Check your tool holders more than once

I run a Haas VF-2 in a small shop near Akron. Started noticing chatter on finish passes that wasn't there before. Checked my tool holders and saw .002 runout on one I'd been using since June. Never bothered to remeasure after the initial setup. That slop killed my surface finish on a $800 job last week. Who else checks their holders more than once?

2 comments

2 Comments

coleman.jamie1mo agoMost Upvoted

Man that's rough, an $800 job gone sideways because of something you assumed was still good. I've been there. I keep a couple holders in rotation and never thought to recheck them until I started chasing a weird vibration on a part I run all the time. Now I mark the runout on the side of the holder with a sharpie after every recheck so I can see if it's drifted. Funny how something so small can cost you that kind of money and time.

the_gavin1mo ago

God I feel this one in my bones. I once spent three hours chasing a .0015 runout on a holder I'd been using for months and it turned out I was just looking at the wrong side of the indicator. Classic me move. Now I recheck all my holders every time I swap a tool, even if it's just a quick spin on the indicator stand while I'm grabbing a coffee. I swear half my problems in machining are from assuming things are still good when they're actually drifting like a 2002 Honda Civic.