Completely new to Haas. Seeking info.

Starting a new job tomorrow and one of my responsibilities will be to pretty much self teach myself to set up and program a VF-3 mill. Programming will be done on the control. I am a lathe man so all this will be new to me. I'm wondering how well I can get by with the operating manuals. Also, if anyone could provide me a good website to do research, it would be much appreciated. Any info can help.

Haas has some really nice downloadable mill & lathe training manuals.

http://www.haascnc.com/custserv_training.asp#lathe

Don't you just put some material inside, press the green button, and when it stops there is a part there (the part you needed)?

Seriously, though, if you are familiar with mills (even manual ones), and familiar with at least the Haas Lathe control, you should be fine. Quickcode is simple to understand (again, it is really similar on the lathe to navigate so if you know that you will be ahead of the game).

Is there no one else there that knows anything about the machine? Seems a little odd that they would just turn someone loose on it without any training.

I asked if there was anyone else that had programming and set-up knowledge of the mill. The shop owner said "yes, theoretically"..I'm assuming it's all on my shoulders. I don't have experience on Haas lathe controls either. My main experience is with Mazatrol and they do have a Mazak 250 lathe. I can flex my muscles there, but 50% of the work is on the mill. But yes..it is strange.

Don't panic. This forum is a great resource. Download the mill .pdf's from Haas & get started reading them tonight. You already understand the concepts of CNC, so you need to acquire mill-specific knowledge. There are a lotta mill guys in here, to help you with tooling & fixturing questions.
I'd suggest the more generalized CNC Machining forum for those...and post your Haas-specific operation questions here. Will your employer let you access this website while you're at work?

You are probably familiar with edge finding, indicating, setting offsets, and setting tools from your previous experience, so it really shouldn't be to hard to transfer to the Haas mill.

One thing on the Haas controls vs most other controls - being all buttons, don't get pushing too quickly. Make sure you push deliberately. It is a lot easier to accidentally push the wrong button then to turn the wrong nob (as on other controls) from my experience.

So, take your time - It is always better to be a little slower than to have to make another fixture, or part because of an incorrect button push.

Also - when you finally get a program you want to run - DRY RUN IT!!! Haas dry run is the stupidest thing ever invented and even Haas rep's say it is useless. So, don't use the dry run button ever (IMO).
INSTEAD:
Write down all your fixture offsets (and tools if you want to be really detailed) and then raise your fixture up a positive offset larger than your biggest -Z- negative move (so the tools are WELL above the part at their lowest Z.

(IOW - if your part is 2" thick and you are drilling through to say around 2.25", raise your Z offset 4" that way you are at least 1" above that part.)

Then run your program in 5% rapid with your hand always on the stop button. Watch for any moves that seem odd, double check everything, then lower your -Z- fixture offset back to where it was (you wrote it down, remember) and run your program. Keep the machine in 5% the first couple of times you run EACH program.

If you are only running one part, and don't have the probes, then simply set all your tools on top of the part, and your g54 offset will stay at ZERO. Then, when you are proving your program above the part you would just put like 4.0" positive in your g54 offset, run everything above, then put it back to zero.

Good luck - sounds like you will be fine

Another thing you do at home is to go to http://www.i-logic.com and grab a copy of a program called InPlot.

This program will work for free for 30 days for you.

With this backplotter in hand you can see the tool in action.

This works with both Mills and Lathes.

I bought it a few years ago as the company I work for bought out a company in Chicago that all the programs were sabotaged.

After a few days going blind hand editing G-Code I went looking for a back plotter.

This small program was the best that I have found.

I have used it to help train young programmers to.

There is full help and screen shots on the site to help you set it up and get it working like you want.

It's great for G-Code editing too as the Feeds, Speeds and Motions can all be different colors to jump out at you.

Try it, You will like it.

Good Luck

Mohawk

Get hands on...
Take everythig off machine table, no tool in spindle so nothing can crash. Then move the machine around.
Write a short program, see how things work. Put a short tool holder in spindle with a pencil or something else soft that can simulate a tool, use it to touch off and proof your program.


Only other thing I would mention if possible get someone familar with machine to show you around for a little while. Maybe call your HFO and have them send someone over, or you go there. You can really loose alot of time looking, searching trying to figure out simple stuff. Having Haas charge you for and hour or two of training is better then you standing in front of a machine for hours at a clip wasting time. MAchine is real EZ once you get the basics.

I'll echo SIM. A couple hours from someone at Allendale Machinery would be worth a couple hundred bucks to get you off on the right foot.