Had a tool holder crash last Thursday that scared the heck out of me

I was running a batch of 304 stainless parts on a Haas VF-2 when my WIPS stopped reading mid cycle. The tool dove straight into the part at rapid speed and snapped a 1/2 inch carbide end mill clean off. Spent Friday reprogramming and adding a manual tool check step before every new run. Has anyone else found a better way to catch those probe glitches before they cost you inserts?

2 comments

2 Comments

anthony98924d ago

You ever hear a carbide tool snap and think your machine just turned into a shotgun? Cause that's exactly what it sounds like. I swear my ears rang for an hour after my crash. Your fix sounds solid though. Manual checks suck but they beat buying new tooling every week. Maybe tape a note to the screen that says "Did you check your probe today?" That is what I did. Still annoying but cheaper than the alternative.

brian_murray24d ago

1/2 inch carbide end mill clean off" Man that gives me flashbacks. I had a similar thing happen on a old Fadal we had but it was a 3/4 roughing mill and it sounded like a gunshot. Thing is we found out later the probe cable was getting pinched in the chip auger every time the table went to the back. Not saying that's your issue but worth checking if your machine has a cable track that might be binding. We rerouted ours and didn't have a glitch for like two years after that.