2006 Sl20

I bought a 2006 SL20 and it should be arriving in about a week. The machine has only 250 spindle hrs on it and it is in showroom condition. Can I get everyone's 2 cents on the machine, the good and the bad? I guess I'd like to know things to watch for and take note of since this is my first Haas lathe.

Ours is a coupla years older than yours. I have
to chase tenths on tight jobs more than I would
like, .0005 total tolerance type stuff for example.
Repeatability gets better after it runs for a coupla
hours.

Dial in your drill, reamer, and tap holders and see
if they agree with the offset to center line values
in the offset page, ours does'nt because of a crash.
Easy to get around though.

Ours has had the crap run out of it and has never
had a problem that required a service call.

I think you will like the control.

Ford

I bought an SL10 with 274 hours on it. By far the worst machine I have ever owned.
Mine was a lemon and I realize that. Thing is though...Haas refused to take care of it. Won't repeat worth beans. Tool setting probe won't repeat within .03. Gets recalibrated about every couple of weeks. Oh...It ain't got no power either. But my snivels about this particular machine are well documented here.

PBMW story is, well a horror story.

I have a 2006 SL-20, also a newer SL-10. Both bought new.

It's a Haas so power is short on both, but it is something I make up for in speed (AKA- extra cuts )

Holding better then .0004 is not a Haas strenght either, you will chase those tight tolerance jobs.


I had two quirks with machine, first was a software issue. In Dry Run /Single Block mode, if you rapid index the turret the machine would alarm out. After the turret was pulled, motors checked and every other thing the service tech could think of he called the factory. They came up with a great fix...don't rapid index in Single Block / Dry Runs. Worked perfect.

Second issue was a bad limit switch screwing up the home position.

Other then that it runs well with little issue...

oh, almost forgot three things...coolant pump took a dump.



All in all the machines do what I need them to do...make money (good parts) for me everyday. Unlike PBMW, Haas service around here is excellent. That is another huge factor in my purchase of there machines. If I had service like he did I would not have another of their machines here.

we have one it is about 2 years old and it doesnt have too many hours on it. So id say we have about the same machine.

we got the bar feeder and live tooling with a power tail stock.

the killer for us is that once I have the 20C collet nose on and the long drills for a long part I run into interference with my tail stock....

and who wants to try and drill and THEN feed the stock....the stock feed is set on the bar feeder..

not too reliable

I guess we could try to drive it into a stop, but closing the collet pulls the stock back to much.....

I dont run it too much lately....so i havent really tried to get around these little issues.

other wise not too much trouble.

the live tooling locks up all over the place though


so as I never know if the centerline of my live tooling holder collets align with the center of the spindle

I drilled a bunch of parts 180 degrees apart and the holes were off by .06"!!!!! tir


good luck

bob

I bet your other tools are locking up out of CL too.


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

Now I look out acrost the field and I see that mule, Old Rivers, and ... ... Me.
Ox

I've got an '03 with live tooling. Very little problems with it. One bad board that ran hydraulic pump, one bad limit switch. Mine consistently holds .0001-.0002 tolerance once warm. I do small part/protoype work so I never beat on it. A couple of thousand hours of feed time.

Yes, live tooling will definately cut your work envelope down. Sometimes takes some thought how to make 18" parts.

The live tools drill on center once you adjust in the live heads. You have to indicate them in. I often have parts that must be .001 of CL. It takes an hour to get there, but my customer pays for that.

They are not a boxway, 40 hp machine, and are not priced like one.

Kris P said:

Mine consistently holds .0001-.0002 tolerance once warm.

Click to expand...

Really... the two I have will repeat consistently within .0001 - .0002 but trying to hold a tolerance of within .0003 is sort of a crap shoot, I never know when the thermal comp will do it's little thing and offset by .0001 and since you can't comp less then .0001 your at the limit before you start. I will confidently run within .0005, .0004 I have to check parts pretty often and .0003 I have to keep an operator there, closer then that I'll run or put in the Emco Maier.

SIM said:

Really... the two I have will repeat consistently within .0001 - .0002 but trying to hold a tolerance of within .0003 is sort of a crap shoot, I never know when the thermal comp will do it's little thing and offset by .0001 and since you can't comp less then .0001 your at the limit before you start. I will confidently run within .0005, .0004 I have to check parts pretty often and .0003 I have to keep an operator there, closer then that I'll run or put in the Emco Maier.

Click to expand...

My lot size is typically 40 parts max, so keeping an eye on .0001 tolerances isn't really a problem. Most of my stuff is all tough stainless so I have to 100% inspect as if a bad part goes over I get dinged on my rating with my customer. HAAS is a good machine for the money, they do 90% of the work out there.

Indicating Live Tooling

Kris P, what brand holders do you have?
We have another SL-20 that we got last
December that has live tooling. I started
a thread on it a coupla months ago. I can't
remember what brand the axial holders are
at the moment but the radial holders are
Eppingers. They have to be indicated in.

These holders have a sort of bracket on
them with setscrews that line up with a
10 mm hole in the turret. There were no
intructions included with these holders so
I made some pins that would slip fit into
the holes in the turret. I used these to line
up the holders. Is there a part that is
available that fits into the bracket on the
holder, or do I have make one? I tried to
find more info elsewhere but drew a blank.

Thanks, Ford

Well thanks for the replies. I still haven't got delivery of the lathe. The 4th of July weekend pushed it out another week. It should be in on the 16th. I'll let you know how it goes.

Kris P said:

My lot size is typically 40 parts max, so keeping an eye on .0001 tolerances isn't really a problem. Most of my stuff is all tough stainless so I have to 100% inspect as if a bad part goes over I get dinged on my rating with my customer. HAAS is a good machine for the money, they do 90% of the work out there.

Click to expand...

Do you program in metric so you can a higher resolution? Shut off the thermal comp? Holding +/-.0001, I find to be well as I said before a crap shoot. I find that diameters vary slightly, thermal comp will fluctuate size by +/-.0001 if machine is not run continously at the same pace and you can only calibrate by .0001...your entire tolerance, unless your running metric with more resolution. I have run jobs like that before, but will only do so with the expectation I will be running several pieces which will not be in spec and need to price for the extra materail and time.

I am not too sure about them running 90% of the work out there, but they do quite abit of it. I agree they are a good bang for the buck and meet 95% of my needs, which is why I have several.

Thanks