Loud Haas ST20Y

[Charlie Pierson]

We purchased a new Haas ST20Y last fall for our up and coming in-house education center.

We noticed that the spindle made a high pitch whine that became intolerable at spindle speeds above 3K.

The installation tech said that that was normal for this machine since Haas changed the design of the spindle to a belt type and all the new ST20's have the same noise.

We measured the decibel levels at 1K, 2K, 3K, 4K, and 5K .

We found that at 1K the level was 76.6 and that the level would consistently increase to 105.0 at 4500 rpm.

I am hard pressed to believe that this situation should be considered "normal" as the noise can make you feel ill.

Ted Nugent wasn't as loud !! (or The Who, or Blue Cheer)

Does anyone else out there have the same problem or am I just whining as bad as the spindle ??

[Roger]

We have a Haas ST20 lathe.  And yes at times the high pitch whine is terrible!!!!!  For that reason I purchased some Bose headphones with noise canceling built in and listen to my favorite tunes!!  

[Matthew Hajicek - Singularity]

From what I hear, as far as lathes go, Haas makes a pretty good VMC.

[jlelievre]

I have an ST25Y, Not only is it painfully loud, to the point where I limit the spindle to 1k, it is also the most problematic machine in my shop. Numerous Hydro leaks, air hose failures. All within the first year of ownership, a true Lemon.

I've been operating Haas machines for over twenty years now, this ST25Y is the worst. I whole heartily advise avoiding the ST-Y series at all cost. 

I'm thinking about lining the inside of the motor housing with dynamat. I just can't believe Haas would sell something so horrible... ugghhh I can hear it whining away now, even with ear plugs + muffs inside my office with the door shut. Pardon me while my ears bleed.... 

[Aaron Eberhard]

Most of the race tracks I frequent around here limit sound to ~98 db @ 50'.   I think not only is that neighborly, it's also around the daily Osha 3 or 4 hour limit without mandated hearing protection... So, yeah, protect your ears.  Make sure your head phones are actually reducing the db (pressure) that reaches your ears.  My understanding is that noise cancelling doesn't necessarily mean that you are reducing the damage to your ears via pressure received, but you may want to look into it.   I personally use 3m WorkTunes when using power equipment, and they're quite nice.

[Dinsdale]

I bought a ST 25 in 2016, the noise is incredible, well over 100db at 3000 rpm. I've had Haas fit a noise deadening foam kit inside the case. Haas recommended new belts, which I had fitted, absolutely no difference except to my bank account. It groans on start up, it whines. I have now slowed it down as I can't stand the noise. The engineer said "what's wrong with that".  Corporate bs. They all do that sir. Well I would never buy another one and this will be the first lathe out of the door when I buy another and it wont be a Haas.

[Vins]

I haven't put a Haas Lathe in a shop in quite some time, the last was a DS-30 and I could talk about the horror stories with that thing for days.

With that being said, I was just on the verge of purchasing a ST-35Y.  We currently have one Haas VF-2 from 2017 and it is a pretty decent little machine.  The rest of our equipment is Okuma and OKK.  None of our machinists have used a Haas lathe but they like the mill and I like the price point, but after reading this thread I may rethink this based on the noise.  My Okuma MCR doesn't make that much noise all day!

Question is does anyone have any experience with a newer ST-35?  Would you agree that this will effect the whole ST line?

Thanks.

[AHarrison1]

18 minutes ago, Vins said:

I haven't put a Haas Lathe in a shop in quite some time, the last was a DS-30 and I could talk about the horror stories with that thing for days.

With that being said, I was just on the verge of purchasing a ST-35Y.  We currently have one Haas VF-2 from 2017 and it is a pretty decent little machine.  The rest of our equipment is Okuma and OKK.  None of our machinists have used a Haas lathe but they like the mill and I like the price point, but after reading this thread I may rethink this based on the noise.  My Okuma MCR doesn't make that much noise all day!

Question is does anyone have any experience with a newer ST-35?  Would you agree that this will effect the whole ST line?

Thanks.

