[highspeedmike]

I Am Thinking About Purchasing A Used 2006 Vf2-ss Mill And Would Like To Here Opnions Of Owners. There Is One On Ebay Right Now That Looks Pretty Good, Only 10 Months Old. I've Heard Some Horror Stories About Haas, But There Are Also Many Positives As Well. Any Thoughts Will Be Helpful.
Thanks.

[Geof]

Have you done a search? There is a thread in the Haas Forum titled 9 days lost on six month old VF2 SS or something like that. Opinions were expressed vehemently to say the least.

I have lots of Haas machines, I am happy with Haas but I give credence to some of the comments about the SS machines; they may have dropped the ball on them. I know a guy who bought a used VF2 SS last year and he is happy; but he does not drive his machine hard.

[Smachine]

We have bought 6 Haas machines over the last 11 years. In February 2006 we bought a VF2SS and a VF4SS (new ones). We machine almost 100% Aluminum. We have had no problems with either machine (touch wood).

The most aggressive we get is a 1.25" diameter Seco router cutter at .2" doc, full woc at 240 ipm. This creates about 90% spindle load iirc.

I have heard about some problems another shop had here locally with one, but they bought it when the model was 1st released (2004 I think). I think the bugs have been worked out by now.

We just took delivery of a another VF2SS this week.

my 2 cents

[bkobernus]

HS Mike,
I suppose it depends on what you are going to us the machine for. We have 2 Super VF-2 SS machines. We use them to cut electrodes, machine steel, machine plastic parts, and machine aluminum parts.

Positives: 12,000 RPM great for cutting aluminum and we are now learning to cut steel using high speed machining technics. Fast tool change. 1 to 2 seconds chip to chip. We bought ours with the Renishaw probe system. This is a great time save in picking up you work piece orgin and touch off tools. Nice compact machine, small foot print, very versital. Lots of memory.

Negitives: Not enough T slots in the table. We can only fit 3 Kurt vises in the machine at on time. Sometimes you just need 4. The tool moves down 4 1/2" during a tool change. This is a problem when you have long drills to drill deep holes. You have to remember to move to a safe area on the table before you change a long tool.

Would I buy one? Heck yes. If I had the option to get one the next size up, I would.

At the last tool show, Haas was the place to be. My favorite= the VF-3ss Moldmaker version. T slots in the X and Y direction with 3 programable coolants.

Good Luck with your new Haas, ( I am assuming you will purchase it)

Bill