Pre 2000 Haas machines compared to new

Hello,

My first post on this forum, so wanted to say Hi to everyone!
We are small company based in Europe. Currently trying to get into CNC world with our custom products. After some time spend with retrofitted milling machine with a LinuxCNC on the board we came to conclusion that we need something more complete and less unreliable.

For our first industrial grade machine we look at Hass machines, especially most popular models like VF0, VF1, VF2.

The choice that we have to make is to buy newer or some pre 00' model like this one below:




It popped out a week ago on our local craiglist site for about $6k.

Our bigger concern is reliability. Does the Haas still supports those machines? Are DC servos huge turn off comparing to more modern VMs?
Would we be able to send to it some thousands lines G-Codes generated in CAM programs? Currently we were doing that using USB drives or copying files straight from local network HDD. What model year should we be aware of if any? Are the older models more affordable in terms of maintenance and service than those from 2000-2010?

That won't be our target machine for sure, so we would rather treat is a way to learn and gain more cnc and overall machining experience before we buy something more pricey, serious and advanced.

Finally, do you guys think that buying older machine is way to go in this case? Or should we invest in some more modern (2003-2010?) or even brand new machine? For sure HSM, modern controll etc. would be a great thing to have but we belief taht for now we won't use its full potential and it would be more expensive to repair in case of collision or some user mistake.
Thanks in advance for your help on this matter,

Cheers!

Mike

IIRC, Haas no longer supports machines from prior to 2008; I wouldn't buy one. Also consider that they made drastic improvements to quality and rigidity over about the past decade. I've got a 2015 VF3-SS here, and prior to running it I considered Haas machines to be garage shop level. I've been very pleasantly surprised by its capabilities.

mhajicek said:

IIRC, Haas no longer supports machines from prior to 2008; I wouldn't buy one.

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'Splain yourself there Lucy!

SeymourDumore said:

'Splain yourself there Lucy!

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From what I've read elsewhere on this board, and if I'm remembering right, if you have a control board on a pre-2008 machine go bad Haas will not fix it. You can find a third party to fix it, try to find the board on eBay, or have Haas upgrade your control for around $15k.

I'd definitely get a vector drive and brushless, it is essentially compatible with the classic control and can be upgraded.

mhajicek said:

From what I've read elsewhere on this board, and if I'm remembering right, if you have a control board on a pre-2008 machine go bad Haas will not fix it. You can find a third party to fix it, try to find the board on eBay, or have Haas upgrade your control for around $15k.

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The key to your sentence is "a third party to fix it." Many companies to do that. Kind of like restoring my 1960 Falcon, no I can't go to Ford and buy new parts, but there are 20 other companies anxious to sell them to me.

Mike

As a start up 1 man shop that doesn’t do just machining as I do welding and fabrication,

I couldn’t afford a new machine and probably won’t for a long long time.

I bought a year 2000 haas vf0e from auction and it’s been great

Yeah it’s had issues and a vector drive went pop and I had some other small issue but all were fixed and even the vector drive repair was only £350

Yes they are old but they can be fixed and repaired as long as the machine itself is not worn out beyond tolerance as new ball screws And spindles etc could get expensive

Thanks
Marc

As said the older machines run well and everything is supported on them EXCEPT the processor board. If it goes south, Haas wants you to "UPGRADE" the package which comes in at a hefty 15k. For that you get a whole lot more than a board...but its still an old Haas machine and I personally have a difficult time putting that much coin into an olf machine, especially a Haas in the smaller sizes, VF-0, 1 or 2. Sl-10 or 20...larger machines it makes more sense.

That said, the boards can be repaired by a 3rd party...or at least that is what I have been told. The downside is the beauty of Haas is when they go down (EVERY Machine goes down eventually)you call their service department, they walk you through the issue if it cannot be fixed with their help over the phone they are usually paying you a visit the next day WITH ALL the PARTS to get you UP and RUNNING the day they visit. Yes the bill is steep but you are back making chips again and that is important. Espsecially important when you do not have backup machines to produce work. Send a Board out to be repaired now your at UPS and that 3rd party repair place to get yo going again, then the install. So a 1 day down can be a week or more...What is a week or two being down cost you? some money, a customer??
Something to think about from a person who went through that having a very high quality machine go down for almost 4 weeks waiting for the "MANUFACTURER" to make and ship parts out or Germany or Austria...I forget. But that unsealed the deal on me buying a 2nd one of their "highest quality machines". I had to go to my "competition" to produce parts for my customers for the items I could not make on my older manuals. Then the bill on top of that...multiple service trips to diagnose, several RED LAbel Shipments to TRY fixes. Yes, been there, done that and almost lost my shirt. Lets just say the 15K upgrade to get going in 1 day would have been a blessing.

ANYway, the old Haas machines run a little slower, not as much memory, but I have a 91 here still making parts...well not today the CRT went down. For $500 I can have a replacement here tomorrow. for $60 I can have repaired. As I have 6 others I'll repair the CRT