VF-3 and VF-11 problems

Hi All,

We have a Haas VF-3 and a VF-11 here at USNA in the Engineering and Weapons shop. Both of them have less than 500 hours....The spindle went out in the -11 last week and the -3 died today, we think a gearbox problem.

Anybody else have similar problems?

Thanks,

Andy Pullen

Andy,
Could you be more specific. What alarm messages are in the alarm history?What are the symptoms?Will the spindle start in high range or low range or not at all?
Having (2) VF-3's and a VF-1, all with gearboxes,I've had a couple of incidents where the spindle would not start because of shifting problems with the gearbox.The fixes were not expensive if you can diagnose whats wrong.

Hi There ktguy,
The last time our VF3 spindle went out it had nothing to do withthe gearbox. the bearing on the spindle motor, on the actual motor where it meets the gearbox went out, so for a 20.00 part we had to spend 13000.00 to get a new motor and gearbox, Haas told us that we can not remove the motor cause it would void the warranty. But hey they were nice enough to give us a core charge for the damaged unit and it cost us 7000. plus them installing it. When ours went out it was because we had a part raise up and the spindle was at 5k and total lock up when it hit the part. So you need to know what happened in order to figure out what it might be.

Helmut jr

Helmut,

If your machine was under warranty.why did it cost you anything?
Were they saying-Because you crashed the machine,it wasn't a warranty repair or what ?
Sounds like your problem had nothing to do with the spindle cartridge.How much time was left on the machine warranty?IMHO , if you guys knew that a $20.00 motor bearing was the problem,and you paid $7000.00 to fix it,you guys are insane.Warranty or no warranty.

Who doo you know that warrents crack-ups?

Mori?

Not Hardinge 0 I know that!

GM?

Ford?

John Deere?


Now there ARE optional warranties that you can buy, but not a base warranty...


---------------

Think Snow Eh!
Ox

Ox,
I realize MTB's aren't going to warranty damage from a pile-up,but in a lot of smash-ups there is no obvious visible damage to the machine -torn up spindles,cutters buried into the table etc.etc.Yah, the operator just buried a face mill into the piece and stopped the spindle dead,now the machine is making a funny noise .But all the evidence disappears and the operator is playing dumb-"I don't know what happened,it just started making a funny noise."What's the repair tech going to say?He may have a pretty good idea but can't prove it.So the builder pays the warranty charge instead of getting into a pissing contest with the owner of the machine.

As far as service and warraties go, I can tell you it varies from one extreme to the other.
When I worked for Premier in FL, we were MAZK dealers and techs, but not MAZAK employees.
I had a few situations where I had a pretty good idea it was operator error and it crashed. The first thing I wanted to do was talk to the guy running it when it quit so I could get as many pertinent details as possible. I'd pull the guy to the side and tell him if he typred in a wrong number or whatever, it's ok, just tell me so I don't spend the next 3 days doing every diagnostic on the machine, chasing a wild goose.
Then I'll be pissed.
If it was a crash, I won't tell your boss, I won't tell the factory, I'll just get a new part and your covered under warranty, just don't make me chase my tail and waste my time.
And I kept my word.

As far as the OP goes, I haven't seen any VF3 problems unless the machine was just plain old and wore out.
Don't have any experience with VF11's, but we have a VF10 and it has a few issues. Just got a new spindle, but again, I think it's 10 years old and been rode hard.
If yours only has 500 hours and they both went down, I'd be looking out your electric service to start with, just to eliminate that.
Definitely need more info, though.

I do know that that the -11 has issues with the lube pump and the nitrogen tanks leak down. The machine surved the flood from hurricane Isabel back in 2003....Haas apparently repaired the machine back then. 3 feet of brackish briney water from the storm surge.....

The -3's spindle gets extremely hot in use.

We cut alot of aluminum on these machines. The -11 cuts foam for models as well....

I've been here 2 years and have never seen a crash on either machine....

As far as the alarm history, I don't know any more than what I posted above because I typically don't run them.

Thank you for the replies....

Andy Pullen

andy pullen said:

I do know that that the -11 has issues with the lube pump and the nitrogen tanks leak down. The machine surved the flood from hurricane Isabel back in 2003....Haas apparently repaired the machine back then. 3 feet of brackish briney water from the storm surge.....

The -3's spindle gets extremely hot in use.

We cut alot of aluminum on these machines. The -11 cuts foam for models as well....

I've been here 2 years and have never seen a crash on either machine....

As far as the alarm history, I don't know any more than what I posted above because I typically don't run them.

Thank you for the replies....

Andy Pullen

Click to expand...

All right, makes a little more sense now.
We just had the N2 cylinders replaced on VF10 and now I'm getting that lube alarm (I think 121) which is either a pressure switch or a kinked line.
When most of us hear a machine has less then 500 hours, we're not thinking that it's 10 years old and been thru a hurricane.
Same goes for the VF3. It's like a car, when they hit 10 years old or so, expect things to wear out, maybe sooner, lol.

Andy,

Not to sound like a jerk here, but you really do need to provide many more specifics to the problem. Regarding the VF-11 spindle, the lube pump can be a factor just as much as operator error given the information. As far as the VF-3 "dying"? Again, you need to give us something to go on here.

Really not looking to offend, just need more facts.

haastec said:

Andy,

Not to sound like a jerk here, but you really do need to provide many more specifics to the problem. Regarding the VF-11 spindle, the lube pump can be a factor just as much as operator error given the information. As far as the VF-3 "dying"? Again, you need to give us something to go on here.

Really not looking to offend, just need more facts.

Click to expand...

I mentioned above that I don't usually run either of these machines....I don't know much more than what I posted....

We called our local Haas guy and he was supposed to come out yesterday, but he never showed up.

Andy Pullen