Haas TL-3W? Big swing/bore CNC lathe recommendations sought

[rpseguin]

A friend (one case where I actually wish "a friend" was me :-) is looking to buy a big swing and big bore CNC lathe.
He's thinking about a Haas TL3W, but I'm curious what other large swing, big bore lathes people recommend?
Pricetag needs to be <= $50K for a complete setup, and the machine needs to be very rigid and stout and produce great work.

Thanks!
-Ralph

[STS_John]

We have been running a TL3 for 3 years. Very happy with the unit. When we were shopping we looked at Milltronics, they have a larger product line of these type of lathes. We decided on the Haas because we running their mills, and there was some crossover on operations, so our operators had a shorter learning curve.

[westec]

Hello everyone, I came across the site while searching for CNC plasma table info as I am looking to buy one.

WRT the Hass TL3W, be careful!! I bought one last year, I was sold on the size of the work envelope, the HP and the price. All things looked good, the machine arrived, we hooked it up and the Tech got it running and during our "free" training we spent almost all of our time trying to figure out why the spindle/work vibrated like mad and refused to yeild a decent finish.

Long story short, after begging, screaming and finally offering to skin my salesman and the Haas rep alive we got a solution. It seems that the machine is NOT supportd properly in the middle of the casting. This leads to the cutting pressure deflecting the bedway down then it springs back up. multiply this and we got severe chatter.

The final remidy was to install additional supports under the middle of the bed casting to support the span of the machine. this does allow us to now machine longer shafting with minimal problems.

The problem is not 100% gone but considering we could only machine pieces in the chuck for the 8 months it took for the solution it is better than nothing.

The other issue with the lathe is the lack of a steady rest. Rumor has it there is one in the works but my HASS factory outlet sales guy will not return my calls so i have not been able to confimr availability.

Sorry for the long first post, but this is the condensed version. At the end of the day I dont feel the machine is "bad", we are using it successfully. I feel the problem lies with a company that is experiencing phenominal growth and is not able to fully "beta" a machine befor it goes public.

I must add that i also purchased a HAAS TM-3 at the same time.I bought the HRT 210 as well. Both these products have been flawless.

If your friend is serious about this purchase let him know about my problem and advise that the machine is supported, front and rear,in the middle. my call was for two supports but nobody was willing to pay for the extra two feet (approx $300.00).

Good luck,

Richard

[Geof]

...WRT the Hass TL3W, be careful!!.....It seems that the machine is NOT supportd properly in the middle of the casting. This leads to the cutting pressure deflecting the bedway down then it springs back up. multiply this and we got severe chatter......

The final remidy was to install additional supports under the middle of the bed casting to support the span of the machine. this does allow us to now machine longer shafting with minimal problems......

How did you attach the extra supports and did you do anything to reinforce the floor under the machine?

Not wanting to spend a few hundred more dollars for extra supports seems a penny-wise-pound-foolish approach. My approach to damping the vibration would be to pour a concrete slab almost up to the base of the machine and then cast high durometer polyurethane in the gap. What is needed is vibration damping rather than mechanical support.


I guess some young engineers at Haas now know why long, large size manual lathes were enormously heavy and had rows of feet like centipedes. And also needed their own concrete mounting pad.

[westec]

Geof, these are good points. I am not sure yet if the machine will stay in its current location.

We used commercially available machine feet, the kind with opposing tapered faces that will lift and support.

Hass originally sent some milled Aluminum feet to sit under the machine and then we were supposed to level around these center feet.

This is not an isolated incident from what i understand. If you look at the TL-4 it has 4 feet on the front and back?? as opposed to the TL-3 that has two.

Heck even my 21" swing manual machines have at least 4 sets of feet on the machine.

They also came with steady rests.(yes this is a sore point) I don't have a problem buying the steady as an option but it is not available(yet?) and this will limit the usefulness of the machine as i need to turn shafting more so than facing/chucking operations.

Regards,

Richard