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turret allignment - ST30 ATC/MC

xa-mont

Hot Rolled
Joined
Apr 4, 2014
Location
Victoria, Australia
hey guys,

got a few things i need to sus out on my ST30 - first thing being turret allignment - i've done this job (was a rush so finish wasn't a big concern, just needed a hex and my mills were occupied) and clearly there's either a "y" allignment issue or something similar. i've pulled apart the holder and found that the back is attached with 6 cap screws and 1 key, which i could adjust a bit if i were to file down the key, but that clearly isn't the "right" way to do it. does anyone know if there's another way to achieve the same result?

V1B30J5e2kFQ-ZgubZpU4qzydvbBs43HwXL9tohMdExt5Oc2Zh6tF52cD2EEfpSY_ysKTMJ4bnJptXNso9oS4CAhsRDZWEFU_HnPMHR_dDSxqY-0helPKXZC5y1zZjX2S99X6UjjGywlboGfk-Do-rDHyZq2woBMDU4XRtSqp6-ooRB-yRbMNwjiqxDIKJYXxmgDs_Uq6vUBAIKM-RU3TYOxKPZJWXMbdzmFOsQ6UqtEp_V4BRXmtlI-pPZFm3bEyPGvGTVCfNjuAzm43AU1DtCbVQZisz-vrk-8tflpoSsbn7MSS7L0FHwUQBrT4kI5vf3L3CcWeGe3Ln9lBHfs5Q4gDSD-a2fF_lz2dHxXklUFMyM1hSoJXsV3a_HuOuAk0NIBZcl7hfi5Cw4Q4J6B7Xs_rd81gtMXhszultKnquQCLHe9m2hyBKa6W00-7DGRbrWPw3jfCkekw9CdX500I0FNsmlBF445KvuTH6-WzzARAfywhteChkvsaIph5OwrCcqb5oQPsO3lvjVUrHAnYWiLCh9rlWMSRR8gev-1Bv0uYKHuHAbubTdImhjKbnwJjy9HCPpr35I6JBA46vnccpcUWws2e4LAVAPbZdyfdw7u4j5o0tIXCuaFDlKF2oSy=w1124-h843-no

Cheers,
Trav
 
So i did a bit more reading on the interwebs and some investigating.

Sweeping a normal turning tool holder in the X axis gave me .6mm variation from the front of it to the back, so something is clearly not right there. (and this is the same direction of error that the 90* milling holder has, so makes sense)

From what i can understand, the VDI system uses the 6 "pads" for it's Z alignment and squareness, and that one dowel circled in red for the rotational alignment (as well as coolant delivery)

InkedDSC_2688_LI.jpg

It seems to me that 1, the dowel isn't sticking out near far enough to aide in alignment, and 2, it appears to be well undersize of the corresponding bore in the holders.

DSC_2689.JPG

So i guess the question is, is this dowel excentric? should it be hanging out further? should it be bigger?

Cheers,
Trav
 
so here's the dowel that was in there - with the amount it was protruding past the face of the ground axial contact pins, it would hardly have been touching the matching bore on the holders - and as you can see it had a ground section - and a relieved section, about 2/3 of the circumference (so 2 ground bits and the rest relieved) in the section that was hanging out of the turret.

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I tried making another dowel that was 15mm dia the whole way and it actually moved the alignement another .8 the WRONG way, so i'm thinking that perhaps if i undo the 6 cap screws that can be seen in the face of the turret i may have some adjustment to rotate it, then with my 15mm dowel (that lines up with the holes in the holders nicely and protrudes more) it will allign it nicely... if that is possible :P

God it'd be mint to have parts drawings for this bad boy
 
Call your local HFO, they will send you all the procedures for this alignment and help you through the process. I just picked up a used VF2-SS and my HFO has bent over backwards to help.

Make Chips Boys !
Ron
 
Call your local HFO, they will send you all the procedures for this alignment and help you through the process. I just picked up a used VF2-SS and my HFO has bent over backwards to help.

Make Chips Boys !
Ron

In this case, the ST30 is an old Mazak--not a Haas.
 
Hi, I have a ST20 with a similar arrangement apart from the coolant outlet and dowel positions are at separate positions. You should be able to back off the cap head screws, clamp a turning tool in the pot and sweep the x-axis, tapping with a mallet until you get in true. Unclamp, tighten the cap heads and check again, it's a bit of a ball-ache but it works. The dowel should be about 0.02mm undersize, I have found this to be the biggest weak spot of the machine, it's quite common for the dowel to bend / wear excessively with use. If your right angle milling heads are still out they can be re-aligned using the cap screws in the back of them individually.
Another common problem is chips getting caught on the pads and affecting accuracy, our fix was to increase the air pressure and remove the coolant non-return valve to the tools get a good cleaning at every tool-change.
Good luck.
 
Hi, I have a ST20 with a similar arrangement apart from the coolant outlet and dowel positions are at separate positions. You should be able to back off the cap head screws, clamp a turning tool in the pot and sweep the x-axis, tapping with a mallet until you get in true. Unclamp, tighten the cap heads and check again, it's a bit of a ball-ache but it works. The dowel should be about 0.02mm undersize, I have found this to be the biggest weak spot of the machine, it's quite common for the dowel to bend / wear excessively with use. If your right angle milling heads are still out they can be re-aligned using the cap screws in the back of them individually.
Another common problem is chips getting caught on the pads and affecting accuracy, our fix was to increase the air pressure and remove the coolant non-return valve to the tools get a good cleaning at every tool-change.
Good luck.

Tried it again with loostening the cap screws - no joy
Noticed a couple of the cap screws had the head turned down slightly - so i turned down all the other heads and tried again -still no joy
tried with all of the cap screws removed - STILL no joy. i'm thinking something must be very stuck, or there's another way
 
tried a few more things. made an adaptor so i could run a breaker bar/ impact wrench on an OD tool holder to see if a bit of shock would get it moving, and i still can't get F all out of it. like the most i can move it is about .4mm measured at the furthest out point on an external holder - and that's in the wrong direction.

I threw a slide hammer in the pocket (on the seal groove) and i'm able to easily pull the pocket out as far as the VDI plunger (? the bit with the serrations on it) will allow me to go, so it's obviously not bound up in it's bore. the last thing thats left is what's in a smaller hole in the face - and i'm not sure if it's a standard thing or not, i'm thinking perhaps, judging by the quality of the hole, it's a tapered pin that's been added later in the machines life to try and hold allignment - but it's been put in way out of allignment. See the video of it all for a better look -you can also see most of the holes the cap screws go into have been helicoiled:

Shared album - Travis Hammond - Google Photos

Any thoughts?

Cheers,
Trav
 
SUCCESS!!!

So it was a tapered pin that someone has put in there at some stage - after some cleaning and whatnot i found it had an m5 thread in it - pulled the pin - put a holder in and BAM - within .2mm over a full sweep of an OD holder.

I'll get the allignment mint and do up the bolts nice and tight and give the taper hole another light ream and throw a new pin in there.

So relieved to have this sorted!
 








 
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