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CNC Mill / Machine shop progress

That's awesome Rob :waytogo: Glad to see things progressing with your new business.

Happy Birthday

This one must be a little special, having kicked cancers ass and all :D
 
Ohhh man, this post is just all kinds of AWESOMENESS!! :bow:

I can't wait to see some of the magic you're gonna work with that thing!
 
I have some more pictures I'll post up asap. I am just beat too much right now to deal with downloading them at the moment.
 
Sweet Jeebus! :yikes:


When I read that you were getting a "mill" my mind kept thinking about some kind of classic Bridgeport knee-mill or some such thing.

I had no idea until today that you were actually talking about a HAAS "walk in" style mill!!!! :bow:


Holy crap that is awesome.



-G
 
Haas guy is here, we just ran power to the mill. It is powered up!!! He's leveling it and making sure it funtions correctly. Haas gives an included three day training course when you buy a machine. Hoping to get into it next week. I'm off all next week.
 
Now you can get started paying the real cost. Tooling usually winds up costing more than the mill.........

Haas is a good name. That machine looks like a one size smaller version of the one I have repaired at my tool and die shop place.

So far, they have worked the heck out of it for several years, and I have not had much to do to keep it going.

About the only "problem" has been its size. They have been making a bunch of parts for a customer, and each part has to have a complex number engraved on it.
The engraving has been the slowest part of the whole operation. That mill is just too big and designed for heavier work.

So, a few months ago, I got a call to come install a new mill. They bought one of these.

http://www.tormach.com/

Neat mill. Uses a computer running Windows XP under a custom shell to run it. Since you don't have an expensive custom controller, its a lot cheaper than a regular mill its size would be.

Its a light duty mill, but will perform way above its size. Really paid off for them.

I'd love to have one.
 
Fordum said:
Now you can get started paying the real cost. Tooling usually winds up costing more than the mill.........

Haas is a good name. That machine looks like a one size smaller version of the one I have repaired at my tool and die shop place.

So far, they have worked the heck out of it for several years, and I have not had much to do to keep it going.

About the only "problem" has been its size. They have been making a bunch of parts for a customer, and each part has to have a complex number engraved on it.
The engraving has been the slowest part of the whole operation. That mill is just too big and designed for heavier work.

So, a few months ago, I got a call to come install a new mill. They bought one of these.

http://www.tormach.com/

Neat mill. Uses a computer running Windows XP under a custom shell to run it. Since you don't have an expensive custom controller, its a lot cheaper than a regular mill its size would be.

Its a light duty mill, but will perform way above its size. Really paid off for them.

I'd love to have one.
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Yeah the tooling is pricy for sure. Fortunately I have a lot of tooling from being a machinist for so many years. I've bought and aquired alot of stuff over the years. I bought a precision KURT cnc vise for $713 because someday I would have my very own cnc mill. Who the hell would have though that dream would have come true, not me. Same thing with my hydraulic shear, and my three big Snap On roll cabs, my 20" disc grinder. All those we bought brand new at LESS then 1/2 price! Somehow these deals just fell into my lap. And they all have some amazing or crazy story behind each and every purchase.
 
Getting a free 5 gal bucket of coolant delivered Monday. Will mix about 50 to 60 gallons. About 2 to 3 fresh refills for our coolant tank. It's from a company called Blaser Swiss Lube. It's their way of getting you to come back to buy their products. The lady I spoke with has been in the machine tool & tooling & coolant bussiness for 30 years. I was amazed to say the least at her expertise with machine tool knowledge. A chick who knows her tools, cutting fluids and cutters is just a bad ass chick in my book!
 
Blaser is good stuff. The only issue we had with Blaser was the smell once it starts going bad. So about a year ago we switched to another brand. The new stuff doesn't smell but we're burning through it...literally. We can smell it burning when making big cuts. Also we're going through a ton of it and our tool life isn't as good as it was. Hence as soon as we're done with our current barrel we're going back to Blaser. I guess there are some additives we can use to help fight the smell.
 
mtnman210 said:
Blaser is good stuff. The only issue we had with Blaser was the smell once it starts going bad. So about a year ago we switched to another brand. The new stuff doesn't smell but we're burning through it...literally. We can smell it burning when making big cuts. Also we're going through a ton of it and our tool life isn't as good as it was. Hence as soon as we're done with our current barrel we're going back to Blaser. I guess there are some additives we can use to help fight the smell.
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Yeah thats the one thing about coolant. Ya have to change it more often then you would like. Do you airate or skim your coolant, or both? I'm going to airate with a small electric pump. Don't want it running my compressor all day long.
 
