NUMBER 02
TABLE OF CONTENTS
NUMBER 2
FEATURES
My, How You’ve Grown! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Soild State Race Car. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Downhill Business. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
A Perfect Bike Is A Perfect Fit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
9
The Derailleur and the G-Boxx . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Chopper Renaissance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
CYCLE TIME
Haas Automation Europe Launches Educational Initiative . . . . . . . 30
22
Windshear’s Advanced Wind Tunnel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
THE ANSWER MAN
Application Solutions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
30
CNC MACHINING EUROPE is published by Haas Automation Europe. CNC Machining Europe is distributed free of charge by Haas Automation
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In This Issue
Welcome to the second issue of CNC Machining Europe.
For our cover story this issue we’d like to transport you to the rolling hills of Germany, where
mechanical engineer Karlheinz Nicolai and his team of bicycle enthusiasts have set up shop to
manufacture some of the world’s finest mountain bikes. Upon graduating from university, Karlheinz
ventured to the US to “broaden my view of the world, and business,” he claims. Through an internship
at a high-end design and development firm in Southern California, he learned the art of developing
simple solutions to complex problems. His engineering genius and his openness to new challenges
have since yielded race-winning mountain bike designs, and a revolutionary bicycle transmission
called the G-Boxx. We think you’ll agree, when it comes to bicycle design, a little travel obviously
broadens the creative mind.
Back in the States, we drop in to Orange County Choppers to see another kind of two-wheeled
genius. Paul Teutul Senior and his prodigal sons Paulie and Mikey require little introduction. Their
fame is very well established in the US, and they’re becoming just as well known around the world,
thanks to cable and satellite TV and our growing fascination for reality TV.
We take you inside OCC’s very public world of wild creativity and explosive tempers for a belowthe-surface look at the machining behind the apparent mayhem. According to Paulie, “The CNC
machines are huge for us.” And so are the machinists. “You can have good machines,” he says, “but
if you don’t have good people to run them, you’re not going to be doing good stuff.”
Finally, in France, we visit Vallet, where although the latest project is partly still on the drawing
board, and has four-wheels instead of two, it is just as genius. This is one project to watch, if only
for its engineering audacity.
If you know of any similar stories of engineering genius (don’t be modest!), we’d love to hear
from you.
Happy reading.
On The Cover
Cover Photo:
Hoshi - K. Yoshida /
NICOLAI GmbH.
CNC MACHINING | 75K
My, How You’ve
Grown!
Haas Automation Installs 75,000th CNC machine tool.
Story and photos by Matt Bailey
I t h a r d l y s e e m s possible, but on May 31, 2007, Haas Automation installed
i t s 7 5 , 0 0 0 t h C NC machine tool.* When one considers that more than twot h i r d s t h a t n u mber have been sold in the last 7 years, and that the compan y
d e s i g n s a n d b uilds its machines at a single plant in Southern California
e m p l o y i n g j u s t 1100 people, it’s even more incredible. And to think that
l e s s t h a n 2 0 y ears ago, skeptics the world over doubted that any US
c o m p a n y c o u l d ever build machine tools economically again, let alone on
such a scale.
*By the end of 2007, there were 85,000 Haas CNC machine tools installed around the world.
| www.HaasCNC.com
Steffen Brück, general manager of the Haas Factory Outlet for Baden-Württemberg – Nord, a division of Brück Machines.
Recipient of the milestone machine was German
company MEPO Minoudis GmbH & Co. KG, a family-owned,
second-tier automotive components supplier based in Korb,
in the south-western state of Baden-Württemberg. The
company already has four other Haas vertical machining
centres; the new VF-3SS high-speed machine will, like the
others, be set to work machining parts destined for local
companies Porsche, Bosch and Mercedes, plus a number of
other prestigious domestic and overseas car builders.
At a special hand-over ceremony to mark the occasion,
Haas Automation General Manager Mr. Bob Murray
traveled all the way from the company’s US head-office to
meet the owners of MEPO and to personally thank them
for their purchase.
“Installation of the 75,000th machine is a very special
occasion for Haas Automation,” says Mr. Murray, “and we’re
very pleased that it has been installed at MEPO, a successful
and growing company with high standards and demanding
customers; they are very typical of the sort of companies we
work with around the world.”
Also present at the ceremony was Mr. Peter Hall,
managing director of Haas Automation Europe, and the man
responsible for leading the company’s meteoric growth on
the continent.
“It’s fitting that the 75,000th Haas CNC machine tool
should be installed in Europe,” Mr. Hall says. “Although
obviously not Haas’ home market, it’s an incredibly important
one for the future prosperity of the company.
“To counter threats from low-cost countries, European
manufacturers are under enormous pressure to increase
productivity and keep costs and overheads low and under
control. By providing simple, reliable and very productive
CNC machines, Haas helps them to do just that.”
Mr. Hall also claims that in the machine-tool industry,
the old-world order has been all but overthrown by the
upstart California company and its no-nonsense approach
to providing companies with the tools they need to make a
good living.
CNC MACHINING | “Haas is the lowest risk machine tool investment in the
world,” he says. “We give customers simplicity, reliability and
comprehensive support. They no longer have to buy overcomplicated or expensive machines, they can buy the one
they need to do the job.”
It took the vision, energy and engineering brilliance of
a small group of individuals – with, let it be noted, no prior
machine building experience – led by a maverick machine
shop owner named Gene Haas, to change the face of
precision engineering the world over. Never before has CNC
metal cutting technology been so affordable, reliable and
easy to use. Haas machines have become the tool of choice
for anyone running a machine shop and intending to make
a profit.
| www.HaasCNC.com
Needless to say, a multitude of imitators follow in the
company’s wake, but none can match the ingenuity of Haas,
the western world’s largest producer of CNC machine tools
by volume. Still growing, and with its sights set firmly on
15,000 machines a year and $1billion in annual revenues, the
company continues to introduce new machine tool products
almost every month, expanding its already impressive range
by applying the same tried-and-tested engineering logic to
constantly improve productivity and reduce running costs.
