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Older Haas VMC’s (Specifically 1995 VF3)

mmcgrew10l

Plastic
Joined
Apr 17, 2013
Location
Rollag MN
A mid 90’s Haas VF3, 1995 to be exact has caught my eye. Seems to be in pretty good shape and very quiet spindle/thrust bearing wise throughout the travels. I know Haas has really dropped the service on the 07 and older machines as far as control/processor repair, but after a phone call to the local HFO they did reassure they still can get or fix most other parts of these machines (processor aside $$$)

I don’t currently have a 40x20 machine and could definitely utilize a longer travel machine. I know one major draw back is having brush drives vs brushless (slower rapids/more maintenance) and also the lack of the newer Vector drive. Are these things worth anything anymore? Seems like the market really fell out on anything 07 and older and I’ve never had any experience with of this vintage Haas.

I currently run an 87 MC510V, a 91 MC600VF Matsuura and a Daewoo Puma turning center. I have previously worked at an all Haas shop so I do understand the ins and outs of a Haas, except our oldest machine at the time was an 06. One trend I have noticed is the 97+ machines do fetch a bit more of a premium, is there that big of a difference over two years? I do know one thing I do not miss.. waiting for that umbrella tool changer to do its business [emoji19]




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I have both a vf1 made in 93 and a vf3 made in 96. there is nothing wrong with the 95 vf3. honestly the control boards seem to last longer on the dc machines from my experience ,than the ac machines. my 93 is all original except for the power distribution board and IO board. even has the original battery still lol. the dc axis are slower. but have in some cases in low speed torque more than the ac drives prior to S wave software. take the motor brushes out and blow out the axis and tool change motors once a year. I use my vf1 weekly it's been a very dependable machine. my 96 has also been great. had to rebuild the gearbox last summer. also did a new processor on it in 2017. as well as a mocon in 2018. the only limiting factor of the older processor is memory size. other than that they are great machines!
 
I have both a vf1 made in 93 and a vf3 made in 96. there is nothing wrong with the 95 vf3. honestly the control boards seem to last longer on the dc machines from my experience ,than the ac machines. my 93 is all original except for the power distribution board and IO board. even has the original battery still lol. the dc axis are slower. but have in some cases in low speed torque more than the ac drives prior to S wave software. take the motor brushes out and blow out the axis and tool change motors once a year. I use my vf1 weekly it's been a very dependable machine. my 96 has also been great. had to rebuild the gearbox last summer. also did a new processor on it in 2017. as well as a mocon in 2018. the only limiting factor of the older processor is memory size. other than that they are great machines!



I know rapids dont make all the difference in the world but what are the rapids and max feed rates on one of these? I know the brushless machines are quite a bit quicker at 710 IPM. How bad was the bill for the processor upgrade, seems the prices from what I looked up are all over the place.

According to the options on that I was able to look up it has a 1000 BPS processor, is that standard for a Haas of this vintage or was that optional?

Anyone have a fair market value on what these things are worth in todays used machine market?
 
the Rapids on the brush machines are around 400 ipm. maximum feed will very on what you are trying to do. for example you don't want to program a 1 inch bore at a feed rate of 100 ipm. but if you had a part that was 20 inches long and were doing the outside, you could get away with 120 ipm . I generally program my vf1 on the conservative side , and dont have any tolerance issues. if you see a egg shaped bores or bosses. you are feeding it to fast. as for the upgrade my 96 is a brushless machine. so its apples and oranges. I had the wear with all to purchase a few new brushless processors about 2015 that had the memory upgrade from 1 meg to 16 meg. I also did the installation and work myself. market value depends on options, and condition of the machine.
 








 
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