The number that surprised me about spindle warm-up on our old Haas

I was digging through the manual for our 2007 Haas VF-2 last week and found a line I had never noticed before. It says to warm the spindle up for 20 minutes before any job that needs real accuracy, and that cold starts can move things by a few thousandths. I always thought a quick 5 minute spin was enough, and I have been running it that way for years. Since I started doing the full 20 minutes in the morning, my first parts of the day have been holding tolerance way better, especially on the aluminum brackets we run in batches of 50. It cost me 15 minutes a day but it is saving me from scraping that first part. Does anyone here actually follow the book on warm-up time, or do you just run it until it feels warm?

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olivia_webb5d ago

Check the spindle temp with an IR gun at the housing before and after the 20 minutes. The book time is really just a guess because it depends on your shop temp. A cold winter morning takes way longer to reach steady state than a July afternoon, so 20 minutes might still be short in January. Track the temp where the numbers settle and warm up to that number, not to a clock.

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