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I bought a Haas Mini Mill basket case

fusion_crank

Plastic
Joined
Dec 16, 2011
Location
Kernersville
Hi everyone. I just bought a 2005 Mini Mill. It has had the control stripped from it. The mechanical condition looks good.

My intended use is as a hobby mill making gun and airgun one-off parts, so speed is not a concern. It has the axis and spindle motors intact, but no electrical controls for them. I had planned to do a very simple Centroid Acorn conversion and use stepper motors on the axis, and a 3 hp induction motor on the spindle. Then sell off the stock motors. But, if there are non-Haas drives that can drive them, I might just reuse the stock motors.
So, does anyone know if the spindle can be driven using a common VFD?
Also, are there any commonly available servo drives that could work with my stock axis motors and use step and direction signals from the Acorn control?
Thanks!
Mike

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It would probably help to know the models of the servos on there, the spindle motor too. I don’t know any of the specs for an 05. I’m guessing they are Yaskawa ac servos? You can probably find something to run them.

I’m doing something similar to an old VF1 but it was missing servos so I had to get new ones from DMM. I’m thinking I’ll use the Oak from centroid to run it.
 
Cnc Z o ne will be a better place for this topics , lots of folks there with Acorn experience.
Not many here will have knowledge (and some will rudely tell you) of a $200 PC based control.
Sounds like a fun project
You could put a whole Fadal control on there for under $5k (probably a lot cheaper if you don’t need new drives) and have an industrial control with lots of parts options and support


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Looks like sigma 1 servos. I think it would be a shame to get rid of those and put steppers on.

Agree with the post above. Centroid has a forum that’s monitored by their tech people so you could get some good feedback there too.
 
FrankenHaas

Hi everyone. I just bought a 2005 Mini Mill. It has had the control stripped from it. The mechanical condition looks good.

My intended use is as a hobby mill making gun and airgun one-off parts, so speed is not a concern. It has the axis and spindle motors intact, but no electrical controls for them. I had planned to do a very simple Centroid Acorn conversion and use stepper motors on the axis, and a 3 hp induction motor on the spindle. Then sell off the stock motors. But, if there are non-Haas drives that can drive them, I might just reuse the stock motors.
So, does anyone know if the spindle can be driven using a common VFD?
Also, are there any commonly available servo drives that could work with my stock axis motors and use step and direction signals from the Acorn control?
Thanks!
Mike

Post some pictures of inside the cabinet. Would help us to see what your dealing with.
If you got it cheap enough then may be able to justify putting it back together as a Haas.
Ebay currently has a control panel from an 04 with color lcd, disk drive and remote jog handle for $750
Search "Haas control panel CNC Mill VF1 VF2 VF3 VF4 TM1 TM2"
 
This is the state of the control panel. The operator control panel is just a gutted. The machine itself looks pretty good. I had been sold at a government auction, and I don't think the machine had seen much use. The membrane keypad looks like new. The ATC was also gutted. It looks like they took off all the parts that might fail for use on another machine before the auction.
My only goal is for a hobby machine use. I was looking at Precision Matthews before this became available. I will have less in this Haas chassis than the PM cost. So it's like getting free ball screws, enclosure, and maybe axis motors if I can get them to work.
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Also, before they gutted the control, they left the head all the way at the top. Now, with no control, I can't just jog the head down to make it under my garage door because the Z motor has a brake. My plan was to support it with a car jack, and then disconnect the Z axis motor, then lower the head with the jack.
My other thought was, if someone could tell me the voltage of the brake, I could apply that voltage to the cable to disengage the brake and then lower the head with the jack.
Any other thoughts on a safe way to lower the head?
Thanks!
Mike

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This is the state of the control panel. The operator control panel is just a gutted. The machine itself looks pretty good. I had been sold at a government auction, and I don't think the machine had seen much use. The membrane keypad looks like new. The ATC was also gutted. It looks like they took off all the parts that might fail for use on another machine before the auction.
My only goal is for a hobby machine use. I was looking at Precision Matthews before this became available. I will have less in this Haas chassis than the PM cost. So it's like getting free ball screws, enclosure, and maybe axis motors if I can get them to work.


I see what you mean. Would be super expensive to go back haas on everything.
You already made money just because it has the spindle still intact.
Sell me that keypad real cheap and get that much closer to your dream!
 
Yikes, I hope you didn't spend much. Your way better off spending 5 grand on a working worn out unit. I watched 3 sell last week for less in two different states. Crap for a car payment I think you can have a new one delivered.
 
