Haas ST-15 Lathe Guide

Overview and Guide for the Haas ST-15 lathe.

Table of contents

• Things to consider before reserving the Haas lathe         

• Overview

• Haas controller

• Haas start up

• Loading programs from memory

• Loading programs from thumb drive

• Placing stock into the chuck

• Using the collet closer on Haas 3

• Setting tools in the turret

• Indexing the Turret (Change tools)

• Setting the Z offset

• Running the program

• Cleaning the machine

• Power off

• Things to consider after completion

Things to consider before reserving the Haas lathe

You must have a project that requires the use of the Haas lathe to aquire the upgrade.

Apply and complete the CNC Haas 1 lathe upgrade parts A, B and C.

Overview

The Haas ST-15 is a fully enclosed 2 axis full CNC lathe with a 12 station bolt on tool turret and a 30 gallon capacity coolant tank. 

It has a maximum travel of 7.9" in the X axis and 16" in the Z axis, with a max cutting diameter of 12 inches. 

Haas lathe 1 and 2 have the 8.3" hydraulic 3 jaw chucks with a max spindle speed of 4000rpms and a max feedrate of 1200ipm. Shown in the pic below on the left.

Haas lathe 3 has a 3J pullback collet chuck with a max spindle speed of 6000 rpms and a max rapid feed rate of 1200 ipm. Shown in the pic below on the right. 

The collet closer uses 3J type collets that go from 1/2" diameter stock up to 1 3/4" diameter stock with 1/8" increments. The collets are located in the Green toolbox Labeled Haas Lathe 3.

Chuck

Collet closer

Haas Controller

Haas Start Up

Make sure that the red E-stop is disengaged by turning the knob clockwise until it pops out. E-stop is identified by the red arrow in the pic below.

Press the green power on button located on the top left corner of the control panel. Identified by the green arrow in the pic below.

Wait for the control panel window to boot up as shown in the pic below. The light inside the lathe will also illuminate. 

Follow the prompts on the screen in order.

Cycle the door to the closed position. Notice the green check mark next to the prompt after doing so.

Press the Power up button identified in the light blue box in the pic below. 

The Power up screen message will appear in the middle of the screen as show in the pic below.

Please read message between exclamation points!

If and when the machine is safe to zero return, press the letter A (button identified by the darker blue square in the pic below) to home each axis and the turret at the same time.

                

Once the machine has been homed, you will see green check marks in front of the first 3 prompts in the start up screen, as shown in the pic below.

Note: The Haas lathes need to be warmed up prior to running any programs. Follow the instructions below to run the machine warm up program.

Check the program heading in the Memory screen on the left of the display screen identified by the neon green arrow in the pic below.

If it reads machine warm up program, hit cycle start button on the lower left hand corner of the controller, and a 15 minute machine warm up program will begin to run.

Loading program(s) from memory

If there's a program other than the Machine warm up program on the memory screen (shown in the pic below), you'll have to load and run the Machine warm up program prior to your program.

Press the list programs bottom identified by the light green box in the pic below. 

Use the cursor buttons(identified by the purple box in the pic below) to move the cursor to the Machine warm up program.

Press the select program button (Identified by the light blue box in the pic below)

Use this process to load programs that are already in the lathe memory.

Loading programs from Thumb Drive

Place the thumb drive into the USB port on the right side of the control panel, as shown in the pic below.

Press the list programs button (Identified by the green box in the pic below).

Use the up cursor arrow to move the cursor up until the memory tab is highlighted at the top of the screen.

Use the right cursor arrow (identified by the purple box in the pic below) to move the highlighted cursor to the USB tab. Shown with a green arrow in the pic below.

Move the cursor down to the folder that has the program and press the right cursor arrow to open the folder selected. Both cursor arrows identified by the purple boxes in the pic below.

NOTE: If you do not see the letters NC after the name under the file name column and the size column has <DIR>, that means it is a folder. You will have to use the right arrow cursor to open that folder and view what's in it.

After opening the folder, use the down cursor arrow to the desired NC program and press the select program button identified by the light blue box in the pic below.

You will see the name of the folder/program name of the NC program in the memory window on the left side of the screen. In this case it is the upgrades/L2-A.NC identified by the light blue box in the pic below.

Placing stock into the chuck

See TEAMLab Pro staff prior to mounting stock into the chuck. May need to change jaws due to the size of the stock.

Depress the chuck foot pedal to open the chuck jaws. If not sure, press the current commands button. In the devices column, it will show that the chuck is clamped or unclamped as shown in the pic below.

You will also see a chuck icon at the bottom of the screen with arrows resembling the jaws pointed outward, shown below.

Place the stock in the jaws.

Use a steel rule or a tape measure to make sure there is an appropriate amount of stock sticking out of the jaws so the tool(s) won't hit the jaws, as shown below.

Depress the the chuck foot pedal to close the jaws.

Make sure that the witness line on jaw #1 (identified by the light green arrow) is inside the square on the chuck (identified by the red arrow) to ensure proper holding pressure.

Press the current commands button to make sure the chuck is in the clamped state as shown in the pic below.

Picture of stock clamp in the chuck.

Using the collet closer on Lathe 3

Haas Lathe #3 has a collet closer mounted on the spindle instead of a chuck. This collet closer uses 3J style collets that go from 1/2" diameter up to 1 3/4" diameter in 1/8" increments. The collets are located in the Green toolbox Labeled Haas Lathe 3.

