Discounts on Haas machines

[PBMW]

Really depends on what you are doing with the machine. If you cut aluminum all day. Every day. plus, minus .01, Dandy. Get into cutting difficult to machine materials, 316, Inconel, Nitronic 60, Hastaloy, and you get into problems. Those require more grunt. I know all about the faster lighter cut thing, I do it all the time onmy Haas.
I got a couple hundred 2 1/2 dia parts. 4140 at about 46 or so on the C scale. turn em to 2 1/4 and slip an inch and a quarter spade through it. My little SL10 was huffin and puffin. I didn't think I was that aggressive. I think I programmed it at about 1500 rpm and .01 per rev. Didn't much like it. But it cuts like crazy in alum...
So it really depends on what your bread and butter is.

[Geof]

Originally Posted by PBMW Really depends on what you are doing with the machine. If you cut aluminum all day. Every day. plus, minus .01, Dandy.

Is plus minus .01 a typo or do you work in metric?

[HAILINHAAS]

Originally Posted by jmcglynn OK, I did

Nice. Now, if you don't mind, keep us in this forum up to date on your new purchase. Enjoy .. when it arrives

[little bubba]

For Donkey, or anybody else who is interested

http://www.hardingequotes.com/


Since you guys are going back and forth about weather a Haas is a good value just because they give you upfront pricing.

Who cares, its only a phone call away, pick up the phone make a call, get a fax. If there is a problem getting a price, screw 'em.


As for the American machine, didn't a certain Gene HAAS get his passport revoked because they where afraid he was going to run to his extensive business contacts in CHINA? What are those contacts, probably the people making all the parts going into the AMERICAN machine.

Personally I would never buy a HAAS, I understand their value, I understand their place, but the person comparing a Mori to a HAAS, two totally different animals. The Mori is going to be way more than a HAAS, the Mori is still going to be making parts in 20 years, Why? it was built for a different purpose and a different audience.

Another reason I would never buy a Haas, the salesman doesn't bring beer, hes a nice guy, good conversation, but no beer, I may buy a Matsuura(sp?) from him someday, but not a Haas.

Our local Mazak place (200 miles away) they bring beer and lots of it, they also are the only "locals". The Haas comes out of Denver even though the salesman is in ABQ. The Mazak dealer also carries, Sharp, Clausing, Hyd-Mech(saws), Kent and a few others.

In this tiny little town, there are a couple of Haas's, one place loved it so much they bought a second one to help make up for all the down time(thats a sound business decision). Others have come to us(where I used to work) "can you do this on your 10yr old Mazak, our 2 year old Haas can't do it". I think a lot of that may have been tooling, setup/fixturing and technique(smarts), since I ran some of it on a beat up old Fadal.

If you guys that are so pro Haas want to see something cool, Mazak does an open house/private trade show every December in Kentucky. They subsidize it, I went 3 years ago, $125, this year was $350, but that was plane fair, hotel room, food, drink($$$$$$$$) transportation, the only thing I paid for was smokes. They wine you, they dine you, good food, free booze, our salesmen paid for bar time 'til close every night.

You will see some of the coolest stuff you have ever seen, you get complete free reign of their factory, you can talk to anybody you want, you can see how they test the machines, talk to the guys testing them. Its scary, its Mazaks making Mazaks,(a few cinci grinders), they are reproducing themselves. In their tech center, there are tooling vendors and the best of their best machines, almost all cutting, mostly steels, some stainless.

Even if you hate Mazak and love Haas, its worth it. You see some neat stuff, and come back refreshed and excited about machining, full of ideas. You also get to meet a lot of people from your area, (that is probably the best part). Its not stuff you will see in a local shop, and its fun.

Anyways, love your Haas's, if its what you need, then its perfect, there are a lot better values out there though. I think Sharp on their 2412 is a good value, Hurco is OK, Fryer has revamped their quality and is a good machine, Bridgeport/Hardinge. Kent makes two small enclosed VMCs that are a good value. There are a ton more. There is a ton more out there, cheaper and better.

Guys that are looking to spend 20k on a single tool unenclosed mill, look at Wells-Index, its a knee mill, but it is one rigid beefy bastard, 100% american made, even the castings, best people in the world to deal with. I've got one, 8 feet from me right now, running strong and very accurate, 1978, 30 years old, how many mini mills are going to be running in 2038?

I know service is important, and when I buy a new machine, I'll worry about it, but all I every heard about Haas was the service, the service is great, when it breaks they are here, "hows the Mazak service?", don't know, never needed it(90s iron, the good stuff).


Sorry about the long rant, I'm not knocking Haas too much, I think they advertise and get a lot of people to pay too much for what they need, if those people did their homework they could find a better machine for less money, though not advertised as much. Same with tooling, the big names that advertise more command higher prices, Hanita comes to mind, I can buy an endmill 30% off of the discounted Hanita price that will eat it alive. I don't care how much they advertise, I want performance and value, not name recognition.

[PBMW]

No Geof, I don't work in metric. Not a typo. I know eight or ten Haas shops in Seattle. They run them hard and can do plus minus ten thou. That may be an operator issue. It may be a programming and quoting issue. But I've seen some of their work. (I farm stuff out to them) My little Haas mill dosn't get pushed that hard. I use it for a different sort of part. Smaller, steel and stainless, closer tolerances. But I'm not hogging with it. I know a guy with a late 90's VF3. Has trouble holding ten thou.
I dunno....Just what I see.
I like linear guides for interpolating holes. They ain't so good for hogging stainless.