[steve911]

Hi all,

This is kind of a 2 part post . First of all hello to everyone one the HAAS lathe forum. My name is Steve and I just purchased a TL-1 to play with as I have recently retired from 37 years in the Air Force and wanted something to occupy my free time and help with my car hobby.

The TL-1 has only about 5 hours on it from new. It came with a really thick manual slid into a slot on the back side of the monitor. The lathe is all hooked up power wise and I have not been able to find any info on operating the machine in a manual mode with or without the cover up. I cant even get the chuck to spin.

I heard there is some code that can be entered to allow manual usage with the cover in the up position.

Can someone steer me in the right direction?

thanks
Steve A.

[Donkey Hotey]

Wow, you've got a pretty steep climb if you got zero training with the machine. Your HFO should offer some kind of free training (at their location) and you should absolutely take advantage of that.

You should be able to press the Hand Jog button to get into the Intuitive Programming Screens. That should bring up the tabs for Manual Mode. Once in Manual Mode, you should be able to operate the handles manually.

As for starting the spindle, type the RPM you want, then press Spindle Forward. To stop the spindle, press Spindle Stop.

[Radian Racing]

Luckily here in South Africa we get two days on site training from Haas to get you going if you buy a new machine.

I just know how you feel standing there and not knowing how to go anywhere and frankly the Thick Manual is useless!

You will struggle to get going without any training so you should insist on that.

To get to manual press "hand jog"

Then press "shift" (yellow text) and then x+ or x- to free the x-axis. Observe on screen that you have manual jog on the x axis. Do same for y-axis and you should be able to release the servos and move your slide with the handwheels.

in hand jog mode (easy way to go to basic manual control) you then just type 1000, write/enter, and press spindle forward and the spindle will start at 1000rpm.

I had training on Friday and spent the whole weekend on the machine and now can profile set program do all the zero settings and turned 22 studs which included recessed cuts and 3/4 inch UNF threading and it takes me 4.5 minutes to make one stud which includes then for tool changes.

I love the feel and interfacing of the machine and you will too.

[Donkey Hotey]

in hand jog mode (easy way to go to basic manual control) you then just type 1000, write/enter, and press spindle forward and the spindle will start at 1000rpm.

Correct except the part where you said to Write/Enter. The number has to be in the buffer when you press Spindle Forward. Otherwise, good post.

[Radian Racing]

When I am in front of machine I kind of know how to proceed. When I am here at home and try to remember it is kind of vague. Suffer also from that old age thing ....... age.

But you are right I know the value goes into the buffer. What I tried to convey is that there is no need to type code like S1000 MO3 etc.

Ok trying to help here (and I am really just a newbie with 3 days machine knowledge) I can also see how difficult it is to write a manual and include all the little steps which I have figured out in the meantime. So forgive me Haas for stating that your manual is useless. But is it is useless. Just a fact not a criticism anymore.

One thing is for sure. You have to stand in front of that machine to learn it. And you have to try and try and try to understand. It does get easier by the hour and one day I am going to know the machine and how to do proper lathe work almost as good as you experienced guys. Yeah I know I can never catch up on the detail you know. But I will close the gap somewhat. And then there is this forum where I could get that really valuable advice.

[Geof]

.... So forgive me Haas for stating that your manual is useless. But is it is useless. Just a fact not a criticism anymore....

No it is not useless. It is not written for the totally green, wet-behind-the-ears novice and is difficulty to follow without some prior background knowledge. But then it is difficult if not impossible to write a manual that starts completely at level zero.

Persist with your learning and as you discover things refer back to the manual and you will start seeing that it can take you further once you have developed a foundation to build on. It is certainly not clear in many aspects but it is incredibly difficult to write a manual that is clear to everyone so you do need to work at understanding what it is getting at sometimes.

[Radian Racing]

Agreed. I have actually already referred for some basic codes to modify my IPS generated profile cut. Basics like coolant on and off and stop the spindle so I can do a safe toolchange etc.

I guess you are right but where I was 3 days ago it did not make sense at all.

[Geof]

....I guess you are right but where I was 3 days ago it did not make sense at all.

I know the feeling. I bought a used 1995 Haas HL1 in 1999 and I had never touched a CNC machine before then. The manual I got with it was for a newer model machine so a lot of things did not apply. I had a very frustrating time figuring out the programming and it was not made easier by the fact I was also running my business and fielding phone calls from customers all day long. I think it took me six weeks of evenings and weekends before I managed to get a working program. These days I can do it somewhat faster.

[Donkey Hotey]

Ok trying to help here (and I am really just a newbie with 3 days machine knowledge)

And you're doing just fine. I just wanted to clarify that point because there are times when you press enter, other times when you press Alter, times when you press F2 or F3, and all of them behave differently. It's frustrating and we've had people on here take directions from a post, go out to their machine, then not get things to work. I'm not nearly as experienced as you might think, though.

The best thing you can do to learn is jump in on these threads and do what you're doing. Much of what I've learned was through this forum.

As for the manuals, I actually prefer the lathe manual to the mill manual (well, at least the one from two years ago). I've learned more about the control from the Lathe manual, which I cross reference to the Mill manual and find the feature either not documented, or poorly documented.

[tobyaxis]

And you're doing just fine. I just wanted to clarify that point because there are times when you press enter, other times when you press Alter, times when you press F2 or F3, and all of them behave differently. It's frustrating and we've had people on here take directions from a post, go out to their machine, then not get things to work. I'm not nearly as experienced as you might think, though.

The best thing you can do to learn is jump in on these threads and do what you're doing. Much of what I've learned was through this forum.

As for the manuals, I actually prefer the lathe manual to the mill manual (well, at least the one from two years ago). I've learned more about the control from the Lathe manual, which I cross reference to the Mill manual and find the feature either not documented, or poorly documented.

Hey Greg,

You forgot to post the Link to the PDF Manuals on Haas's website. These include all the updates
http://www.haascnc.com/custserv_updates.asp#custserv