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Hot take: swarf management is overrated until it almost kills you
I was running a Haas VF-2 in Cleveland last winter and thought I could push through one more cycle without cleaning out the chip buildup. A 3 foot stringer wrapped around the toolholder and whipped a chunk of aluminum past my face at 60 mph. Now I stop every 10 parts and blow down the enclosure like clockwork. Anyone else ever get too comfortable and almost eat a chip?
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laura_allen1d ago
Did you check how close that stringer actually came, or did it just whiz by too fast to tell? I had a similar thing happen on a Mazak with a drill cycle, a 4 foot spiral of steel wrapped around the collet nut. It snapped off and smacked the window hard enough to crack it. Sometimes you don't realize how close you get until you rewatch the shop camera footage.
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emmawood21h ago
Did your buddy actually measure the gap after, or was it just a "that was close" kinda thing? A guy I used to work with had a carbide end mill blow up on a Haas, and a chunk of it went clean through the polycarbonate window and lodged in the drywall behind his head. He was standing maybe 3 feet away, didn't even see it happen, just heard the bang and saw the hole. Scariest part was he found the piece later, it was still hot to the touch.
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