Just realized I was wrong about leaving the spindle warm up for 15 minutes

I used to run the warm up cycle on our Haas VF-2 for a full quarter hour every morning, thinking it was the only way to protect the bearings. About six months ago, a tech from the local shop in Dayton told me that with modern greased bearings, a 5 minute cycle is actually plenty for most work. I switched to the shorter cycle and haven't seen any difference in tool life or part quality, and it saves a solid chunk of time. Has anyone else cut down their warm up routine without issues?

4 comments

4 Comments

sanchez.julia1mo ago

You ever check the Haas manual? Mine said the same thing, a full warm up isn't needed for most jobs. I dropped ours to just jogging the axes and spinning the spindle for a few minutes before hitting go. Saved a ton of coffee time in the morning.

hollyscott13d agoMost Upvoted

Yo I saw a video from one of those Haas tech guys and he basically said the same thing, just a quick jog gets the oil moving enough for most cuts. But @abbyf79 has a point too, if your buddy was doing something really tight or heavy right off the bat I can see how skipping the full warmup could mess things up. I guess it depends on the job, like if you're just drilling some holes in aluminum a few minutes is fine, but for stuff with tight tolerances maybe play it safe. I've been doing the quick warmup for a while now and haven't had any issues yet, knock on wood.

the_jordan1mo ago

Wait, you were doing a full fifteen minutes every single morning?

abbyf791mo ago

My buddy skipped his warm-up like you, the_jordan, and his machine ate a $500 part.