Haas CNC machine tools are sold worldwide through
the company’s 140+ Haas Factory Outlets (HFOs) –
dedicated, independently owned Haas resellers who have
reached the high levels of service and support demanded
by Haas Automation.
Unlike other machine tool case studies, this is the story
of something that has yet to be built. A story of one man’s
vision, which may or may never see the light of day, but
which, for sheer engineering creativity, deserves to be told.
Solid State Race Car
Story and photos by Matt Bailey
The small town of Rugles is approximately 130 km north
of Le Mans, venue of the world’s greatest 24-hr motor race.
If you were born in Rugles and you had even the slightest
interest in anything mechanical, chances are that you’d pay
attention for one week of every year when race teams from
around the planet pass the front door of your family home
on their way to what enthusiasts regard as a hallowed and
magical place.
Jean Michel Vallet did. In fact, like many of his
contemporaries, Vallet was smitten by the sights and sounds
of Le Mans, and decided at an early age that one day he’d
own and race his own sports car.
In the intervening 40 years or so, Monsieur Vallet has built
his eponymous engineering workshop by making precision
components for mostly local companies, but always with one
eye on his long-held dream of building a race car, and one
day, perhaps, driving it at Le Mans.
| www.HaasCNC.com
In the long interval, Vallet has honed his knowledge
and skills as a manufacturing engineer. In the early 1970s
he was quick to realise the potential of CNC, investing in
the first of many numerically controlled machines. Within
20 years, his collection of machine tools was, he says,
eclectic. Then, in the late 1990s the time came to move to
new premises; it was the ideal opportunity to streamline the
company’s workshop.
“When we built this new factory, we had something like
seven different makes of CNC machine tools,” he says.
“Running the factory was complicated and inefficient. For the
sake of productivity, we had to standardise.”
In 1998, Vallet took a trip to the Paris machine tool
show where, for the first time, he came across Haas CNC
machine tools.
“We found the best machines for our growing company,”
he says. “For a start, all Haas machines have the same
“It’s as simple as plug
and play,” says Vallet.
control, which means if you can program one, you can
program all of them. Plus, they’re powerful with lots of torque,
which is ideal because we often use large diameter end mills
on stainless steel.”
He was also impressed with Haas’ 4th-axis capabilities:
All Haas milling machines are available with 4th-axis
software, and can be quickly and easily fitted with a Haas
rotary table.
A few years down the line and the company boasts
an armoury of Haas machines, including a VF-9 vertical
machining centre.
Current work
Vallet began by supplying a local company making
machines for bottling plants.Today, the company’s bread-andbutter work, the work which will pay for M. Vallet to pursue his
motor racing dream, is mainly making parts for companies
building food packaging and processing machines, plus
some special and secretive aerospace projects, which he’s
reluctant to discuss in detail, except to reveal that customers
include big names such as EADS and Dassault.
“We make scale models of new and prototype aircraft,
which are used for wind tunnel testing and are full of sensors
measuring airflow and aerodynamic forces. We also make
five-axis parts for our aerospace customers, which are
actually comparatively straightforward to machine. The
trickiest parts we make are for the food processing industry,
machined from special stainless steels. These parts often
have very tight tolerances, which are challenges, because
we have to find ways of making them at the price the
customer wants to pay. It’s demanding work, which we’re
able to do because we use accurate but relatively low-cost
machine tools.”
In Vallet’s busy workshop is a line of Haas machines,
including eight CNC vertical machining centres and five
CNC turning centres. One, a Haas VF-1, runs 24 hours a day
using a Kuka robot arm to change parts. An adjacent PC,
using software designed personally by M. Vallet, controls
the robot separately. PCs interconnect all the machining
stations, allowing managers to keep tight control of planning
CNC MACHINING | and scheduling. The factory runs 3 shifts and 24 hours a
day: 10 Haas machines running through the night with just 5
operators on duty.
Seeing the Future
Whatever your art, part of the genius in creativity is vision.
Michelangelo looked at a lump of marble and saw the shape
of David, Goliath’s nemesis. All he had to do was chip away
the excess stone. There are more than 85,000 Haas CNC
machine tools installed around the world, a great many
being used by people with undeniable vision and creativity.
But, who amongst them could stand in front of a Haas VF-9
and see a racing car? That’s creativity of a different order.
Engineering genius!
“My aim,” says Vallet, with a flickering smile, “is to create
an entire racing car from just six solid blocks of aluminium, in
70 hours, using only four tools.”
| www.HaasCNC.com
Big blocks of aluminium, he admits, but just six, from
which he intends to machine all of the major and supporting
structural components, including the chassis, suspension,
mounting brackets, etc. No castings, no extrusions, just
solid parts.
“We’ll buy-in brakes, glass, wheels, that sort of thing,” he
says. “We’ll make the body from glass fibre, and we’ll use an
Alfa Romeo V6 engine, giving 340 hp. But otherwise, we’ll
make it here, on one Haas machine, in less than a week of
running two shifts a day.”
When M. Vallet says it, it sounds so simple. One of those
“why didn’t I think of that” moments. If he succeeds, and the
serious look in his eye says he intends to, he could be racing
the car in a year or two. Expected cost? €100,000 for a roadgoing version; considerably more for something capable of
putting up a good fight at the famous 24 heures du Mans.
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10 | www.HaasCNC.com
NICOLAI MOUNTAIN BIKES is owned and operated
by engineer Karlheinz Nicolai. Offering custom bikes and
frames for serious amateurs and professional competitors
worldwide, the company’s goal is simple: “We want to
build the best mountain bikes in the world,” says Nicolai.
According to the industry press, they are well on their way
to doing just that.
Karlheinz Nicolai began his career after graduating with
a degree in mechanical engineering from Hanover University
in 1994. Shortly after, he accepted an internship with bike
development and engineering company AMP Research in
Irvine, California.
