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Haimer Probe Failure PSA

G00 Proto

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Joined
Feb 18, 2013
Location
Dirkdirkistan, ID
I had an interesting failure with my Hiamer 3D Probe the other day. Apparently it got gummed up inside. The mode of failure was interesting. Rather than a visual malfunction, the dial simply did not move correctly when the probe hit the workpiece from any direction; rather there was a substantial delay before it creeped in the right direction. This could cause some very interesting issues depending on how you use your probe... the only thing I noticed was the day before it started to get a little sluggish. Then the next day it almost didn't respond at all. I darn near set my z height a couple hundred thou low on a mold base, which would have gotten expensive fast. I took it apart and douched it with WD40 and ran the probe back and forth a couple of hundred times, and it seemed to return to it's happy self, but I am going to be a little more circumspect in the future about how it is reading.
 
I was getting some weird readings from mine, the adjustment screws had loosened up from my power draw bar(pneumatic on a knee mill)


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Using WD 40 will eventually gum up the works. Try putting some WD 40 in an open container and leave it a few days and you will see what I mean. A little light oil with some solvent in it would be much better in my opinion.
 
Using WD 40 will eventually gum up the works. Try putting some WD 40 in an open container and leave it a few days and you will see what I mean. A little light oil with some solvent in it would be much better in my opinion.

You aren't kidding about that... unfortunately, I was on an extremely tight time frame to get some parts out and breaking out an old school edge finder didn't sound fun. It works for now :)

Besides, that's a "Future Homer Problem"

YouTube
 
I have read about occasional leaks on Haimer and them failing to warranty coolant proof ones. I went with a Tschorn and it's been in my Brother tool changer spinin' around like a maniac. So far no problems or leaks, but it's only been a few months.
 
I have read about occasional leaks on Haimer and them failing to warranty coolant proof ones. I went with a Tschorn and it's been in my Brother tool changer spinin' around like a maniac. So far no problems or leaks, but it's only been a few months.

Please tell me more (or of anyone else has feedback). Is it user friendly, do the probes break if you look at them funny, do you need to do two revolutions to set an X or Y zero (not that I've ever fucked that up)? Did you buy the $349 version or the higher dollar one?
 
Please tell me more (or of anyone else has feedback). Is it user friendly, do the probes break if you look at them funny, do you need to do two revolutions to set an X or Y zero (not that I've ever fucked that up)? Did you buy the $349 version or the higher dollar one?

Not the guy you were replying to but...

I got the Tschorn for my mill after looking at what's out there. It is very user friendly and accurate IMO... it's pretty much like a manual version of a Renishaw probe - similar to the Haimer in operation. It has a large dial like a normal indicator, plus a small red/green gauge within the main display. You just touch the ball probe tip against your part and when the needle is on the white line between the red and green, you are right over the spindle centerline. Same thing for X/Y and Z. The larger dial reads out in traditional 5 tenths (well, technically 3.9 tenths since it's metric and each gradient is 0.01mm).

It has a rubber boot on the bottom to keep coolant and debris out, plus it has a breakaway connection between the mechanism and the probe tip, so if you do fat-finger a number, the tip should snap before you damage the gauge.

Not sure about the two revolutions to set X/Y zero. When touching off a square part, you move your X until the gauge reads zero and you're on centerline... set your X. Do the same for Y and Z. When touching a bore, I'd eyeball the center, then go left and right (well, +X and -X) to get my edges... go to the halfway point and that's zero. If I wanted to be super accurate, I could then pick up my Y+ and Y- from my calculated center point, but I found it was never more than a couple tenths (at most) different than my original X.

I went with the Tschorn because I read good things about service and support - people saying the designer/manufacturer told them to send in a crashed gauge and they fixed it free, whereas Haimer was hard to get a hold of and charged $$ to fix crashed gauges to the point that it was cheaper just to buy a new one. Also the Tschorn is slimmer and doesn't cause issues in your toolchanger if mounted next to a big facemill or something.

On a side note - I got a new CNC machine last month with a Renishaw OMP probing system, so I was thinking I should sell my Tschorn probes. If you're interested, let me know. I have two of them... they are the Slim Plus model which has the full dial gauge and is sealed against coolant/water. They are in pretty much in brand new condition in their original boxes. I run mostly production jobs so I rarely change my G54/G59 offsets. I think both were used maybe 2-3 times, if that.
 
Not the guy you were replying to but...
On a side note - I got a new CNC machine last month with a Renishaw OMP probing system, so I was thinking I should sell my Tschorn probes. If you're interested, let me know. I have two of them... they are the Slim Plus model which has the full dial gauge and is sealed against coolant/water. They are in pretty much in brand new condition in their original boxes. I run mostly production jobs so I rarely change my G54/G59 offsets. I think both were used maybe 2-3 times, if that.

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