[TravisR100]

There is nothing worse than hitting the back button by accident after typing for 20 minutes only to hit the forward button to find out your post has disappeared. So here's the shorter version of what I just typed.

My new SMM2 just showed up yesterday. The movers showed up yesterday morning. Wow, Haas really packs these things. It's in a bag, then covered by two tarps, then shrink wrapped. I was originally concerned about it fitting through my 70" wide shop doors in my garage. My local HFO sales guy went to measure one since he couldn't get any good measurements from Haas. Haas likes to publish the max operating dimensions but not the "getting it through a door" dimensions. He got some new drawings (July 09) from Haas for the SMM2 and sent them to me. I was skeptical since they showed the dimensions including the extra 7" on the left side from the door extending when open. Those of you who know the SMM2 realize that the 7" extra on the door opening is only on a SMM, not a SMM2. This is my "knock" on the Haas sales guy. He went to a local university that had one so he could measure it for me. He tells me that it will fit but he's vague about the dimensions I ask for. What he did was find out that they also got theirs through a 70" door so obviously it will fit through my 70" door. What he neglected to find out was that they had to remove the control panel and parts of the electrical panel to get it to fit.

So, the movers show up, wheel it in, and no-go. It won't fit. I call the sales guy. He says help is on the way. In 30 minutes they had a tech out to remove the control panel as well as parts of the electrical cabinet. After that it fit with 1/4" of clearance on each side.

This was Thursday (yesterday). Last night I spent all night sweating copper pipe for the air line for the machine. Haas managed to get a tech out today to do the setup. The tech arrived, we fired up the phase converter, and off to work he went. After about an hour I walked through the garage to the shop. I noticed the motor on the converter sounded suddenly louder. I asked the tech if he had fired up the spindle. No. He noticed the noise as well. Back to the garage and I find the phase converter panel pouring smoke. I grabbed the extinguisher and we shut everything down. The converter panel by this time was not only smoking but leaking liquid. Turns out the liquid came from the blown capacitors. Two of the three start capacitors blew. After long conversations with the tech at the manufacturer we determined that the relay that energizes the start capacitor had opened (NC relay) energizing those capacitors. He said it had to be a voltage drop. I have this nifty device that logs the voltage and current in the panel every second for the last two hours. A check of that indicated no voltage drop.

I'm happy the house didn't burn down but sad the Haas tech couldn't complete the setup.

Kudos to Haas. They got my install scheduled the next day after delivery. When it wouldn't fit through the door, they had a tech here in 30 minutes to make it fit. And to Gentec/American Rotary. I was able to get straight through to a competent technician even after hours. And I kept that guy on the phone for hours while we figured out what must be wrong. They are overnighting a new relay and set of capacitors for Saturday delivery at no charge. And the Haas tech will be back out tomorrow (Saturday) to finish the install if all is well with the phase converter.

I'm excited. It's my first CNC machine and first Haas. Hopefully it will all get into working condition shortly.

BTW, the Haas HFO I'm dealing with is Champion Machine here in Houston. The contact that sold me my converter and who has helped me with that problem is Jay at American Rotary.

Pictures for your viewing pleasure.