vf4 wont release tool holder

[panaceabea]

I cannot get my vf4 to release the tool holder. For the few months I have had the mill it seems to almost eject the tool from the spindle with a blast of air but the past few days it hasnt and i see the tool arm bend slightly as the head raises as if its having a hard time pulling the tool holder out of the spindle.

My air is dry and I have a total of 3 filters and 3 water seperators in line to the machine, the last one right at the inlet on the machine. I am using haas pull studs purchased with the machineThe machine is aprox 4 months old and has been working wonderfully until this.

Today I cannot get the tool holder out of the spindle, The machine faulted, checked breaker cb4 and its fine, When I push the manual eject button I hear the air cyl actuate and I can hear the collet release the pull stud and also feel a slight mechanical clunk , but the tool holder will not budge.

Any help greatly appreciated , alot of work to do this weekend and need to get this machine back online

[Geof]

There are various ways to attack it.

My first approach is to bash the flange on the tool holder with a hard plastic hammer although a lead hammer would be okay. Just bang from different directions and then try a manual tool change.

If that doesn't work I go to a piece of aluminum bar as a drift and a heavy hammer and bash away. The idea of using something soft is to avoid damaging the holder.

If that doesn't work you curse a bit then get someone with a pry bar or very large screwdriver......But first put a lot of something soft on the table and lower the spindle so the holder does not have far to drop.

Have your helper wedge the prybar in to be pulling the tool holder out while you press the release button.

If none of these work you really need to curse a lot; I have run out of ideas.

To reduce the chance of it happening again make sure both the spindle and holder tapers are spotlessly clean. Get off all the residue that builds up from oil and coolant. Some people use Scotchbrite but I prefer cloth and use both methanol and varsol separately to dissolve the different types of residue.

Then lubricate them with very light machine oil.

Oftem the reason the holders stick is a combination of the residue that builds up, running the tool very hard to warm up the spindle and then leaving that tool in the spindle as it cools down.

[panaceabea]

whew , got it . Solenoid is acting up . HFO stepped me thru getting it patched up to get thru the weekend. You guys at HAAS are tops. Thanks

Thanks Geof, I tried 1 , combined with half a day of cursing . Seems to just be an intermitent solenoid.

[patnok]

Very important to keep clean & oiled. When you get that holder hot it wants to stick & never leave a tool in the spindle over night.

[panaceabea]

Still having problems , solenoid is only opening about 8 out of 10 tool changes . Its flexing the tool arm up aprox 1/2" when the solenoid doesnt open , something to do with precharging the trp, so i wont be operating the mill until the solenoid can be changed.

Hopefully they will just overnight me a replacement and I can swap it out myself, looks like all of a 10 minute job and I can be back up and running on Teusday . Since the HFO is 5+ hours away maybe this will make sense to somebody besides me.

[dcoupar]

You might want to check the relay that actuates the solenoid. I've had them where they stick due to arcing. You can open them up and clean the contacts with a diamond nail file in an emergency.

[Geof]

Do you have clean dry air on the machine. Water, oil or dirt in the air can make the solenoid stick. A crude fix is to squirt oil, WD40 or methanol into the air inlet on the solenoid to soften any crud that has built up. I had a sticky solenoid valve problem many years ago on my SuperMini and fixed it this way.

[patnok]

you can buy that solenoid from granger or mcmaster i think WAY cheaper than HFO Is off shelf air valve. I agree with all the clean is good comments. A clean machine is a happy machine:-)

[panaceabea]

machine is 4 months old so I assume its still under warranty,If somehow this wont be covered then yes I would rather just spend the $25-40 at grainger. I dont mind changing the solenoid myself if the HFO will just send one over.

I have a total of 3 filters and three water seperators in line to the machine, the last one I directly mounted on the machine. I drain every day and have never gotten more than one or two drops at the machine.
I did put a couple of drops of air tool oil in the solenoid Friday night and it worked 8 out of 10 times yesterday. Today it wont operate at all. I will have to pull the front cover and free it up again or loose a couple of days .

I called the local Hfo , 250 miles away, on Friday and urged them to send out a solenoid overnight , They were unable to come out on Sat as they didnt want to pay overtime for warranty work on Saturday , Tech called and was very nice . Not to big a deal in the big picture , just a pain in the butt when the service center is so far away

[panaceabea]

new solenoid installed today , Machine has never "ejected" the tool holder like it does now . Very pleased. Thanks guys