level lathes, that are allready equiped with a conveyor; if it wasn't, thus if the conveyor was an option, then it may be cheaper ( sometimes half ) from an aftermarket seller / kindly