Out with the OLD and In with the NEW

I know, you sit there in a factory with dozens of cnc machines and it is no big deal. For this guy however the arrival today of my new Haas VF4 is a big deal.

I have been waiting for some time watching the improvements over the years and debating the wisdom of doing this. My old Haas VF3 from 1993 has been a real trooper and indeed was a fine machine to start a small cnc milling operation. It is still a fine machine and will now serve a new owner well to I am sure.

As I have mentioned before I regard Haas as American manufacturing genius at it’s best. Good value and quality and super support. My old mill had parts available for everything from Motherboards to encoders for the spindle for ridgid tapping. Haas’s philosophy here is that they support what they make and have made and they don’t care how old. What a remarkable and refreshing change from the China crap the MBA and CPA types have inflicted upon us in so many areas. No slow boat and none of the stupid out of stock for the next three months stuff here.

I looked at other mills to before buying and for instance a friend of mine had a new Mazac 510c. Supposed to be that wonderfull Japanese high tech cut circles around the Haas blah blah blah. His first few months on his new mill saw the spindle go out. X and Y axis would drift and you could come back after lunch and be off .1″. Other things to but that was enough for him and he sold the boat anchor and bought a new Haas VF5 to replace it.

I read the specs on equipment. You do tend to pay attention to those types of things when it is your own money on the line. I know there are better machine available for considerably more. None of them have parts availability or service like Haas. They will wear you out on time and the cost of those repair parts to compared to Haas. And yes shockingly enough this super duper stuff breaks down too inspite of the lofty pricetags.

I watch to the grief my customers run into with European equipment. Yes it may be good but when it breaks down you can be hurt badly with a parts supply system that while not as bad as the Chinese certainly is slow. I have heard of nonsense like “those parts are not scheduled to run until later this month. May we recommend that you keep a spare on the shelf from now on” says the supplier. Not quite the answer a customer wants to hear.

Inspite of the war on manufacturing the enlightened governmental socialists and their fellow travelers the envirowackos have waged for some years now against American industry there are still some very bright spots run by creative individuals who prevail and profit and do so by overcoming hurdles. Haas is one of these. Not run by CPA MBA idiots who think manufacturing savvy is that which finds the quickest path offshore. Haas is now by far the largest US machine tool builder and I expect within a few short years will be the worlds largest. They got there for many reasons and if you are in the market for CNC stuff they certainly deserve serious consideration.

Gotta go now, I have a machine to hook up 🙂

The old warrior on the way out.