@bgangwere has placed an item on this Sunday’s board agenda to see if the board will fund the hefty price tag associated with getting the HAAS repaired.
Given that several board members have made comments about “No one uses the machine shop” recently, I strongly suggest coming to the meeting and expressing your support for the repair if you want the HAAS repaired any time in the near (or distant) future.
If we don’t get board funding for this repair, folks will likely try to ‘fix it ourselves’, which will increase the price of the repair by at least $5,000 if we end up needing to get HAAS to repair it. (They are offering us a $5,000 credit on the existing motor/gear assembly against the replacement cost for this part).
My understanding is that this crash was caused by a mistake when setting the z-axis origin. There isn’t a consistent cause for the crashes that occur.
I don’t believe any of the crashes have been caused by the persons who are doing the supervised use of the HAAS, since Bryan requires that they do an ‘in air’ test of their g-code above the part. But once you are given the keys to the kingdom, we don’t have a means of supervising or enforcing such a practice. From what I have seen, few of the regular users do that basic pre-screen of their g-code.
Over-all, I would say that our crash rate is on-par with the mastercam in woodshop. But for the HAAS a crash is more significant since it ALWAYS involves metal to metal.
I am the operator who crashed the HAAS and broke it. I had a busy day planned on the HAAS making a device that required about a dozen setups and NC files on 7 pieces of aluminum. I got off to a good start and saw that all of my CAM work was doing exactly what I expected it to do. Since most of my setups were fundamentally similar, after a few successful setups I stopped “running the program in air” as I was confident in the tool paths which I had just made earlier that day. The tool paths were not the problem. I needed to swap out some drill bits and I wanted to use the blue touch off gage. I didn’t have room for it on my stock, so I changed the G54 Z work offset to the top of the vise so I could set the tool length vs. the precision ground surface. I set my tool length, and loaded up my program and ran it while forgetting to set the G54 Z offset back on the stock which was already clamped in the vise with X and Y offsets correctly set. Another mistake I made was dedicating too much of my focus to talking as I was having a conversation about machining.
Lessons learned:
In the future I will always run a program in the air if it is a new setup.
If I set tool length offsets on the vise then I will do it before mounting the stock and setting its X and Y.
If I am going to have a conversation I will stop operating the HAAS.
I will break projects into smaller pieces and move slowly.
I really wish this had never happened, but at least I have some positive news to report. I was able to secure $4,000 funding from outside sources which is a little more than half of the amount Bryan has requested. I am still working on getting more money from outside the Makerspace, but I cannot make any guarantees beyond $4,000 at this moment. There is a new face mill in the cabinets and I have replaced the inserts that I took of the Bridgeport.
I’m not involved in the machine shop, although at some point I’d like to be. I like that @jhrbacek stepped up and took ownership of his mistakes. Furthermore he’s attempting to make amends for the mistake. I only wish that the situation in electronics would be remedied in a similar fashion. Such as “Hey, I borrowed these items because I didn’t realize I couldn’t, etc”
I know it isn’t going to happen, but I admire @jhrbacek for his accountability here.
I’m sad that the error was so costly, however. I hope the board approves the needed funding. The HAAS is a tremendous asset and one not many makerspaces have access, too.
I have to say: Justin is not the first person to crash the HAAS. Others, including myself, have crashed it in pretty much the same way (though for different reasons). He was just unfortunate in that it happened to break on him.
Crashes will happen. The damage to the HAAS has been cumulative, and it just happened to break while Justin was using it. He has gone well beyond what he should to get the HAAS fixed.
This machine was well used when we got it, and has been getting progressively more use (and abuse) as more and more members have acquired access.
This is normal wear and tear. Something important to consider is that this represents the first time since the board matched the donations to buy the machine that machine shop has needed the board to supply general funds.
Unlike most other committees, Bryan has funded the purchase of the vertical bandsaw, the drill press, the arbor press, the sanders(in the metal shop), the vise, the table for the vise, the cabinets, etc. through metal shop funds.
I am waiting to complete my test project after training, however, I have rebuilt (ground up) numerous manual lathes and mills and would be happy to donate my time in any effort to rework the head of this machine. Let me know if I can be of assistance.
I commend you Justin for owning up to it. I wish more were as straight forward in saying it happened. You didn’t have to even try to secure funding. I agree with everyone else as to saying, it wasn’t just you. An accumulative life of crashes that lead to the inevitable. I support this machine & the machine shop as it was really the reason I joined.
I have been working in jewelry a lot, recently and I will testify that the tool shop is in use a lot. To be honest, it is one of the areas where I see more activity.
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