2000 Haas VF-2

[cat40]

Hey guys

My name is Tony I've been machining a few years manually.
I jsut purchased a really nice Haas VF-2. I just had the electrician hook it up on Friday. I turned it on and followed the manual for startup. Now I had 95 psi when I turned the machine on. Following the start up procedure in the manual, the spindle load meter was rocking back and fourth and the machine was making a thumping sound not hard just thump thump thump. Then I got a warning about the air preasure to low. Called the guy I bought it from and he thinks the compressor isn't providing enough air preasure to kick the spindle into low before it goes home. Does this seem to be viable? I just bought a very large compressor putting out 10.2 cfm at 150 psi. Is it really an air preasure issue or do I have another problem. The machined worked perfectly during the pre buy inspection.

thanks for all the help

Tony

[wms]

10.2 cm and 150psi should be plenty..

What you are seeing is the drive rocking the spindle/ gear box back and for while it shifts the gear box from High to Low / Low to High..Or is trying to in your case..

My bet it that the air shifter has gotten a bit sticky..as most shops don't run an air dryer..

So you could shoot a bunch of say WD 40 down the line and cycle the gear box between high and low a number of times..this can be done MDI with a M41 / M42 code..

Unfortunately it will not let you run any MDI Commands before it homes..so if you could ever get it to home you could cycle the gear box..

But if you where to try and start up enough times for the WD40 to ever get to the air shifter it still might help..

You might also rotating the spindle by hand before you try a start up..could be it is just in a spot where it needs a bit of help for the drive to rotate it to shift the gear box..

There are several parameters that control all this action..

Parm. 75 is the spindle speed gear changes take place..
Parm. 67 is the delay time before an alarm is generated if it fails to shift..

It might be possible to increase either or both of these to get it to home the first time..then cycle the Gear box to clear the shifter..then set them back to factory settings..

Caution: User beware..Proceed at your own risk..changing parameters can have adverse effects..the decision to do anything is yours and yours alone..

[wms]

I failed to mention.. You might also increase the air regulator say 10 or 15 lbs to get it to shift..then set it back after you cycle the box ..

[HelicopterJohn]

What size (i.e. diameter) air supply line are you running to the machine? And also what are your regulator on/off settings. If the low side setting is too low and your compressor hasn't cycled you may not have enough air pressure to actuate the air cylinder properly. Like Ward suggested if you increase the low side pressure setting that may help. A combination of a small diameter air line and a marginal low pressure setting may cause a lack of air volume to actuate the air cylinder correctly

I am not sure what air pressure the HAAS machine needs to actuate your air cylinder. Might check your HAAS installation book for that information.

Good Luck,

John

[cat40]

Thanks guys I really appreciate your help. I talked with HAAS today and the tech said pretty much what you guys are saying. He thought the air compressor volume is to low. He also suggested cheking the sylonoids for the shifter behind the gear box. Like you guys said he thought it could've gotten a little sticky do to moisture in the air lines. We had a small compressor hooked up to it in the beginning. We just purchased a larger unit 10.2 cfm @ 125 psi that should do it. The hose is 3/8 I believe, I'll have to check on that.

Tony