Old timer at my shop told me to never trust the auto tool setter on our Haas

I've been running this VF-2 for about 8 months now and always used the automatic tool setter because it seemed fast and easy. The guy next to me, Rick, has been here like 25 years and kept saying it drifts over the course of a week. I figured he was just stuck in his old ways lol. Well yesterday I was making a batch of 50 aluminum brackets and the first few came out fine but then on number 12 I noticed the chamfer was getting deeper. I stopped everything and used a 1-2-3 block and an indicator to compare the tool setter to a manual touch off. It was off by 0.003 inch. Rick just looked at me and said 'told ya'. Now I'm going back and checking the tools on every job with a manual touch off, it adds maybe 2 extra minutes but saves a lot of scrap. Has anyone else had issues with those auto setters on older machines?

3 comments

3 Comments

davis.ruby21d agoMost Upvoted

Wait, 0.003 inches off in a week? That seems like a lot just from the tool setter drifting. I've never seen one move that much, even on an old machine.

victorhill21d ago

Was it a glass scale or glassless model by chance?

reese12421d ago

Oh man, tell me about it. I'm pretty sure my Haas is held together with hope and a backup of a backup of the tool setter parameters at this point. @victorhill I honestly have no clue if it's glass scale or not, I just know the thing lies to me. I feel like I'm in a weird relationship where I keep trusting it even though it clearly has a side piece that's 0.003 off.