Hello all, longtime lurker finally going live...
I've been asked by a friend to help with deciding which Haas machine to acquire from another division of his company. There is also a chance he may bring me in as a consultant to help with setting up the shop and making parts. I've been out of work for more than a year, so this would be good. It's an in-house R&D shop for a medical device company, but also does work occasionally for manufacturing. It's their first cnc.
A little background. I've been doing mechanical design, manual and cnc machining for about 30 years. My most recent job was for a golf manufacturer who is using a 5 axis mill to manufacture custom golf clubs. Before that, I was working for that same medical company as a Solidworks jock, and before that I had my own business manufacturing an accessory case for Palm PDAs (remember pdas?, haa!).
Our choice is between 2 machines, a ~2001 VF-0 and a ~2004 VF-1.
The VF-0 has a Haas T5C tilting rotary mounted to the table, and has a 15,000 rpm CAT40 spindle, but no spindle chiller. The rotary is an add on, not integrated like the newer Haas trunion machines. It has about 1000 cutting hours on it. The VF-1 has a 30,000 rpm 30 taper spindle and does have a chiller. It has the newer control with lcd monitor, the VF-0 has a crt. The VF-1 machine has more time on it, around 3500 hrs. Both machines look to be in nearly perfect shape. We can't get both machines, and we can't swap any parts between them. The VF-0 with the tilting rotary would be nice for some of the tricky small parts that will go in a 5C collet, but there is a good chance we'll have to do bigger 3 axis stuff too, like fairly complex aluminum castings that will barely fit on the table. The rotary can be removed, but it's probably a day to R&R, not like swapping vises. The VF-1 with the bazillion rpm spindle worries me a little bit. I know the Japanese machines like the Mycenter-0 with a 30 taper spindle will cut stainless all day long, but I have no experience with any Haas machines with >10k spindles. The golf guy's Haas machines cut steel 2 shifts for 10 years with no problems before he bought the Mazak Variaxis, but his machines were all 10 krpm or less.
I'm kind of stumped with this one, I know how handy 5 sided machining is, but the VF-0 isn't really a dedicated 5 axis machine. It has room for a vise next to the rotary, but only just. We would also need a 5 axis capable CAM program and post. The 30k machine has more hours on it, and has had a spindle replaced, so I'm wondering if this is an every 2500 hour exercise. Any and all input welcomed, especially on control differences, experience with any of the Haas's high speed spindle options, or anything else you think is relevant.
Many thanks,
Dave