“I wanted to broaden my view of the world – and of
business,” he says. “I learned a great deal at AMP. In
particular, the American way of getting things done with as
little fuss as possible. That stood me in very good stead.
The experience at AMP also sparked my interest in serious
mountain biking.”
On his return to Germany, Karlheinz founded Nicolai
GmbH after bidding on and winning an R&D contract from
another American company, Mongoose Bicycles. The new
company’s remit was to develop and build a new frame for a
racing bicycle.
“At that time, I was just a one-man show, working from my
garage at home,” he remembers.
The frame that Nicolai developed was raced in the
National Off-Road Bicycle Association championships that
year and, to the surprise of the designer, won.
“Suddenly, overnight, I became famous as the person
who designed the winning frame,” continues Nicolai, jokingly.
The punch line was that Mongoose immediately placed an
order with Nicolai for 1,000 frames.
“This was a serious shock,” he recalls. “I had no production
or manufacturing capability at all, so I decided to outsource
everything, and just assemble the finished product.”
This turned out to be far from the perfect arrangement.
Quality control was extremely difficult to manage, and dealing
with vendors was time consuming and often frustrating.
Although the fledgling Nicolai GmbH ultimately fulfilled the
order, it was touch-and-go.
“It was the most stressful period of my life,” Nicolai
remembers. “That’s when I decided in the future to handle all
manufacturing in-house.”
12 | www.HaasCNC.com
The frame that Nicolai developed was raced
in the National Off-Road Bicycle Association
Championships that year and, to the surprise of
the designer, won.
CNC MACHINING | 13
In-House Production,
In-House Versatility
In 2005, when Karlheinz Nicolai went looking for a
vertical machining centre, he turned to a friend for advice.
In 1997, Karlheinz Nicolai moved his family and his
business to the sprawling farm in the country that both
continue to call home.
“He’d been successfully running a Haas VF vertical
machining centre for the last 10 years without any trouble, so
I decided to check out the Haas machines,” notes Karlheinz.
“I’d always admired this house,” he says. “So when the
owner passed away and the family decided to put it on the
market, we moved in.”
“We had a strict budget with which to purchase not just
the machine, but all the new SK40 tooling we would need to
get started. It quickly became apparent that the Haas VF-2SS
was the ideal machine for our applications. There’s nothing on
the market that compares with it for price and performance:
a relatively compact machine that can machine small and
larger parts at high speed. We needed a 12,000-rpm spindle,
because we machine a lot of aluminium. We got all this and
more with the VF-2SS, and remained within our budget. Even
though we financed the machine over several years, it really
paid for­­ itself in the first few months.”
Finally, the young firm had space in which to operate
and grow. And grow it did. Having begun with older, used
machines, Nicolai knew that long-term success lay with
investing in modern, state-of-the-art machinery and
software. In 1999, the company purchased a new CNC
machine, which gave rise to “an explosion of productivity.”
Nicolai was on its way.
14 | www.HaasCNC.com
Nicolai GmbH selects employees carefully, preferring to
train motivated individuals with conventional machine
shop experience onsite. And with only 15 full-time
employees and a backlog of orders, it’s important
that each person and every machine is productive
from the start. The logical, user-friendly Haas control
makes CNC machining easier to understand, reducing
operator error and training time. Nicolai feels this has
been a great advantage to his firm.
CNC MACHINING | 15
One of the main advantages of in-house machining is the
speed with which new ideas can go from the drawing board
– make that computer screen – to a finished prototype.
Karlheinz says, “We design primarily in SolidWorks, and
use both ESPRIT and VisualMill on the CAM side.” Design,
programming and production are under one roof, and
seamlessly integrate in an environment where designers,
programmers and machine operators work closely together.
The VF-2SS fit in perfectly.
“With the Haas machine, we can have a prototype
finished in the time it would take just to communicate with
16 | www.HaasCNC.com
vendors and get a price quote on making the part outside,”
Karlheinz explains.
Nicolai GmbH selects employees carefully, preferring to
train motivated individuals with conventional machine shop
experience onsite. And with only 15 full-time employees and
a backlog of orders, it’s important that each person and every
machine is productive from the start. The logical, user-friendly
Haas control makes CNC machining easier to understand,
reducing operator error and training time. Nicolai feels this
has been a great advantage to his firm.
SIDEBAR
A Perfect Bike
is a Perfect Fit
A bicycle should fit the rider’s anatomy and riding
style as closely as possible, and ordering a Nicolai bike
is a bit like having a suit made to measure by a tailor.
The customer places a detailed order, and the bike or
frame is built to those exact specs.
the starting point for their winning ride. Frame prices
Many professionals order the frame alone, and
add wheels and other components themselves from a
variety of sources. Nicolai frames may be ordered in
S, M, L, XL, XXL, or any custom size the buyer specifies.
The list of additional options is extensive. For 2008,
buyers may choose from 23 different frame designs as
Nicolai frames, and incorporating other components
start at 958 Euro.
For riders who prefer to purchase a complete bike,
Nicolai offers 13 models assembled in-house using
of professional quality carefully matched to that frame.
Here, again, the buyer has countless options from
which to pick and choose. Prices for complete bikes
start at 2 499 Euro.
CNC MACHINING | 17
The Nicolai G-Boxx Project
The catalyst behind the purchase of the Haas VF-2SS
was one of Nicolai’s most challenging and revolutionary
products: the G-Boxx bicycle transmission.
Most conventional bicycles use a derailleur to change
gears (see sidebar page 20). But these are far from ideal in
the fast-paced and demanding world of serious mountain
bike racing. So in 1999, Karlheinz Nicolai decided to design
something completely different: a bicycle transmission using
a planetary-gear cartridge and robust AlCuMg1 aluminium
casing incorporated into the frame design.
The complicated casing for the G-Boxx transmission was
the Haas’ first critical test, and the results were a resounding
success. The development phase of the project required
18 | www.HaasCNC.com
making and testing a large number of design prototypes,
and the Haas was just the machine to get the job done.
