Haas TL-1 tool turret modifications

About a year ago I upgraded from the old style gear motor tool turret to the new servo driven turret. I have been fairly happy with it as far as speed goes but did not like the way the servo cover could interfere with the tail stock. I also have always wanted to add coolant through the turret so each tool had its own coolant nozzle that could be aimed to the proper point, similar to my Miyano and Daewoo turning centers.
Here are my solutions.
I started by removing the servo cover and sawing a 1.1” X 1.7” section out of it. I then removed the ends, inverted the section and welded it back in. I removed the turret from the lathe. The air solenoid needs to be moved from the tail stock side of the turret to the operator side. I milled a pocket on the operator side similar to the one on the tail stock side, drilled and tapped two 10-32 holes and mounted the air solenoid. I switched the air lines under the turret so they could route to the correct positions. I moved the wire harness mount over to the wire loom screw and tilted the harness mount it at an angle. Here are some pictures,








When the turret was off I removed the tool block and drilled .187" holes in each corner at a 24.5 degree angle towards the center. I then drilled for a 1/8" NPT down from the top until it met the bottom hole. I tapped the 1/8 NPT hole and mounted some Loc Line adapters. I mounted the whole turret in the mill, located the position of the coolant hole and removed the tool block. I removed the tool block milled the turret top flat at this location and drilled into the turret base for a 1/2" X 20 TPI tap. I also milled the side of the turret base flat at the same time. I then drilled in the side to meet the top hole and tapped for a 1/8" NPT. Here are some pictures,





In the last picture you can see how I sealed the base to the turret. I made a brass threaded post that would accept an automotive valve stem seal. These seals work great and I have tons of them lying around. I just removed the metal spring around the seal and that allowed it to compress more. Here is a picture of the post,



Here is the almost finished product,





I routed the coolant line through the X axis cross slide with the other lines for the turret. I put a T at the coolant pump so I can still use the original coolant line if needed.

Mark Hockett
Island Tech Enterprises

I suddenly am having de-ja-vu!

Actually, it looks good on both forum's!

That is awesome! How long do those seals last with all the position changes? Interesting mod; very cool.

FugginZukin said:

That is awesome! How long do those seals last with all the position changes? Interesting mod; very cool.

Click to expand...

I have been using it quite a bit lately and the seal is holding up great. The turret lifts up off the seal during a tool change before it rotates to the next tool.

Mark Hockett

Mark Hockett said:

I have been using it quite a bit lately and the seal is holding up great. The turret lifts up off the seal during a tool change before it rotates to the next tool.

Mark Hockett

Click to expand...

Mind if I copy this? If so, what engine are the valve seals for? Did you make the brass post on your TL-1? Would you mind sharing the file? If not, would you mind selling one to me? I have a TL-2 coming in next week and would like to do this to the turret. Your help would save me a lot of time.

Thanks,

Chad

Chad,
The seals are from a 3.0 L V6 Toyota truck motor. I have a bunch of them so if you PM me your address I will send you one. I have some drawings in Mastercam but it wouldn't be hard to get you the dimensions you need in a different format. The best thing would be to call me and I can talk you through the steps. You will need a way to drill the coolant holes at a 28.65 degree angle; I used a Bridgeport type mill with the head angled and a rotary table to index to the proper position.
It's not a hard modification just time consuming because of all the manual machine work. I could also do the work but you would need to call about the cost.

Mark Hockett
Island Tech Enterprises
Cell 360-914-6026
Shop 360-579-4626

I finally finished modifying the TL-1 turret. The fitting on the side of the base was really bugging me and it came very close to the chuck jaws when using soft jaws. I had the turret off while machining some large diameter parts with the Aloris post so I thought it was time to finish the turret. I routed the coolant line under the base of the turret,



And plugged the old inlet port,



It was also hard to read the turret position numbers with the coolant nozzles in the way so I added new numbers away from the nozzles,



The coolant line is now routed with the air and electrical lines so it is not visible from the operator side of the lathe.


Mark Hockett

Now that's cool!

Mark,

I like what you did with the turret. Very clever.

I noticed on another thread, that you run a pneumatic 5c with some kind of bar pusher.
Can you give more details on the bar pusher?

Thanks
Mike