Looking After Your Spindle

The smooth operation of the spindle is critical on any machine tool, not only for surface finish, geometric accuracy and tolerances, but also to ensure the long life of the spindle. This is particularly important where the spindle has been stationary for a period of time.

By period of time, we refer to a 24/48/72 hour period of non-use, as during this time, the lubrication within the spindle housing will settle – we can thank gravity for that and so starting a machine and running its spindle at full speed, without ‘warming’ the spindle correctly, will ultimately result in a reduced service life. Also, resulting in a poor finish and other factors, as described above.

All Haas machines are shipped from the factory with program # O02020 pre-installed in the memory and also on the floppy/USB. Its purpose is to allow the spindle to be warmed up in the right way. The cycle takes approx. 20 mins. and commands the spindle to run at varying speeds through this time period to bring the spindle up to speed slowly and thermally stabilise. 

The running of the program is not required on a daily basis, except where the overnight temperature is very low, but is recommended after long periods of the spindle being stationary – perhaps after a weekend, for example. Newer Haas controls will automatically show a message relating to the warm-up program when they are first turned on and operation is commanded, this is designed to act as a reminder only.