Haimer Shrink Fit Tooling

[peon]

We are getting this system quoted for possible delivery by next week. Anyone with experience using the Haimer Heat Shrink products?

[Redfire427]

We have been using the Haimer / Command shrink system for about 3 years now. HSK63F for our Makino's. What would you like to know?

[peon]

This will be our first shrink system. I just don't want a cheap piece of junk. I've seen other shrink systems, including 20 cat-40 holders for $10K (http://www.shrinkfit.com/package.htm). I guess I'm looking for a good buy, but only quality systems. Are you happy with your system?

[crazy^millman]

Well in my experience with shrink fit the holders are the systems the machine to shrink fit them is a small part of the equation and personally I like Command and had good results with an their American Made tool holder that is of high quality. The machine itself is bought by almost everyone who is doing shrink fit from the same place and everyone puts their name on the front of it. I like the external cooling systems collar type and I would also recommend you get use to the dummy blanks to set the lengths these are very handy. I would also check to make sure the adjustment set-screws are not extra. I would shrink fit the tool using the dummy blank about .005 small then the needed dia. and a good trick is make them the same length as your standard tools. Then when you set the screw for that tool you know how much you are getting out of the holder.

 

Also these are for good quality tools and if you getting low quality carbide endmills that vary in diameter will cause problems. Also no weldons or flats are allowed with shrink fit or you will never get the tool out. Also no woodruff cutters that are bigger than the machine and yes I have seen that done. Do not overheat the tool or it is ruined. Important to let the tool cool completely before trying to un-shrink it if set wrong. I see many people try to get a tool out real quick they set wrong by just upping the heat then they ruin the holder.

 

HTH

[Redfire427]

The Haimer shrink holders are a premium holder and come at a premium price. For us, there are only 2 suppliers in the world for HSK63F. We have been happy with them and they will last forever as long as they are used properly. Overheating even once will render them useless. Keep in mind that they are only recommended for finishing applications. I find that we do get a small amount of tool vibration on the 1/8 and 3/16 holders. They are very slender and hollow so there is not a huge amount of strength there. We also bought the water-cooled Haimer shrinker but it does not have depth rods for setting a given overhang so we just mark the endmill with a black Sharpie to the disired length and then shrink it in to the top of the holder. This works fine 90% of the time. We have 30,000 rpm spindles so we check balance on our balancing machine occasionally but the shrink holders rarely change. Once they are hard balanced to spec. it takes a really bad endmill to throw them off. We can shrink a tool and cool it in under a minute. The key to a good shrink system is run-out. From what I have researched and from our own cutting I have found that for every .0001 of run-out you have, you lose 20% tool-life. Believe it. This is where is pays to spend the money on quality. If I did not have the Haimer products, I would go with OSG.

[andrewgore]

Not sure if it is another possible option, but when we got our Mikron machine, we wanted to find a better toolholding method. We were approached by Schunk who make the Tribos system. You more or less "crush" the toolhold to hold the tool, release the pressure, and the tool is set. With this method, the Tribos toolholders can handle more tool replacements than with shrink fit tooling. The toolholders are roughly 300-400$ each (for hsk-40e size holders), and that is with balancing (ours are balanced to 50k rpm). They also have some unique dampened toolholders and whatnot. Might be worth checking out:

 

www.schunk.com

 

Andrew

[Watcher]

Haimer is our unique and exclusive suppiler for HSKA63 shrink holders, and we are quite glad with their products. The price is also really competitive.

As Prosin stated above, overheating is their Achilles heel. But I guess that this is true for most of shrink holders.

The standard balancing range that they are supplied is also really good, G2.5, which in my opinion is suitable for most of applications within the range of 0-25000/30000RPM. Of course that after the tool assembly a check-out in the whole tool set is strongly reccomended. Actually, a must.

Prosin also stated that they are most effective for finishing. It's true. But if you need them to rough AL or soft materials, they will get the job done too.

 

JM2C

[peon]

Finally back to work! Thanks for the replies. The shrink fit tooling is now a dead issue. I'll have to deal with the old crap that I'm currently using. Our trode department rocks and we'll continue to burn the hard to reach areas.