Smell, unless its burned, is almost always bacteria or some other organism growth. There are usually additives that will kill that without ruining the coolant.

I would call Blaser and ask.
 
Soooo jealous!!!!!!


If you ever want to chat tooling PM me. I love to talk machining. :popcorn:
 
I also use and recommend blazocut 2000 and buy it in the 55 gallon drums and use the blazer mixer as well.
Talk to your account about buying your tools in PO's of 600.00 or less as to expense it rather than depreciate it.
Good luck with the haas as your gonna need it:D
Mazaks all the way:whistle:
Congrats and good luck!
 
sixb said:
I also use and recommend blazocut 2000 and buy it in the 55 gallon drums and use the blazer mixer as well.
Talk to your account about buying your tools in PO's of 600.00 or less as to expense it rather than depreciate it.
Good luck with the haas as your gonna need it:D
Mazaks all the way:whistle:
Congrats and good luck!
Click to expand...


The Blaser guy asked me all kinds of questions about the types of material we'll be machining and recommended another type. I'm just running what they are recommending. Don't want to make another thread asking about coolants and who likes what over on practical machinist.com. It's personal preference really. If we're not getting the finishes we expect to or if I'm having skin issues with this stuff I'll change it in a red hot second. In fact my sales rep said if I have ANY skin issues he'll get me another type to try for free too. I told him I have alot of allergies. Food, skin, and your typical polin and dust type allergies. Oh and FYI, Our Mazak's at work have as many problems as our haas' do, and our Fadal's too. They ALL have their own glitches and quirky problems with them. They're all built and invented and assembled by human hands after all.

I've ran A LOT of Okuma cnc machines, Okuma cnc standard 3 axis mills, and Okuma lathes with live tooling, duel spindles and duel turrets with live radial and axial milling capibility, Kitamura cnc mills, Fadal mills, Miyano cnc lathes with live milling tooling, BIG Ooya cnc mill with duel spindles, Bridgeport cnc mills & Brigdeport Easy Trak cnc knee mill's, Mori Seki cnc mills & lathes, Cincinnatti Milicron mills, Famco cnc lathes, Giddings & Lewis' cnc mill, Ran a Mitsubishi cnc horizontal mill with a 20" pallet changer tables and a 50 taper spindle for 3 1/2 years, Hitachi Seki cnc lathe, Mazak's 6 axis cnc lathe/mill combo machining center, will full mill capibility with a Y axis and a milling head that would sweep about 240 deg. These are just the machines I remember. Not to mention any and all conventional machines too.

Our many different cnc shops at my company have been replacing machines over the years as the old ones start to not work so well. The machines of choice are Haas cnc machines. That says something about their quality and ability to hold tollerance. Our shops are precision machine shops. Not just production shops. We build one of a kind stuff on a daily basis with true posision's of .001 and regular tollerances of +/- .0005 and plenty tighter all day long.

Every machine shop I've ever worked at delt with tight tolerances in the tenths. I've had many jobs with a +/- .0001 tolerance. Hell one job had four different diameters that were +/- .0001 tol. in heat treated 300M, tough crap to turn and maintain tool life, hold finish, and most importantly, hold tollerance. I've got experience with many many different Fanuc controls, and machine with their own controls like Mazak's and Okuma's.

This will be my first time running a Haas. I have many machinist buddies that have ran Haas's for years and years that know these machines inside and out. I think I'll have a great support system if I have any questions or programming problems. Haas does have their problems. But show me a cnc machine that has none and I'll show you some premium beach front property in the Florida Keys I can sell you for pennies on the dollar. Sight unsceen, and no refunds of course :D.
 
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