Now that the product is on the market, Nicolai can turn a
solid aluminium billet into a finished G-Boxx casing in just
18 minutes.
The VF-2SS continues in daily use, not only for the GBoxx, but also for a multitude of short runs, prototypes and
tooling of all sorts.
“We machine a lot of parts where we need less than 100
pieces,” Nicolai says, “or where it’s just not economically
feasible to make a casting or have the pieces extruded. In
such cases we machine them from solid stock on the Haas.”
Having this production capacity in-house allows Nicolai
to keep costs under control, with the flexibility to rapidly
adjust production on the spot. This is exactly the kind of
rapid-reaction management needed by a small manufacturer
to stay competitive in today’s global marketplace. Decisions
made today are implemented on the production floor today.
Almost a decade after moving his business into the
picturesque farm, Karlheinz Nicolai surveys the ordered
workrooms filled with designers, welders, machinists and
their equipment. Looking over the rows of bike frames
awaiting completion and delivery to eager customers, he
says, quietly, “When we started here, I never imagined we’d
end up needing every single one of the 2 000 square meters
of floor space.”
It’s safe to say that none of that space is more productive
than that occupied by the Haas VF-2SS.
“It’s a relatively small machine, but it has made a very big
difference to our company and our future.”
CNC MACHINING | 19
R
A
B
E
SID
The Derailleur
and the G-Boxx
The derailleur is a device used on chain-driven bicycles to allow gear changes – rather like the transmission effects
gear changes on an automobile. The concept dates back to 1905, when touring cyclists used primitive derailleurs
where the jockey wheel was brazed to the chainstay. Often disallowed in road racing in those days, derailleurs required
freewheeling, which gave their users a considerable advantage over fixed wheel riders who had to contend with peddle
scrape in turns.
This changed in 1938, when Simplex introduced a revolutionary derailleur having a jockey wheel capable of moving
in and out to effect gear changes, while also moving forward and backward according to the size of the sprocket.
Simplex’s design incorporated a cage similar to those still in use on some derailleurs to take up slack in the chain.
However, the Simplex system had a serious weakness: it was very sensitive to dirt and debris, and required frequent
cleaning and lubrication. Despite this, it was so successful that it was immediately allowed in the Tour de France, and
dominated racing through World War II.
After the War, Tullio Campagnolo invented the parallelogram front and rear derailleurs, which revolutionized
cycling in the post-War decades. Campagnolo’s parallelogram system was fast and more reliable than the Simplex
design, and the cable-operated front derailleur was a dream compared to previous systems. “Campy equipped”
became the motto for professionals and serious amateurs the world over. Later modified by Suntour, the basic
Campy design remains in wide use today.
However, the last couple of decades have brought tremendous change to the biking world, including the
emergence of competitive mountain biking. This relatively new sport – accompanied by significant advances in
bicycle frame design, construction materials and suspension technology – has brought many new challenges
to bike riders, ­­­­­­designers and manufacturers. For example, when you’re hurtling down a rocky mountain pass at
anything up to 80 kph, the last thing you really want is a vital and fragile derailleur dangling from the rear of the
frame, vulnerable to damage from rocks or a spill. So in 1999, Karlheinz Nicolai set out to find an alternative
solution to the exposed derailleur.
20 | www.HaasCNC.com
In the past, enclosed transmissions were always too heavy for
leisure bikes, let alone competition machines. Now, incorporating
lightweight machined alloys, Nicolai has come up with a
revolutionary design that is much more robust than the traditional
derailleur, without any added weight.
The G-Boxx – as Nicolai calls his invention – is not a derailleur
at all, but rather an enclosed transmission using a planetary-gear
cartridge. This system eliminates the rear derailleur entirely, and
replaces it with the now centrally located transmission integrated
into the frame itself. Overall weight distribution and balance are
markedly improved, but perhaps the most significant advantage is
the ability to now change gears while standing still, or even when
the rear wheel is locked. The G-Boxx raises the bar in mountain
biking to a new level.
The first Nicolai production bike frame to be outfitted with
the G-Boxx transmission as standard is the flagship of the
company’s fleet: the Nucleon TST. An extreme downhill and
freeride machine developed in association with the KRC-Nicolai
race team, the Nucleon TST is a contender in the world downhill
championship series.
As well as fitting the G-Boxx to its own products, Nicolai
has also formed a subsidiary called Universal Transmissions
to market the patented G-Boxx system to other bicycle
manufacturers worldwide.
http://www.nicolai.net/
+49 (0) 5185-95 7191
CNC MACHINING | 21
Chop
22 | www.HaasCNC.com
Orange
County
ppers
Motorcycle’s
Renaissance
Men
CNC MACHINING | 23
Story and photos by Richard Berry
“American Chopper,” the unlikely little television
reality series focused on the daily doings at a fatherand-sons custom motorcycle shop, has grown into a
full-fledged global phenomenon.
Over the seasons, we’ve watched the size of this
shop, the skill of the builders and the sophistication
of the dazzling bikes all grow before our eyes.
Yet, all we’ve seen so far is just the tip of this
venturesome iceberg.
24 | www.HaasCNC.com
“You’re wasting time!”
booms Senior, flying out of his office in a
clinched-fist fury. Out on the floor, the prodigal sons respond true to form: Paulie
digs in for a fight, while Mikey backs off with a smirk. The Orange County Choppers
shop is, once again, a certifiable war zone. “It ain’t what you do,” bellows Senior’s
almighty voice of clout, “it’s the way that you do it!”
Custom Bikes for All
The well-known management at Orange County
Choppers (OCC) is busy laying the groundwork to make the
company the best-known and most influential bike builder in
the world.
Paul Teutul Senior’s behind-the-scene business
planners, designers, machinists and builders are settling in
to manufacture a new line of standardized production bikes
to support a growing chain of OCC retail dealers. Until now,
each bike has been specifically made to order for each
customer, so the move represents a major shift in the way
everyone at OCC must approach his work. Perhaps no one
faces greater changes than OCC’s machine shop manager
Jim Quinn.
