We have 11 Haas machines dating back from 1999 to 1993 and have repaired 3 monitors. Notice how I say repaired. HFO Anaheim wants @ $600 for a monitor. See if you have a local mom & pop electronic repair shop in your area and see if they can fix it. Our last repair on a monitor was $120 and took 3 days.

Charles, I feel your pain... We have the same problem in Orange County, CA. I live in a townhouse that is 2 story, end unit (attached on 1 side) and is only 1147 sq. ft. I bought it at $115,000. This home is now selling at $315,000 in our tract ! I would have problems qualifying for it if I were just starting out. My Wife and I cannot buy a detached house because, for example, a house with a backyard that is 13 feet from the back door and 32" space on each side, 1310 sq. ft. is going for $469,000. This was a fixer-upper which I estimate will cost about $25,000 easy to clean up and that is if the roof and plumbing is good. My question is where do we move . I have coworkers who commute 82 miles (one way) everyday. That is a five hour commute. We are going to stay for a while longer I guess. The real kicker is that values are supposed to go up another 18% by October 04: how do we move up ? Maybe instead of inversting in something I can't afford, perhaps a trip or two is in order...

We have had alot of problems with corrosion due to copper mixing especially with aluminum . We run a ton of berillium copper and we have found that REGARDLESS of what coolant we try, we have to clean the machine, DUMP the previous coolant (or put in another machine or 2), then refill fresh coolant for the next job. We have had several jobs where not dumping the coolant has caused corrosion & discoloration with the standard rejection of parts pending customer review. Your machines will suffer corrosion as well (we have 11 Haas machines and a few have had a problem with corrosion). Email me and I will try to see if I can get you some pictures of what we are experiencing. HTH

VX will make some nice pictures and supposedly will do some CAE as well as "CAD that rivals AutoCad". I demoed it; I compared it to Mastercam; I compared it with AutoCad. My result: I drop kicked VX (btw, I really don't use AutoCad any more; I just use Mastercam ). HTH

The good news: I finished my shopping for my wife by Halloween . The bad news is I haven't wrapped a single thing and her stuff has sat next to my desk for close to 2 months . A quick suggestion: my wife and I save our money for Christmas in a credit union account (Christmas Club) and we have agreed that we only spend $100.00 MAXIMUM on the 4 of us and $50.00 on each parent. Everyone else gets cards. Call me crazy but going into debt for a bunch of gifts and some will not even last till next Christmas, bah humbug! OK, now you can call me Scrooge Have a great holliday everyone

The Haas will work great for you (we have 3 VF-4's, 3 horizontals and 4 HL-4's and they've been very consistant ), but I've helped with a VF-5 in particular at a friends shop and the Y axis motor used to give them all sorts of problems. The motor was not strong enough for the weight of the table (same motor as the VF-1 thru VF-4) and they would have service out frequently. Make sure that this issue has been rectified by Haas and you should be in great shape. HTH

+1,000,000 to James and Rekd... and NO, Rekd, YOU ARE NOT BEING TOO SENSITIVE. Speaking as someone who could only sit next to a long time vendor and friend and watch his "little slice of paradice" burn to the ground (just outside Running Springs) and then to listen to these highly insulting @$$h0les complain about not enough money and resources What is also detestable is the fact that the military has equipment that could have been used in a matter of minutes. These guys (the Marines at Camp Pendleton) are trained to be the first in, take care of business, clean up and get out. I have to admit that James' response of "RECALL THEM ALL" really does make sense. Or, if not the politions, at least the assinine red tape that encourages disaster versus protecting the populas. JM2C PS: Rekd and Charles (and anyone I missed) I am very thankful your ok. QUOTE ========================================== If any of you heard his statement, please tell me how you thought it sounded; maybe I'm too sensitive, but to me he sounded mad that he was questioned about why resources weren't being allocated in a timely manner and flatly and un-arguably blamed it on citizens who complained about taxes. ===========================================

Friends for 1 1/2 years Dated 9 months Engaged 6 months Married 13 1/2 years to one fantastic lady 2 girls (ages 12 and 7) And they said it wouldn't last 2 years Godzillia teh "Here's to staying together"

+1!!!

Thanks James

James, what school do you teach at; I might be interested in signing on

Congrats Trev I have a 93 Toyota pickup with 147k and all I need is a new paint job, with flames of course I'm keeping it "til the wheels fall off"...

+1 Rekd (I liked the wax or felt marker comment )We use alot of TIALN coated and get great tool life on various materials. Lars, ask the gentleman that you were discussing this with if he also felt as though Nitrous Oxide didn't do much for the temporary performance of cars

A good all-round machine; you'll like it

Up front I would say go for it . My only question is this: Where do you have the better stability? If the new gig is a better future and you can support the family (if your married and/or have kids) then head out as fast as you can because chances like this are RARE! If you don't have a wife/kids, then DEFINATLY GO FOR IT !!! I hope you have a great time at the new place. HTH