Spindle bearing gave out on a Haas VF-2 last week, found metal shavings in the coolant

I was running a 3/4 inch end mill at 8000 RPM on some 6061 aluminum and heard this grinding noise that made my stomach drop. Shut it down right away and pulled the tool, found tiny metal flakes in the coolant reservoir near the spindle. Had to call for a service tech, cost me $1200 and lost two days of production. Anyone else had bearings go bad suddenly on a similar machine?

2 comments

2 Comments

robinson.leo2mo ago

Thought I was the only one who had this happen but sounds like it's more common than I figured. Used to think you could just run these machines hard and they'd take it no problem, that $1200 wake up call definitely changed my mind on that. Little flakes in the coolant is never a good sign and now I shut down at the first sign of weird noise.

iris_jones892mo ago

Actually @robinson.leo those flakes might not just be from running it hard, could be a sign the coolant itself is breaking down or got contaminated. Had a buddy ignore that and his water pump seized up a week later, cost him way more than $1200. You're right to shut down early though, that's the smart move. Checking the coolant color and smell before each run has saved me a couple times, do you test yours regularly or just when something feels off?