“It’s definitely a challenge,” says Quinn. “In some ways it’s
easier, but in many ways it’s more difficult. Because of the
way we’ve networked our machines, once we’ve made a part
to spec, it’s just a matter of loading the program and we can
duplicate it again without any problems.”
But trying to dedicate machines to manufacturing
production, while building one-off bikes under the pressures
of television deadlines, is no simple matter. “That’s the other
part of it,” says Quinn with a smile. “It never fails. As soon as
I get a machine set up to run production wheels all day, it’s
‘Oops!’ we’ve got to break in and run a special design for one
of the bikes for the show.”
Realizing they suddenly had a lot more irons in the fire,
the OCC gang set out last year to virtually double the size of
the machine shop. Paul Senior and son Mikey, with a full video
crew in tow, dropped in on the one-million-square-foot Haas
Automation factory in Southern California, and humorously
scribed their names on the machines they wanted. Jim Quinn
and many others had thoughtfully coordinated the expansion
and suggested which machines to acquire weeks before the
stars left for the sunny coast; but Senior’s impromptu “This
one’s mine!” scrawl, staged during the factory tour, was much
more entertaining on camera.
Back home, the OCC machine shop began to expand,
spilling over into what had been the warehousing area of the
30,000-square-foot building. This new annex holds a recently
installed Haas Mini Mill, TL-1 Toolroom Lathe and EC-500
horizontal machining center – all tied in with the crew’s everbusy VF-5/50, VM-3 and VF-2SS vertical machining centers
and SL-20 lathe.
CNC MACHINING | 25
Real Time
“The nice part is that I now have crossover between all
my Haas machines,” says Quinn. “Pretty much the same
program will work on any of them. And, I keep my tool libraries
the same from machine to machine: Tool two is always a drill;
tool seven is always a quarter inch endmill and so on. With
this broad interchangeability, it’s amazing what we can do.
“There was a day here, a couple months ago, when I had
wheels running on four of my five mills, even the (smaller)
VF-2,” says Quinn. “A lot of Senior’s old-school bikes take a
16-inch rear wheel, instead of the usual 18s and 21s we put
on most of our new choppers. I said, ‘you know what? . . .
I think this will fit in here!’ I’d never even thought of cutting
wheels on the VF-2 before, but I needed four sets going out
that day. Happily, the 16-incher fit the VF-2’s cutting envelope
with a bit to spare, and I didn’t have to change a thing in the
26 | www.HaasCNC.com
program. To be able to just throw it in and cut wheels on all
those machines, all at the same time, was just amazing.”
Every Haas machine at OCC is fully networked, and has
either a 20- or 40-gigabite hard drive, which Quinn accesses
from his office. “I use my desktop to post the programs
through Mastercam®,” he says. “I output that post, and send
the NC code directly to the machine tool.”
The flawless finishes Quinn achieves on OCC’s famous
appearance parts are the result of both his machining skill and
the flexibility of this network setup. “The chaining tolerances
I use in Mastercam are always evolving,” he admits. “I’m
now down to about five-millionths. This makes the programs
extremely large, but you couldn’t ask for a finer finish. Since
the programs are too big for resident memory, I do most of
my wheel and surfacing files through DNC,” he explains. “Our
chromers and polishers really love the finish we’re getting off
the Haas machines.”
New Reality
With the challenging expansion into production
manufacturing alongside the custom-build television
demands, nearly everyone in the OCC shop, including
Quinn, is wearing a lot more hats these days: machinist,
designer, fabricator, engineer, assembler and, of course, TV
personality. Everyone has to be a little bit of everything.
“Yeah, that’s kind of what we’ve become,” confides
Quinn. “But this way, everybody knows the product a lot
better than when we were niched, always doing the same
job.” The change was absolutely necessary, he explains, to
get OCC to where it is today. “When you consider some of
the tight time frames we face, it’s obvious we can’t afford
a machinist-versus-designer standoff around here,” says
Quinn. “Everybody has to work together to put out bikes; our
systems have to be efficient.” The crew has to give Paulie
what he needs, when he needs it, and Senior what he wants,
when he wants it!
Left unsaid is the fact that they must now also face the
dogged demands of daily production.
After peering below the surface of OCC, it’s easier to
value Senior’s hard-nosed work ethic, and to appreciate why
nothing sets him off like “wasted time!” But, above everything
else, this is a business of talented, creative people influenced
by the imaginative minds of Paulie and Mikey Teutul. If there’s
any leftover time available, individuals like these will find a
way to fill it . . . with creative mischief.
So, when Senior has lobsters delivered, packed in dry
ice, it’s only a matter of time before a tightly sealed bottle of
dry ice chips and water is tossed out onto the floor, just
outside his office. When the bottle reaches maximum
pressure and explodes, so does Senior. The famous black
door flies open with a vengeance and, once again, the prolific
OCC shop becomes a video war zone, and it’s show business
as usual.
CNC MACHINING | 27
­­Real Word for Word
I n a r a r e q u i e t moment back in OCC’s expanded machine shop, Senior and
P a u li e p h i l o s o phize a bit, and talk to us about the demands of “American
C h o p p e r . ” T h e ir thoughts are so often in sync that it’s not surprising when
t h e y j u m p i n a nd finish each other’s comments.
CNC Machining: Senior, we know how long OCC has been on
the scene, but how long have you been around, building bikes?
he takes over from there. But usually, he’s more of the designer;
he’s the guy who really comes up with the ideas.
Senior: My first bike was a ’71 Triumph that I think I got in
1974. Probably a couple of years after that I first started messing
around with fabrication and stuff.
CNC Machining: Whatever you’re doing, it works. Everybody’s
expecting you guys to fall on your face some week, but you keep
coming up with bikes that make clients happy, again and again.
We’re still waiting to see someone tell you: “Well . . . you know . . .
we just don’t like that.”
