Thread: Hass VTC48 Verticle Turning Center

Looking through my year 2002 issues of "Manufacturing Engineer" I see adds for the Hass VTC 48, which was a Verticle Turning Center that had a 48" dia swing.

It looks like a nice machine. I read that it was built on the frame casting of a VF-5.

Does anyone know much about them, and what they cost back then, etc..

Are/were they decent machines?

I have yet to see a single example of one of these on the used market.

When all of those discovery motorcycle shows were on west coast choppers had one I remember. They were making wheels on it.

That's the only one I've ever seen.

I did not know Haas made such a beast. I'm sure it was short lived, probably too light duty like most of their machine tools.

That single machine is all there is? Wow, making that one machine must have been really expensive.

Do you suppose they made that one as a prototype for the high profile user (West Coast choppers) just to see what interest other customers would have in purchasing one later on?

Thats probably a very inexpensive marketing plan, if you compare it to other marketing plans, the only problem is that it did not work.

There might be a really facinating story behind that one machine.

I'm currently training of one of these machines. Haas VTC. From what I understand Haas only made 4 or 5 of these machines. Jesse James has one or two of them. Where I work has one. I don't know where the other couple are at. You can use live tooling and turning tools. It has a C axis feature which makes it possible to maintain a wall thickness, which is helpful if you're doing repair work.
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I saw the posts and wanted to reply because there are so few of these machines and i'm glad for the opportunity to be able to be training on one.

Pics or it didn't happen