pic: 1429 Gets a new toy

[Pjohn1959]

loading photo ...

[R.C.]

That is sooo awesome. I had a few quick questions btw:

-Did you buy it at full price
-If not, how much did you buy it for.

The only reason I'm asking is because we have one CNC and we are going to buy another one very soon.

[Cory]

That's a nice new toy

Have fun playing with it. I hope you guys have a better experience with Haas than we have.

[ATannahill]

I think the topic for this thread should be "pic: a great addition".

[kapolavery]

oh WOW
that's SUPER SWEEEEEET!
Our team is trying to get enough money to buy that. It would make fabrication so much easier. Hahah.
But even if our team did get it, our classroom is so small. We need a shop made esp. for robotics.

But thats just in my dreams.!

[Francis-134]

On 190, we have a TM-1 that we use for most of our CNC work. It's just a little too short to cut long chassis rails, but if you program it right, it's really easy to do it in two setups.

Did you get any of the spiffy options like the tool probe or part probe?

[Akash Rastogi]

How much of a beating did your wallet take with that sexi Haas?

Imma get me one 'o those

[Kingofl337]

Just don't crash it a new spindle is pretty big $$$$

[Cory]

Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi

How much of a beating did your wallet take with that sexi Haas?

Imma get me one 'o those

They're $35k base.

[Rick TYler]

We're saving up to get a tube of Dremel cutoff disks and three new hacksaw blades...

[James Tonthat]

You do remember your good 'ol friends at 1477, right? Heh. Nice piece of machinery.

With some luck, I'll have a job at the university machine shop and be working with three of these machines.

[McGurky]

Our school shop has 2 Haas mills and 2 Haas Lathes, most of the time during the build season that we have all four running at the same time! You will find these very useful!!!

[katd30]

Awesome. The workspace we use is attached to a shop where they are inventing/building this diesel engine so they have their own. The owner lets us use the space and if we leave some plans on the table with a note the night before he'll mill it for us. We are so lucky to have him as an awesome sponsor.

[unclewaldo]

Originally Posted by Cory

That's a nice new toy

Have fun playing with it.
I hope you guys have a better experience with Haas than we have.

In response... We have had various Haas equipment.... Haas VF-E [VF-1] vertical mill, TL-1 and SL-20 CNC lathes... for some 8 years in our shop. As with any machine, there will always be mechanical/electronic issues, and mileage will vary depending on operations and operator..... but our local Haas Factory Outlet/Dealer has always been there for us in time of need. They are quick to respond to problems [phone call / service call] and have always treated us fairly. Compared to other brands in our shop, [IMHO] the Haas equipment has been by far the more reliable and durable and productive CNC machinery.

As for pricing... Hope you didn't pay full price... Haas has been offering 15-30% off their standard pricing to try to reduce their factory inventory. Check their website. We just received delivery on a new VF-2 vertical mill... can't tell you what we paid for it [NDA]... but it definitely was not full price... maybe because the factory is just north of here??.. and again they went well beyond the call of duty getting us up and running and educated with the new mill's features and operation. Your local dealer does offer classes on both programing and operation, and there are online manuals available for download on the HaasCNC site. Local community colleges are also good sources of training and information, as are local machine shops.

I don't think you will regret your new toy... just treat it with respect, get properly trained on it, use good tooling, do the suggested mantainence, and above all...

keep "challenged" programers and operators away from it.....

[Cory]

Originally Posted by unclewaldo

In response... We have had various Haas equipment.... Haas VF-E [VF-1] vertical mill, TL-1 and SL-20 CNC lathes... for some 8 years in our shop. As with any machine, there will always be mechanical/electronic issues, and mileage will vary depending on operations and operator..... but our local Haas Factory Outlet/Dealer has always been there for us in time of need. They are quick to respond to problems [phone call / service call] and have always treated us fairly. Compared to other brands in our shop, [IMHO] the Haas equipment has been by far the more reliable and durable and productive CNC machinery.

We just ended up with a lemon. We got a VF-1 in May of 2007, and since we got it, it's had multiple oil leaks, a spindle replacement, three gearbox replacements, a bad display board, and some other minor problems. Our machine has less than 400 cutting hours on it and cuts 99.99% aluminum.

I've used a lot of Haas equipment, both at WPI, and at a local community college and never had any problems before. Also know of a lot of people making a lot of money with Haas machines that run 15 years and never need more attention than preventative maintenance. Unfortunately that has not been our experience and if/when we purchase any additional CNC machinery, it will definitely not be a Haas.