[treg]

I have had my machine for about 1 month now and I have done alot of opps on it. I know when I was looking at buying this I asked around for info but only 1 person was able to reply. I have now learned alot about what it can and can't do . please feel free to email me with any questions . I'll try to post a picture here when I am not so busy . working a real job too so time is not always on my side. Machine is good but not such a good tailsock. vibrates like hell on steel. any questions, holler!

[DEAN]

I have a TL-1 too.. I would like to hear additional comments on it. I am pretty happy with mine.
Does anyone know if the MAXIMUM spindle RPM is a controlled by a setting or is it a motor/pulley thing. I see a setting in the paramaters but of course if you change it nothing happens.

[DEAN]

Come on Treg. You have me on the edge of my seat. What is your feedback on your TL-1??? What are you doing with it? Hows she performing??
JD

[treg]

yo
sorry I been working so much and have had no time to check this site. machine is cool especisly when coming from a manual. A few probs though. I will say that it is very versitile and you can make 1s and 2s no prob that look way better and the time is just has compareable to doing it on a manual. I have basicaly opened my own shop with just this one machine. Well the other guys in there have a mini mill so they take care of the milling. but the turning is all me. Killing it with that machine. poblems?
no drilling of large drills. you can do it from the tail stock but is slow and pain full.
small drills can be done in the carriage. But i will say the other day I was trying to drill .375 5" deep and I got servo overload?????? lame
prepare to buy alot of coolant. shes really messy. I bought some rubbermaid under the bed storage tubs and cut them down , placed them underneath and this helps. well I gots to go to work she don't run herself any other questions just holler
tre

[Edster]

I'm thinking about purchasing a TL1, and I've got a few quick questions for you.

Does this machine have an automatic lubrication system for the ways, ballscrews, and air oil for the spindle, or is it a manual type system with a bunch of different lube points?

Is there enough room to mount 2 toolposts on the slide? Or maybe set up a subplate setup with a gang tool arrangement on it to run multiple tools?

Thanks,
Ed

[DEAN]

Treg, I hear ya on the drilling from the carriage shortcomings. I have been afraid to do anything too tough since the toolpost could slip. That might get ugly. Thought about making a CXA holder that mounts to the front position of the QC post instead of hanging off the side. I don't use much coolant myself, occasionally I will break out the micro-mist, other than that dry. Did you get the coolant pump/pan option from HAAS??

Edster, There is not auto-lube system. There several zerk fittings where you hit it with a grease gun. Seperate fittings for linear trucks and ballscrews.
There is enough room to mount two toolposts or a small gang holder. For small stuff it would work. There are several mounting points on the carriage to support a decent system.
HAAS is coming out with a 4 POS. tool turret. Looks like a hardinge CHNC type of job. The Dorian tool turret would be a great bolt-on.

[treg]

yea I bought the coolant kit. Its a nice setup but like I said coolant goes all over. I enjoy the extra tool life I get with it and also the finish. trough coolant on boring bars rules. I'm considering buying a collet chuck but unsure what to get. the one through haas is like $1300 us and and a bison chuck style collet chuck is $700can (haas one is that lever type). but I am unsure how to mount this to my machine has it seems there is no addapter plate. do you know of anythin??

[treg]

yea also rpm thing. too slow. needs a bit more. what are you doing with yours dean??? is it a hobby machine? running business with??
holler

[DEAN]

Treg, I was wondering about the RPM thing too. I can see how changing the pulley size would accomplish this I wonder if the software will reject it. I do see in the Param/Setting that there is a field for RPM. Out of curiosity I changed the setting one day, it allowed it, but the programmed speed was lower than what was set. Kinda no sense to it. 1800 would be 500 or something like that. There must be a way to tweak this somehow. I wonder if anyone has hacked the HAAS control to get those codes for features etc...Hmmm
Anywhoo.
I turn alot of aluminum and plastics on mine professionally for a local medical lab. Fixtures, small parts etc... Some stainless steel 316
I bit the bullet and bought the collet closer from HAAS for a job. I didn't want to fuss with getting the right size etc. Good quality stuff. Dead nuts on, too.
All it is, is a Royal A2-5 collet nose and there standard closer. There is one piece that would have to made, the spindle to closer locking ring thing. I'd imagine you could easily piece it together.

TREG, I forgot to mention this, and I wonder if you have the same problem. I have been over this with a HAAS repair tech, but he could not isolate the intermittent problem. Not a show stopper but very annoying.
When coming out of auto mode, lets say one of the quickcode functions like turn,face, bore, etc.. After the machine lets go of the Z axis servo, it kinda fights it. You can feel it in the Z axis handle. Sort of like the servo is not fully letting go. Weirdest thing. I have tried powering down the machine at the same time feeling this resistance in the Z axis handle and it doesn't go away. Really weird. Not all the time mostly after doing many cycles in auto mode.
During this problem if I manually jog the Z axis back and forth several times it frees up! Just can't put a finger on the trouble.