CNC Machining: So, you’ve been at this for more than 30
years, now! How do you keep coming up with fresh ideas?
Senior: You know, most of the time, now, Paulie comes up
with the ideas. But, every once in a while, we’ll both start off just
kind of talking about it. We’ll both have certain ideas, and just
keep pushing the envelope. And sometimes I initiate things and
28 | www.HaasCNC.com
Senior: (laughing) I think that with the equipment we have
today, especially the Haas stuff – you know, being able to make
our own wheels and do our own CNC machining – that makes life
a little bit easier. And it helps our creative ability to come up with
something and now actually be able to do it here.
CNC Machining: Do you feel you’ve reached that elusive
creative highpoint, where anything you can imagine, you can make?
Senior: I think so. I do – pretty much anything.
Paulie: (joining in) Yeah! I think we can make pretty much
anything I need – especially with the Haas . . . I mean, the Haas
CNC machines are huge for us. We’re now able to do everything.
All the time, we talk about how capable we are, how innovative
we are and how much technology we have. But you don’t really
realize it until you come back here in the shop, take a minute and
really look around. I mean . . . it’s amazing.
CNC Machining: We assumed you got a big production
machine like this EC-500 for manufacturing. But we see you’re
doing all kinds of creative one-off stuff with it.
Senior: Well, you’re always being challenged, you know what
I mean? So . . .
Paulie: . . . we step up to it. We’ve got a great program, and
a great couple of machinists here, our guys Jim and Tye. I mean,
they come up with great things. You can have good machines, but
if you don’t have good people to run them, you’re not going to be
doing good stuff.
CNC Machining: We noticed, since our last visit, that
everyone around here now seems to have a finger in every pie.
We’re calling you guys “new renaissance men!”
Senior: (laughing) Everyone has to do it all, that’s for . . .
Paulie: . . . sure. Yeah, everybody has to know everything
around here.
Senior: (still laughing) That’s pretty much it.
CNC Machining: Even with your crew of certified overachievers, OCC’s creative output amazes us. How do you guys
make this unscripted television show work so well every week?
CNC Machining: But, you always seem to be riding against
the wind here . . .
Senior: (jumping in) Always . . . always . . . always!
CNC Machining: So, you’re telling us that this “pulling a
rabbit out of the hat at the last minute” deal is really the way things
happen?
Paulie: Yeah. And it’s all very real. There’s always a
combination of deadlines we have: one, the airdates for the show;
two, actual unveils; and three, just our . . .
Senior: . . . time!
Paulie: Yeah . . . never, ever enough time.
Senior: The thing of it is, even if we do have a minimal amount
of time to build the bike, incorporated in that minimal amount
of time we’re out doing other things. We have to sometimes be
on the other side of the world and back, and still get the thing
completed. So it’s . . .
Paulie: . . . And then, if we have a lot of time for a bike, it
always gets scrunched down to no time, in a matter of minutes,
with all the schedule changes. There are always a million reasons
to get something else done first.
CNC Machining: So the pressure is as real as it looks on TV?
Are you saying it’s a force that actually improves your work?
Senior: Pressure’s definitely part of it. I think that’s what keeps
it interesting. You’ve got to have goals, you’ve got to have reasons
to do stuff, but it’s got to be interesting.
Paulie: Yeah, it’s real. If we had to fake pressure, it would
show, and . . .
Senior: . . . and we wouldn’t be here!
Paulie: Good people. And you just direct the people and they
go. They’re creative, and talented and very intelligent.
CNC MACHINING | 29
CNCMACHINING
cycle Time
Haas Automation
Europe Launches
Educational Initiative
T h e w o r l d w i d e shortage of skilled CNC machining operators, programmers
a n d a p p l i c a t i o n engineers is a challenge faced daily by almost all precisio n
e n g i n e e r i n g c ompanies, from Calcutta to California, Copenhagen to Cape T o w n .
30 | www.HaasCNC.com
In a huge and unprecedented effort to alleviate the problem,
Haas Automation Inc., California, USA, announces the formal
launch of the Haas Technical Education Centre (HTEC) program
for Europe.
Already a resounding success in the USA and Canada, the
Haas Automation Europe HTEC program aims to create long-term
alliances with European vocational training, technical colleges,
universities and other manufacturing technology learning
institutions. The goal: to make the latest manufacturing technology
accessible to a very wide range of educational establishments,
and to provide students with hands-on experience in a real-world
manufacturing environment.
The HTEC concept was first established by Haas Automation,
Inc. in the USA in 1996, and was originally a school-based
program – a place where teachers and students could experience
the latest machine tool technology.
Today, the program has evolved beyond the company’s
wildest expectations. In the USA and Canada, there are already
more than 600 HTECs, including almost 100 high schools, 100+
vocational schools, almost 300 community colleges and close to
200 universities, with well over 1600 machines installed. Over the
next few years, Haas Automation Europe will implement plans to
mirror the program’s popularity in Germany, as well as in France,
Italy, Spain and every other European country.
“Our initial goal is to have 100 fully Haas-certified HTECs
in Europe within 5 years,” Peter Hall, Haas Europe’s managing
director, explains. “That is, 20 new HTECs per year, however,
judging by the response we are already experiencing, this is
probably a very conservative number, and I anticipate raising this
number to at least 200 in the near future.”
Haas CNC machine tools are distributed and supported
in Europe via 45 Haas Factory Outlets (HFOs). Assuming an
average of 4 HTECs for each HFO, the company will quickly
approach Mr. Hall’s target of 200 HTECs.
Closely tied to the company’s distribution network, each HTEC
is the result of a unique alliance between Haas Automation Europe,
a local Haas Factory Outlet (HFO) and a local learning institution.
All HTECs are Haas-certified, and require a commitment between
the school management and the local HFO.
“This is a wonderful and inspiring challenge,” enthuses Mr.
Hall. “HTECs are dedicated to the future of the manufacturing
industry, and they continue the Haas pledge to deliver high-quality
education to the technicians and engineers of tomorrow.