Staff will assist you in choosing the right collet and mounting the collet into the collet closer. NO EXCEPTIONS!

Once assembled, place the stock into the collet and depress the foot pedal to close the collet.

Note: make sure there's stock in the collet before closing to prevent damage to the collet.

The pics below are the collet closer (left) and a 3J collet (right).

                         Collet Closer                                                                                                    Collet        

Indexing the Turret (Changing tools)

In the Offset page, you are able to see which tool is currently in the cutting position. In the picture below, tool 2 is in the cutting position and highlighted by the blue arrow.

To switch to Tool 1, start by checking whether the turret is in the home position and clear of potential collisions. Now, press the MDI button highlighted in the picture above with a red box. The MDI mode allows you to type in commands. In this case, type T1 using the keyboard and number pad on the controller. "T1" should appear on the input line highlighted in the picture below by a neon green arrow.

Press either the "Turret FWD" or "Turret REV" button to initiate the tool change (red box in the pic above). The %Rapid will affect how fast the turret rotates during a tool change.

Setting the Z Work Offset (Z Face Measure)

Press the Handle jog button identified by the darker green box in the pic below. This should bring up the offsets screen.

Tool 1 is highlighted which means that it is in the cutting position.

Now press the axis button you want to move (X or Z) identified by the blue boxes in the pic below. The axis will be highlighted at the bottom of the screen to let you know which one is active.

The Z axis is active in the pic below as an example.

There are 4 buttons for hand jog resolution identified by the light green box in the pic below.

Use the handle jog wheel in conjunction with the resolution buttons to move the tool closer to the face of the stock.

NOTE: Use the faster resolution to get the tool within approximately an inch from the stock, then use the lowest resolution button when touching off.

Slowly bring the tool up to the face of the part using the hand wheel and handle jog at the lowest resolution.

Place a piece of paper between the tip of the tool and the face of the stock. 

Wiggle the paper while slowly moving the Z axis at the lowest resolution toward the part until the paper doesn't move.

Use the cursor arrows to move the cursor up and over to the work tab at the top of the offset screen.

Move the cursor down to G54 and the over to the Z axis column.

NOTE: G54 is the default offset that will be used when posting your programs!

Press the Z face measure button (identified by the red box in the pic below).

Notice that the Z axis value will change from the previous touch off value. This number is the number from machine home.

Press the Z axis button and slowly turn the hand wheel to move the tool safely away from the stock as shown in the pic below.

 Press the HOME/G28 button (identified with the green box below). The turret will return to the home position.

Running the program

Press the Memory button (identified with the maroon box below).

Next press the Single Block button (identified by the darker green box below). Notice the single block icon identified by the dark green arrow at the bottom of the screen.

NOTE: Single block allows you run the program 1 line at a time by pressing the Cycle Start each time. 

Check for the Optional Stop icon at the bottom of the screen (identified by the red arrow in the pic below). If the icon isn't present, press the Optional Stop button (identified by the red box in the pic below).

The optional stop will send the turret to the home position, shut the spindle off and open the door at the end of each operation. This will allow the user to inspect the part prior to moving on to the next operation.

Press the 5% rapid button identified by the light green box below. The light green arrow shows that rapid is set at 5% after doing so. This slows down the rapid move to a manageable speed.

Next press the Position button identified by the light green box below.

Next use the right arrow cursor button to move the cursor over to the Distance to Go tab. This will allow the user to see how far each axis will move in that line of code.

Press the Cycle Start button to initiate each line of the program while in single block. The cursor will move to the next line shown with the arrow below.

Continue with single block and cycle start until the first linear pass is complete to make sure the tool will not hit the chuck.

Pay attention to the values in the Distance to Go screen. In single block, that is how far the tool will go in that program line!

If everything thing looks good after the 1st pass, press the Single Block button to turn it off and then press the coolant button (identified by the blue box in the pic below) to turn on the coolant.

NOTE: We will have you manually turn the coolant on when needed so the operator can see the tool with the distance to go more clearly!

The lathe is now in full CNC mode.

Press the cycle start button to continue with the program.

Once this portion of the program is complete, the turret will return to machine home, the spindle will shut off and the door will open. This allows the user to inspect the part before moving on to the next part of the program.

NOTE: Use the single block and change the rapid to 5% at the start of every tool change.

NOTE: When using an OD finishing tool, stop the tool before it gets to the face of the part. If the Z axis distance to go and the tip of the tool distance look like it's the same, remove single block by pressing the button and press cycle start. This will create a better finish on the part because you are not stopping the tool mid pass.

Cleaning the lathe

When satisfied with your part, remove it from the chuck. Use the air hose to blow the chips and coolant to the chip pan. Use a rag to remove residual coolant and/or chips.

Use a long handled scraper to remove the chips from the opening on the end of the lathe into the bucket provided. 

Place the chips in the chip barrel located next to Lathe # 2.

Power off

Remove the USB (if used).

Have staff check the lathe for cleanliness.

Press the power off button to shut machine down when finished, shown in the pic below.

Things to consider after completion

Set up a Project consultation with TEAMLab Pro staff to make sure your project can be done on the Haas lathe, within reason.