JD

[treg]

yo I totally noticed that!!!!
i thought it might just be a chip or somthing in the guard???? wierd huh
you bought that collet! sweet that would be really nice. I want it! do you think its just better to buy from haas with instructions or just make myself??? could you help with rough drawing of adapter plate. and royal unit #. would be very aprieciated.;
tre

[DEAN]

I looked around for a better price on the collet closer and nose and it seemed that the HAAS price was right around the average cost. Put hundred bucks or two +/- towards time, material and the hassle factor and the HAAS seemed reasonable. I'll see if I can find some numbers off the pieces.
JD

[treg]

no dean I think your right. I'll just get the one from haas. seems the easiest thing to do, thanks though

[DEAN]

Treg,
I'd like to hear updates on your experience with your TL-1. I am curious how the machines are/will hold up.
If you have any thoughts on what that intermittent Z axis resistance is let me know. I just cant figure it out.
Whats your thoughts on the sealing of those bearing trucks. They are kinda exposed with a pushing running over tiny chip type of effect going on. I couldn't find detailed info on the manufacturers website (STAR) regarding the seals. I stay on top of cleanup on mine with a shop vac in those regions. One note I did see on the STAR website is they specifically stated not to use greases with any fillers like MOS2, etc.., just a note. In any case I am pretty convinced that it is not debris getting stuck in the bearings causing the glitch, I've kept mine pretty clean.
I am really leaning towards that 4 pos. tool turret HAAS has for it. $3K I believe. Looks rigid. A little slow, but I only really use four tool and I could put away the Q/C post. Actually get some muti-ops going on. Have you seen that full inclosure for the TL-1??!? I was impressed. Fully encloses the machine. SOLID design.
Went to WESTEC!! I have to have one of those VF-2YT.(30 x 20 x 20).
Right between a VF2 and VF3. Nice. They had some of the machines cutting steel this vs. Al. They had the machines really taking some decent cuts, big tools, really testing the windows, you know!? Newbies were jumping back hiding behind stuff! Pretty funny!
Time to work.
JD

[nervis1]

Yea I saw that 4" drill working, slinging 2lb blue curly chips against the plexiglass. That was pretty cool.

[treg]

must have that hp upgrade. what was the 4 " drill ??? there s no way it could push that????

[nervis1]

Sorry I forgot to add this was a 30 hp VF-5. NOT a TL-1. LOL.

[greenmachinist]

We got our Haas TL-1 about 2 years ago now. Just bought a Royal 3J Air Collet Closer, comes with drawtube, collet holder, air cylinder, pneumatics. Just have to hook up the air supply basically. Haven't bolted it on yet. Waiting for collets & some tooling.

I got a gang tool plate made to use ECI or Omni-turn type gang tool holders. My gang tool holder has 3/4" holes with 3 set screws coming down from the top. If anyone is interested in the gang tool plate, I can send you an engineering drawing of what I drew up.

I'd be interested in seeing pictures of what others have done.

Also bought a coolant pump and kit from Graymills instead of the one from Haas.

Any suggestions on holding small tools / drills in those 3/4" holes?

I've been looking for 3/4" straight shank ER16 holders, preferably with flats already on them.

I've also been looking for 3/4" boring bar adapters/sleeves/split bushings that will holder smaller diameter tools.

Any ideas/suggestions are appreciated. Thanks!

PS: Also have a TM-1 if anyone has any ideas on how they've tooled / modified that one.

[danil]

My Bobcad is writing G-Code that looks good but the lathe cuts something else-- different radius, for example. Has anyone else good through similar problem.
Thanks,
Dan

[Donkey Hotey]

This thread is so far off topic that I'll bite on this.

What kind of tool? How far out is the radius? Are you using Tool Nose Compensation? Every tool has a radius (no matter how sharp it looks) and if you're trying to make something like a ball, something as small as a 0.005" radius on the tip will cause the ball to be 0.005" out on one side.

Post more specifics and we'll see what we can figure out.

[AMCTony]

Dean

For turning the RPM up you need to adjust the max rpm and spindle frequency settings by proportional amounts. I think that they are settings 131 and 183 off the top of my head. One will have RPM listed (eg. 2000 rpm) and the other will have a freaking big number in it. If you take the rpm and up it by say 1000 rpm to 3000 then the number in the other setting has to be multiplied by 1.5 if I am correct. It has been a while since I did this and it works well on TM and TL machines. Another thing is spindle spool up time that there is a setting for and I do not know what it is. This is to compensate for the time it takes the spindle to go to max rpm without alarming out. The alarm out is caused by the load meter being pegged while the acceleration is taking place.

Also, On my TL-2 I set the RPM max to 2700 as that is what my chuck is rated at. When I first screwed with my settings I did everything correctly but the machine would still only spool to 2000 rpm. Just for the hell of it I went to MDI and typed

G50 S2700;
;

I ran this block of code and then went back to MANUAL screens where I typed 2700 and hit forward to turn the spindle on. This worked and the machine went up to full 2700. I tried the same thing on an older TL-1 with 1800 RPM. Took the machine to 1800 then 2200 then 2500. There was no problem until I hit stop and the machine had to go to 0 RPM from full speed. This goes back to what I was saying earlier about the alarm messages. I think that there was no issue with this on the TL-2 due to the 12HP motor vs the 7.5HP motor.

One more thing, If you burn up your machine or components dont blame me. Without knowing exactly what the machine and parts in it were engineered to handle it is impossible to fully and safely trick out these machines.