“We’ve already made some groundbreaking agreements with
notable institutions, including the prestigious Universität Wien,
the Gewerbe Akademie in Konstanz, Germany, more than 20
universities and schools in Russia, Poland, Italy, Greece, Belgium,
Scandinavia, Portugal and Estonia. Plus, there are more than 150
Haas Mini Mills and other Haas CNC machine tools installed in
Lycee across France.”
CNC MACHINING | 31
KELLER CNCPlus-TRAINING
Haas Automation Europe and industry leading German
manufacturing software developer KELLER have joined forces to
develop and offer Haas customers a free, ‘off-line’ programming,
CNC training and low-cost CAM package, which will enable
companies to train their machine operators “in-house.”
KELLER CNCPlus-TRAINING is a groundbreaking program
designed to teach both novice and also experienced operators,
without the specific expertise, how to program a Haas machine
using the proprietary Haas CNC. From January 2007, anyone
purchasing a Haas machine tool has been offered this innovative
and highly effective training system – worth thousands of Euros
– absolutely free. The scheme has been so successful that the
company plans to continue the offer throughout 2008.
As a “time-served,” professional engineer, Peter Hall is
unequivocal about the importance of education in the engineering
sector of the future.
32 | www.HaasCNC.com
“These are exciting times for young people choosing
engineering as a career. It is rapidly becoming very evident
that technology will play a pivotal role in ‘re-engineering’ the
world’s manufacturing economies – and the infrastructure we
rely on – to become more sustainable and less damaging to
our environment.”
“It’s no exaggeration to state that mankind’s future will
depend on the ingenuity of scientists and engineers to develop
the needed technologies and products, and on the resources
of the international manufacturing community to make these
technologies and products a reality. Manufacturing will need a
huge number of well-qualified, skilled people in the decades to
come. Through it’s HTEC program, Haas aims to make a longterm contribution to meeting this demand.”
CNCMACHINING
cycle Time
Windshear’s
Advanced Wind
Tunnel Scheduled To
Open Spring 2008
In early 2008, the most advanced wind tunnel of its kind
will open its doors for business in the USA. Windshear,
will be the world’s first commercially available full-scale,
single-belt, rolling-road wind tunnel in existence, and is
being built by Haas Automation. Located a few kilometers
east of Charlotte, North Carolina, this groundbreaking new
venture is currently under construction, and is scheduled
to begin accepting customers in March 2008.
According to company officials, Windshear Inc. will operate
the one-of-a-kind facility 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with a
staff of 25. The facility will be available for hire to all motor sports
teams and auto manufacturers, providing services previously
available only to top Formula 1 teams.
Although two similar rolling-road facilities exist in Europe,
and numerous scale-model tunnels operate worldwide, what
makes this new facility unique is its business model: Windshear
is being made available to all F1, Indy, stock car racers and auto
manufacturers. Most other facilities found around the world are
proprietary operations, owned and operated by manufacturers,
or race teams, for their own use.
Windshear was designed to accommodate 100% full-scale
vehicles, and provide constant airspeeds up to 290 kmh (180 mph),
with temperatures controlled to within plus or minus 0.55 °C (1 °F).
The high-tech rolling road will be 3.2 meters (10.5 feet) wide by 9
meters (29.5 feet) long, and be able to accelerate from zero to 290
kmh in less than one minute. The “road” is actually a continuous
stainless steel belt just one millimeter thick, and it is designed to
34 | www.HaasCNC.com
last up to 5000 operational hours. During testing, “through-the-belt”
sensors measure the aerodynamic down force under each tyre,
while a sophisticated on-board data acquisition system collects
other test-critical data.
High-quality, repeatable data, as well as security and privacy,
are the standard for Windshear. Every step of the way, from
determining customer requirements to customer check-in to
vehicle setup to vehicle testing, Windshear’s experienced and
skilled personnel will work to ensure that all customer needs are
met quickly and professionally.
Windshear’s state-of-the-art wind tunnel and 180-mile-perhour rolling road promise to provide a stable, verifiable and
repeatable environment for motor sports testing – in a highly
secure and private working environment.
Haas CNC Racing
Haas CNC Racing is owned by Gene Haas. Haas has been
involved in motor sports since 1995, forming technical partnerships
with race teams in CART, IRL and NASCAR, including Hendrick
Motorsports.
The end of the 2006 NASCAR season saw the beginning of
a new era for Haas CNC Racing. After residing for nearly 5 years
in the shadow of Lowe’s Motor Speedway, the team moved its
headquarters to a newly constructed $15-million race shop in
nearby Kannapolis, North Carolina.
Along with a threefold increase in space, the new 140,000-sqft shop includes technological advances that make it a worldclass development facility. Among these are an R&D area filled
with Haas machines for prototype production, and a seven-post,
full-scale track simulator to model racetrack conditions. The new
Windshear wind tunnel is ideally located for Haas CNC Racing,
and will also be available for other NASCAR teams to rent for
aerodynamic testing.
CNC MACHINING | 35
CNCMACHINING
the ANSWER MaN
Dear Applications:
Sometimes when I run a new program
on my Haas SL-20, I get a 604 NONMONOTONOUS ARC IN PQ BLOCK
alarm on a G71 in my program. Why do
I get this non-monotonous alarm? Why
do I have to increase the programmed
arc radius seen in the alarm description?
How can I fix this alarm?
Jimmy Moore
Dear Jimmy:
A G71 monotonous tool path in the
X axis is defined to always move a tool
in the same direction, either increasing
or decreasing on the diameter, but
not both. A G71 non-monotonous tool
path is defined by the tool changing
direction on the X-axis diameter.
If you get a 604 NON-MONOTONOUS
alarm when using a G71, it is because
the motion defined between the P and Q
block contains axis motion that does not
continue in the same direction.
See examples below
You can locate and fix these alarms
by first running the program in Graphics
without recognizing the G71 command
line, and watching only the part geometry.
