Old timer at my shop told me I was tramming the head wrong

I'd been doing it the same way for 3 years on our Haas VF-2. He watched me for 30 seconds, laughed, and said I was chasing the indicator instead of the part. Now I sweep the table first and cut my setup time in half. Anyone else get called out by a guy who's been running machines since the 80s?

2 comments

2 Comments

andrewh4311d ago

That old timer probably saved you a lot of headaches down the road. The trick is to rough in the head with a quick sweep of the table first, then dial in the actual part with the indicator on the spindle. I used to chase the needle around forever on a Bridgeport until a guy from the old school showed me you can get it within a thou in half the time if you just work in steps. Just make sure your table is clean and the surface is true before you start, or you will still be chasing that needle.

joelp8110d ago

That's the real kicker right there. The table surface being true is where most people mess up. I've seen guys spend twenty minutes chasing an indicator on a part only to realize later the table had a burr or some dried coolant gunk throwing everything off. A quick wipe down and a light stone pass saves all that frustration. The old school method is basically working backwards from the machine's datum instead of fighting the part reference. Once you get that foundation right the head pretty much sets itself. Makes you wonder how many setups we wasted before someone showed us the smarter way.