Tool Carousel Disk

I stated a job on Tuesday cutting some stainless parts with carbide end mills and noticed the tool holders were not being set in the carousel properly, they were being held by the top portion of the flange not the v-groove. Not wanting to drop my cutters out of the counsel and break them I took the carousel out rotated the holding clamps from first several tool pockets for the last several and reinstalled the carousel, same problem. I was about to investigate how to set tool change height setting and then decided to see if it did the same thing on the opposite side of the carousel, the good and the bad came to light. The carousel plate was bent. I made a fixture held in a indexing head mounted on our Bridgeport series 2 using the quill with an aluminum mandrel to flex it back in place checking it with the DRO and height gage. After several hours of frustration I took it off the Bridgeport and set it on the layout table, it was strait but all I had accomplished was to reveal where the plate had originally stress fractured, 6" crack though two of the mounting holes. I did some research and found http://clarklakemachine.com/products.htm they make a replacement carousel disk out of billet instead of cast(poor design idea by HAAS) is any one currently using one of these? Does any one know how to adjust tool change position height? Thanks.

I have the info at the shop, but the tool change height is a parameter in the Z axis section. The nominal on my machine is something like 145000 encoder counts. This is the distance from the home switch to machine home/tool change height.

On my machine the carousel is quite thick, like 5/8-3/4 thick, but it's an older style with the one piece horseshoe shaped holders. My machine had a problem with the pre-charge pressure being too high. The pre-charge would kick in and actually start to release the tool before it got to the carousel. This caused the tool to be gripped in random places outside the V. Once I set the pre-charge correctly, all tool pockets work properly. I also straightened all of the fingers and replaced the most worn.

The aftermarket carousel looks to be reasonably priced, as the Haas part is similarly priced.

Hello AF-METALS-TECH,

My name is Stephen DeKarske, I am the Sales Manager for Clarklake Machine, Inc. The tool carousel disk we manufacture is getting some great reviews.
http://clarklakemachine.com/news.htm#problem becomes profit

Having many Haas machining centers that use the carousel style tool change system, we know first hand how often the carousel disk can become distorted or damaged. We looked at all the issues we have had in the past and decided enough is enough.

Call (517)529-9454 for more information!
http://shop.ebay.com/clarklakemachine/m.html

The Tool Changer Carousel Disk manufactured by Clarklake Machine gives you substantial benefits over the standard carousel disk.

● Our Carousel Disk Is Machined From 6061-T6 Billet Aluminum.
The standard carousel disk is cast aluminum and over time and use the casting will develop small cracks that quickly spread. Once the carousel disk is weakened it is only a matter of time until a failure occurs.

● Our Carousel Disk Is Flat
Because our Carousel Disk was machined with the end user in mind we asked our own maintenance person what he would like to see in a carousel disk and he replied, "Can you make it flat?"
The cast carousel disk that we have installed seam to have a warping issue. Our billet carousel takes care of that problem.

● Our Carousel Disk Is Tough
Running long cycle times on a cat40 tool holder can sometimes cause taper lock and during a tool change the holder can become stuck in the spindle and rip free from the carousel disk (see photo below). We have found our carousel disk to retain that tool holder even after a rigorously long cycle.

● Our Carousel Disk Is Modular
We designed our Carousel Disk to consist of 20 individual forks and 1 main disk. If for some reason our Carousel Disk becomes damaged getting back up and running is fast and easy. With our modular carousel disk you can replace the section you need. If you need just one fork... you can order it!!!

● Our Carousel Disk Is Ready To Go
You still have to do the change over work however our 21 piece Carousel Disk will come to you assembled as one unit with roll pins. You just need to re-attach the hardware, install the disk, and your ready to go.