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Warning: that 'great' Friday quote nearly cost me a 4th axis job in Toledo
I had a week that went so smooth last month I actually bragged about it to my lead, told him Friday was going to be a cakewalk. Saturday morning I get to my machine, power it up, and the spindle sounds like a coffee grinder full of gravel. The bearings were fine Tuesday when I ran the same program, but the coolant pump had been clogging off and on, and I figured it was just the filter. Turned out the coolant line had been slowly leaking onto the spindle housing for three days, and the thermal expansion on that Haas just ate the preload. I was down for 6 hours and had to re-cut a $2,800 aerospace bracket because the finish was garbage after I swapped the bearings. Has anyone else run into a slow coolant leak messing with spindle health, or am I the only one who ignores a damp spot until it's too late?
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claire_gibson22d ago
That $2,800 bracket stings, man. I used to think a little damp spot was no big deal, like it was just condensation or a loose fitting, not worth stopping the machine over. But after a similar deal on a used VMC we bought, where the way lube was weeping into the spindle nose and I figured it was harmless, I ended up with a chattering finish on a job for a medical device company. That one taught me slow leaks and spindle preload are a real combo, so now I walk the whole coolant line with a flashlight before any Friday run.
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