We have a DS-30Y which I limit the RPM to 3500 and it is nowhere near as loud as an older ST-20 we have.

The turret toolchange makes more noise than the spindles..

Apart from 1 or 2 fat fingered operator error crashes I have had very little issues with it.

[designerman]

Just found this topic.

OMG we bought a ST20Y back at the very end of 2019 for a tax right off. That's about all the machine is good for. The spindle is so loud we do not use it over 3500RPM. We are going to run a decibel check on it .  

Fist thing to fail was the bar feeder. That was 3 weeks in, belts were not tight, so it crashed itself. I complained about the noise then, and they said it was normal belts had to wear in. In the past I had 3 HT20R machines running  all day every day and all three together were not as loud as 1 ST20Y.  We rarely use that Haas. 

Then in February of 2021, the tool probed failed because the pneumatic cylinder that deploys it had its rod seal fail which uses exhaust air to control the return rate of the tool probe. This was after like 200 tool touch offs.   It started to fail and contacted our reseller they said that was normal, when it finally killed the probe they refused to cover it under warranty. Then they installed a bad probe, the tech knew it so he ordered a replacement, then they billed us for 2 installs, bad one plus the good one. Now it is randomly jumping like .007 to .010.  All tools and y axis seems to be off 0 even though no Y programed. If I could return it I would.  Last Haas I will ever buy, you get what you pay for. We have a 1996 Mori sl15 we use for most work, it is silent and makes beautiful parts consistently. 

 

[rcoope]

I literally watched Charlie Pierson's new video about this lathe literally today then saw this thread. Small world, as they say. In the video, Pierson notes that it is loud, but he didn't describe it as a show stopper. Did it get better or did you just somewhat learn to live with it?

[Charlie Pierson]

Been out for a while.

We limit the rpm to 3000 and live with it.

[CPH007]

I have an ST10 bought in 2020 and the machine is a lemon. Spindle very whiny like you say but after 36 cutting hours spindle has failed and I have waited 37 days for replacement under warranty.

 

Also wouldn’t hold size and took around 6 different visits with weeks of downtime to determine that software was problem and messing with thermal compensation.

Screen Replaced

Probe arm wasn’t adjusted correct smashing arm into probe guard.

Turret is now also 0.02mm out of parallel to x axis which is double their allowable and 0.08mm across outside edge of bolt on turret (makes for interesting U Drilling.

 

I have requested new machine a few times now but it’s a no from them and they won’t even buy it at used price back from me.

Soon as faults fixed will be getting rid of it. I have a 20 year old Chinese lathe in corner more reliable.

Warranty is good for parts but broken down for many days because they don’t have engineers available means downtime outweighs parts and labour cost of fix.

I will be going to next MACH show in UK with a T shirt offering to share my experience with potential buyers. 
 

Apart from that it’s been great though haha

 

[gcode]

My employer bought a 100% Haas equipped job shop last year (a half dozen mills and a couple of lathes)

They moved the whole shop into a local building  about 6 months ago.

I went over to check it out last week and noticed the lathes were not installed yet.

I asked why.

The reply ... "Those POS's are not worth the trouble it would take to hook them up"  

[CPH007]

Yes I have serious buyers remorse and won’t be buying anything from them again. 
 

I know lots of machines running well and all manufacturers can have a bad machine but the support is so slow I cannot afford to keep the machine.

[gcode]

14 minutes ago, CPH007 said:

but the support is so slow I cannot afford to keep the machine.

This is especially true if you have a monthly payment to make on a machine.

An unreliable machine can be a shop killer. 

You get to the point where you are afraid to book work for it, because you know it will let you down

and leave your customer hanging,

Meanwhile the bank expects their monthly payment whether the machine is running or not. 

Eventually, the machine becomes a hole in the the checking account that produces nothing and bleeds money.

[CPH007]

You have hit the nail on the head. Shame HAAS can’t understand this and don’t see why I’m worried.

I will sell machine once all repaired and checked and chalk this one up to experience.

if I had booked more work then this machine would have cost me half its value in downtime.

I thought I’d seen some poor customer service in my time but this tops it all.