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That week we ran 500 parts with a 0.001" tolerance and the coolant pump died
Monday started with a hot job for a medical client, 500 aluminum housings needing a 0.001" bore tolerance. By Wednesday, we were ahead of schedule. Then Thursday morning, the main coolant pump on the Haas VF2 seized solid. We lost half a day getting a new motor from the local supplier and installing it. Has anyone else had a critical machine failure right in the middle of a tight-tolerance run?
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taylor30510h ago
Thermal shock is a real thing, especially on older machines. @skyler_mitchell's point about modern thermal management is good, but letting a spindle sit cold overnight can still cause issues. A pre-start routine is smarter than just hoping the built-in systems will catch up fast enough.
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Our old shop manager swore by running coolant pumps 24/7 to avoid thermal shock. I thought it wasted power until we lost a spindle on a titanium job from a cold start. Now I see his point about keeping things at a steady temp.
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skyler_mitchell3d ago
My last shop timed the pumps to start an hour before first shift. We saved over $800 a month on the power bill and never had a spindle issue. Thermal shock gets talked about a lot, but modern machines have pretty good thermal management built in. I'd rather spend the saved money on planned maintenance than give it to the power company. Letting equipment rest at ambient temperature is part of a normal cycle.
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