Haas GR series routers for granite?

[razzor7]

I was wondering what your guys' thoughts are on the Haas GR series routers like the GR-510 and GR-710 models. They would be used mainly for profiling countertops.

Now, a little background -- the Haas machine was a suggestion I made to my friend who owns a countertop business after seeing a video of a Breton machine running. It was more a spur-of-the-moment suggestion than a well-thought-out strategy, but the lack of a proper tool changer (I think it just leaves the tools sitting out on the side) and slow rapids kind of turned me off; when I saw the Breton's $250k price tag I thought he was out of his mind.

So please set me straight. Do I simply not understand the value of the Briton, or is the Haas a comparable machine? Are there things it simply won't do that a Breton will? Is the Haas a true stoneworking machine, or just a general purpose router? My background is really in engineering, but I dabble in machine tools and the price of that Briton just seemed out of this world. Thoughts?


Best regards,
- Dmitry

[GCMAN]

Our shop has a Haas GR 408 gantry. We don't do any granite so I can't speak on that issue but I can about the gantry. We bought ours primarily due to the table travels (50x100). We looked at 4 other gantry style machines but the Haas beat them out in every respect (heavy duty contruction and stability).
We offline program ours and has worked great. We do developmental (R&D)
3d work. Cost was around $90 thous. I suggest going to haascnc.com and check them out. All the specs and cost available there.

[razzor7]

Wow, I thought I subscribed to this thread; guess not. GCMAN, what kind of materials do you cut with the GR-408? I'm glad to hear you've had nothing but good luck with your Haas machine. We've narrowed it down to about 5 manufacturers, and I'm going to start speaking with machine builders sometime next week.

Everyone, please keep the replies coming. I'd love to hear your responses.


- Dmitry

[Geof]

A couple of years ago Haas had a video on their website showing a GR510 working on granite and they were selling a tooling package for that application.

[GCMAN]

razzor7,
We run molding board, plastics, aluminum and a small amount of steel. Mostly the mold board. We are a R&D shop for a major company. Still having great luck with our machine. We're running the heck out of it. Anything else I can help with let me know. I'll be more than happy to assist you.
GC

[DennisCNC]

Dmitry,

You are shopping at the right time for a stone working machine! There was a very nice looking Breton in Central Florida for ~$130k on eBay that didn't sell, it's a trick twin table machine you might want to dig it up. Also breton has a parts warehouse in South Florida with most of the parts for their machines.
Breton makes some very complex metal working machines also so I think it is a better buy than a Haas but Haas is local that is a big plus.

[razzor7]

Thanks to everyone for all the excellent replies!

Geoff: That's very promising! I think I will contact my Haas dealer for further information about such a package.

GCMAN: I'm glad to hear you're getting good performance out of the machine. It sounds like quite the workhorse.

DennisCNC: It's interesting you mention that. Perhaps it's because I haven't looked at Breton's metal-working machines, but what would you say sets the Breton apart from the Haas? Mechanically, they don't seem terribly different. Not different enough to justify a 3x price premium, anyway. Are there any thoughts you could offer about the two machines? But you're right, $130k for a twin table is an unbelievable deal (for a Breton, haha). We're financing the machine, so I'll see if the bank allows us to get a used machine.


Thanks again for everyone's replies. If anyone else has input or suggestions, I'm all ears!


- Dmitry