Haas Automation (Oxnard, California) has sold its 125,000th CNC machine since its founding in 1983. The VF-1 VMC came off the line January 16 and is bound for a customer in the Philippines.The company says the VF-1 is a fitting model for the new milestone because it became the first VMC to sell for less than $50,000 in the Americas nearly 25 years ago.
According to the company, a comparison between the two models shows how far it has come. The 1988 edition VF-1 featured 20” × 16” × 20” travels, a 7.5-hp (peak) spindle motor, speeds ranging to 5,000 rpm, brush-style servomotors on all axes, 480-ipm rapids, a 16-tool ATC, and a CNC with 128 K of programming memory and a maximum processing speed of 20 blocks per second. Today’s model has the same travels, but now features a 30-hp (peak) spindle with a high-performance vector drive, speeds ranging to 8,100 rpm standard, brushless servos on all axes, 1,000-ipm rapids, a 20-tool ATC, and a control with 1 MB of programming memory and processing speeds ranging to 1,000 blocks per second. Additionally, the modern VF-1 offers a range of options to boost performance.
While much focus is placed on the machinery that moves parts, the features most important for automating five-axis machining are arguably found in the machine tool itself.
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