How good has your SL10 been

[ashro]

Good points and bad points about your sl10?
How good has it been for production work?
How reliable?
What age is it?

Thanks

[Edster]

2002 SL-10 with over 600,000 toolchanges. Machine runs great. I've had one pm done on the machine from haas. Probably need another one now

It only broke on me once and I had to have a tech come in. It turned out to be the o-ring that seals the turret. Few hundred in labor to remove the turret to replace a $5 o-ring. That's the only time the machine actually went down.

I've had to replace various rubber pieces that were ate by coolant. The tool probe o-ring is the worst offender. I've replaced it several times and now the probe isn't working properly. I think I fixed the rubber part issue by switching to blaser coolant and di water and watching the concentration.

I also replaced the way wipers once and I probably should change them again.

My green cycle completion light is also not working correctly. I replaced the light but the relay is faulty on the board and it's the main board for the machine so I opted not to fix it until something else fails on the board.

I also try to clean the chips from under the way covers once a year. Their is a small gap in the way covers near the turret and aluminum chips love to find there way into there.

I also have a coolant leak from the chip auger. It seems to be leaking through the tube that connects the motor to the auger. I'm going to investigate it the next time I have the chip pan out of the machine.

Hope this helps, and good luck machine shopping.

[ashro]

2002 SL-10 with over 600,000 toolchanges. Machine runs great. I've had one pm done on the machine from haas. Probably need another one now

It only broke on me once and I had to have a tech come in. It turned out to be the o-ring that seals the turret. Few hundred in labor to remove the turret to replace a $5 o-ring. That's the only time the machine actually went down.

I've had to replace various rubber pieces that were ate by coolant. The tool probe o-ring is the worst offender. I've replaced it several times and now the probe isn't working properly. I think I fixed the rubber part issue by switching to blaser coolant and di water and watching the concentration.

I also replaced the way wipers once and I probably should change them again.

My green cycle completion light is also not working correctly. I replaced the light but the relay is faulty on the board and it's the main board for the machine so I opted not to fix it until something else fails on the board.

I also try to clean the chips from under the way covers once a year. Their is a small gap in the way covers near the turret and aluminum chips love to find there way into there.

I also have a coolant leak from the chip auger. It seems to be leaking through the tube that connects the motor to the auger. I'm going to investigate it the next time I have the chip pan out of the machine.

Hope this helps, and good luck machine shopping.

thanks edster.

would you buy another one (used)

[Geof]

We have two SL10s and will certainly buy another. Our maintenance record is similar to Edster's except on the oldest machine dating from about 2002 with well over a million toolchanges we recently replaced the X ballscrew.

In our experience they can hold plus/minus 0.0005" without much fuss if they are warmed up in the morning. Plus/minus 0.0002" is possible with attention and a bit of fiddling every now and then.

[Edster]

If I needed another SL-10 I would probably buy one. Don't know if I'd buy a used machine unless I really knew the seller had taken care of the it. The price of a new haas is pretty reasonably anyway.

[roundman]

The 10 I use was purchaced in 2006. It is a very good machine and I always learn something from these discussions about the sl10 lathe. I will mention something that happened last week. The drain tube which recycles coolant that goes through the spindle tube to the back and drains back inside the chip pan got clogged up and so the hydrolic oil was contaminated with coolant which will kill that pump. I drained it refilled it ran for 1 hour repeat drain and refill run 8 hours and then a final drain and refill. Our helpful Haas rep told us the process and it is been working fine ever since. Needless to say I first cleared the drain line. I noticed oil on top of the reservior when I adjusted the pressure and the gage was cloudy. I want to replace the felt cover wipers soon as maintainance.

[rigo430]

I use one at work and i've had very little problems. I think the tool setter may be off but that was proboly caused by someone working there before me. If i had to recommend about getting another one if we where doing lots of small parts definatly but for general work would proboly go with either the 20 or 30 for the extra machining room.

[Ydna]

In my opinion the SL10 is a pain to disassemble and clean (coolant-wise) since the coolant tank is integrated into it, which is part of the reason why we only use ours for cutting non-coolant applications. The other SL lathes are different but since the SL10 is so small that its design is a little different. Similar story with the minimills.
But that's just a nitpick of mine. They're cute little machines otherwise.

[Geof]

In my opinion the SL10 is a pain to disassemble and clean (coolant-wise) since the coolant tank is integrated into it.....

Agreed. On one of ours the bolts on the chip auger where loose and I had to dig into it to get at them. The amount of stuff that needs to be removed to get at the coolant sump is incredible. Not too bad on a new machine but a miserable job on an old machine with stinking coolant.