That way, you can see and fix any errors,
like an incorrect radius, or an incorrect
starting point or ending point. Then,
run the program in Graphics again,
recognizing the G71 command line, to
see if the program runs without alarms. If
it does, run a part.
Sincerely,
Haas Applications
Dear Applications:
I am looking for a code or setting
that will allow my machine to make a
loud “beep” when it reaches a specific
command while running a program. For
instance, at M00 Program Stop to let me
know when it’s at that point. My neighbor
has his Haas machines beeping at the
end of a program, and I would like my
Haas machine to do the same thing.
Shawn Dill
Dear Shawn:
Yes, you’re able to make the machine
beep at an M00, M01, M02 and M30 by
turning on Setting 39.
Sincerely,
Haas Applications
•••
Dear Applications:
We are using a bar puller on a job
that I am running, and I would like the
machine to stop after a certain number of
parts. Can you assist me in doing this?
Bob Knight
Incorrect G71 part geometries
36 | www.HaasCNC.com
Dear Bob:
There are a couple of ways to specify
the number of machining cycles you
would like to run. One of the simplest is
by using a sub-program, with an M98
Pnnnn that calls up a program from your
list of programs. Another way is to use
a sub-routine, with an M97 Pnnnn that
calls up a block of code that starts with a
sequence number located after an M30.
With either M97 or M98, you can specify
an Lnn count command for the number
of times you would like to repeat the sub.
A program using an M98 would look
something like this:
%
O01201 (Sub-program call with M98 and
looping it 10 times)
M98 P1202 L10 (Calling sub-program O1202
and repeating it 10 times)
M30 (End of program command)
%
%
O1202 (Sub-program called by an M98 P1202
repeating it 10 times with L10)
N1 (Sub-program tool path)
N2 (Sub-program tool path)
N3 (Sub-program tool path)
M99 (Loops back to line after M98)
%
at a 3/4" depth? Will the machine pick up
the thread in both cases?
A program using an M97 would look
something like this:
Yes, you will be able to pick up
threads at the same spot in both cases.
Rigid tapping is a standard feature on
all of our machines, except the Mini Mill
and Toolroom Mill. Turn on Setting 133
(REPEAT RIGID TAP). Now you’re able
to peck tap a hole by using multiple G84
commands at the same location. The
first depth will be at Z-0.375; the next
will be at Z-0.75 to the final depth. Then
move to the next location and repeat the
sequence for each hole.
Another simple way to specify the
number of machine cycles for a part
is by using the TOOL LIFE page in
CURNT COMDS. Enter the number
of times you want to run a part in the
ALARM column of tool #1. When the
USAGE reaches the ALARM number
for the desired number of cycles, the
machine will stop. You can zero these
numbers by pressing ORIGIN.
G00 X0.5 Y-0.5
G43 H04 Z0.1
S650 (G84 Turns on spindle)
G84 G99 Z-0.375 R0.1 F32.5 (Hole 1)
G84 Z-0.75
%
O01203
M97 P101 L8 (Calling a local sub-routine with
an M97 P101 repeating it 8 times)
M30 (End of program command)
N101 (Local sub-routine called by an M97 P101)
N102 (Sub-routine tool path)
N103 (Sub-routine tool path)
N104 M99 (Loops back to line after the M97)
%
Steve Hann
Dear Steve:
G84 X1.5 Y-1.5 Z-0.375 (Hole 2)
G84 Z-0.75
…
etc.
Sincerely,
Haas Applications
•••
Sincerely,
Haas Applications
•••
Dear Applications:
Is there a special G-code for doing
rigid tapping on my Haas VF-2? If I hold
a tap in a regular collet holder, and use
rigid tapping, can I tap a deep hole in two
steps (i.e., tap 3/8" deep, clear chips,
and then tap 3/4" deep)? Will the spindle
orient and pick up a thread in the same
spot? If I’m tapping four deep holes, do I
peck tap each hole at two depths before
moving on to the next hole? Or do I tap all
four holes first at a 3/8" depth, and then
CNC MACHINING | 37
Haas Europe Exhibitions 2008
EXHIBITION
COUNTRY
CITY
FROM
TILL
NORTEC
GERMANY
HAMBURG
23/01/08
26/01/08
BIMU SOUTH
ITALY
BARI
21/02/08
24/02/08
BIEMH
SPAIN
BILBAO
03/03/08
08/03/08
MEDTEC
GERMANY
STUTTGART
11/03/08
13/03/08
WESTEC
USA
LOS ANGELES
31/03/08
03/04/08
GERMANY
DÜSSELDORF
31/03/08
04/04/08
INDUSTRIE PARIS
FRANCE
PARIS
31/03/08
04/04/08
T.I.T
ROMANIA
CLUJ-NAPOCA
01/04/08
04/04/08
BIAM
CROATIA
ZAGREB
22/04/08
26/04/08
ENGINEERING FAIR
SLOVAKIA
NITRA
20/05/08
23/05/08
MSV
CZECH REPUBLIC
BRNO
15/09/08
19/09/08
BIMU
ITALY
MILAN
03/10/08
07/10/08
GERMANY
FRANKFURT
03/12/08
06/12/08
METAV
EUROMOLD
For the complete list of our exhibitions, please check our website at www.HaasCNC.com
Haas Automation Europe
Mercuriusstraat 28 • B-1930 Zaventem • Belgium
Tel: +32 (2) 522 99 05 I Fax: +32 (2) 523 08 55
Europe@HaasCNC.com
www.HaasCNC.com
Haas Automation, Inc.
2800 Sturgis Road • Oxnard • California 93030
Tel: +1 (805) 278 1800 I Fax: +1 (805) 278 2255
Toll Free: 800 331 6746
www.HaasCNC.com
Haas Automation Asia
No. 96 Yi Wei Road • Building 67
Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone • Shanghai, 200131. P.R.C.
Tel: +86 (21) 3861 6666 I Fax: +86 (21) 3861 6799
Asia@HaasCNC.com I www.HaasCNC.com
EN_02/2008