I don't think I paid too much. It was under $3000 delivered. I looked into the Yaskawa drives. The don't seem to work with step and direction signals, and that is what Mach and Acorn use. I will probably sell the Yaskawa servos and go with DMM servos or the steppers system I already have.

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the govt guts those intentionally to protect any chance of someone else trying to make whatever they were doing on that machine again. you've def got a project ahead of you I don't think I would have paid scrap price for that thing but then again its a haas if the project goes south you can always sell off for parts. good luck.
 
Hi everyone. I just bought a 2005 Mini Mill. It has had the control stripped from it. The mechanical condition looks good.

My intended use is as a hobby mill making gun and airgun one-off parts, so speed is not a concern. It has the axis and spindle motors intact, but no electrical controls for them. I had planned to do a very simple Centroid Acorn conversion and use stepper motors on the axis, and a 3 hp induction motor on the spindle. Then sell off the stock motors. But, if there are non-Haas drives that can drive them, I might just reuse the stock motors.
So, does anyone know if the spindle can be driven using a common VFD?
Also, are there any commonly available servo drives that could work with my stock axis motors and use step and direction signals from the Acorn control?
Thanks!
Mike


Not sure how the spindle lubrication was set-up on that machine, but if it had the air/oil atomizer setup and control then it needs to be duplicated to work with whatever system you decide on. Perhaps a separate arduino controller?
 
Thanks for the tip on the spindle lubrication. I will check when its delivered. I think it's a 6000 rpm greased spindle.

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It's very simple.
The greased spindle only needs clean dry air controlled by N/C solenoid.

For the oil/air it connects to a T fitting to waylube supply with a restrictor, then to the top of the spindle. There is a diagram and instructions of how to set in the manual.

Valve opens with spindle on command.I have always wanted to set it up with a seperate air/oil lubricator for more precise oil control. The lubrication is on a timer and oil tends to pool in the line if machine is powered on for long periods. No big deal, just a nuisance.

Share a picture of the back below the control cabinet and we can tell you what's needed.
 
FrankenHaas

Nope, can't cancel. It's mine. Just waiting for delivery.

It is true as a Haas machine it is certainly dead and with negative equity. Even if it was free.
But for your intended use, it is exactly opposite so don't get discouraged. This will be an awesome project for you. And it will be the best hobby machine out there. The opensource hobby class controllers affords you all of the latest technology that you can't even get on a lot of expensive machines. That built on a haas foundation is the bees knees and will put you light years above a tormach.

Since those axis motors were designed specifically for that set-up then I'd think it might benefit you to look a little harder on what drives you can find that will let you keep and run the motors. A lot of the servo drives I've seen that are mfg'd over the last 20 years have more than one running mode and input method. Example: I'm currently using step/dir signals on a 20yr old industrial router with Kollmorgen ac servo drives, linear guides and ball screws. The thing is a beast. People can say what they will about Mach3 (or other hobby type controllers), but as long as you nail down the safety circuit, homing sensors, limit switches and enable soft limits (and run on dedicated PC) then it is very reliable. Running it myself the last 5 years as a machining center.

I see your machine still has the tool changer. You can even utilize that too. Regardless of your opensource choice. But if you go with Mach3, look for a youtuber called CNC4RX7. He makes the screen & macros for rotary tool changers and sells them on his website for dirt cheap. He is also willing to customize for different scenarios.

Starting with the free version of Mach3 is the best way I've found to learn and get the machine going. Primarily so you can work out all the mechanical and safety circuit bugs. The whole mach3 setup can be cheap as dirt and the community is HUGE and extremely helpful. And stupid questions are welcomed. Switching to another motion controller later is cake once you've got all the inputs and outputs connected to a breakout board.

- Cheers
 
Thanks Tryhard.
I had a setback with it today. I rented a forklift and hired a rigger to set it in my garage. We got it off the truck just fine, but I wasn't able to lower the head. I think it was left out in the rain prior to the auction and there is rust on the rails or screw or both. I set it in the back yard and will start disassembling it after the holidays. I'll treat the rails and screw with PB blaster and Kroil to break up the rust. Hopefully that will free the head so I can lower it to get it inside. The downside is I'll have to rent another forklift.

I knew it was a risk and am still hopeful for a fun project.
Oh, I got the spindle loose. I'm wondering if I should break it down later to look for rust. Time will tell.

Mike

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