The Haas F1 Team made its long-awaited Formula One debut at the Melbourne Grand Prix last month, and to mark the occasion, Haas Factory Outlet (HFO) Australia held a special open-house event on 18-19 March at its showroom in Broadmeadows, Vic.
Gene Haas, founder of Haas Automation, is already a prominent figure in US motorsports with the NASCAR team Haas CNC Racing. Having first confirmed his intent to launch a Formula One team in January 2014 – the first US team to enter the contest in nearly 30 years – it has been a long road to the start line, and the sense of anticipation was palpable at the HFO open house.
“It’s very exciting. We’ve been looking forward to this for a long time,” said Frank Ramirez, International Business Manager for Haas. “Obviously we’re hoping to use the Formula One platform to grow our brand world-wide like we do in the US with Nascar. Today’s open-house event and we’ve had a very good turn-out, a lot of customers and a lot of upbeat optimism.”
“The open house has been excellent,” added George Buhagiar, Director of HFO-Australia. “We’ve had a mix of existing customers and new customers who had not considered Haas before. And I think they were surprised with how well we’re set up here, and in particular with the commitment that we have to the Haas product here.
The HFO event included demonstrations of a range of Haas machines, including: the UMC-750 five-axis machining centre; the VF-3 vertical machining centre with HRC210 high-speed rotary table; the ST-30SSY Y-axis CNC turning centre; the DS-30SSY dual spindle Y-axis CNC turning centre with servo bar feed system; and the TL-2 tool room lathe. For Ramirez the highly competitive, innovative world of Formula One offers clear parallels with Haas’s cutting-edge machine tools that bolster the overall brand.
“Any fan of motorsports really is a gearhead,” he says. “They like to work on mechanics, they like to work on parts. By being able to associate Formula One with our products, where we have partnerships with Ferrari and other motorsports companies, and also the Haas F1 Team exclusively using Haas machine tools to manufacture parts, we’re tying the machine tool side of it with high-end sport.”
Alongside the business of machine tools, the event was also a celebration of the Melbourne Grand Prix, with merchandise and raffle prizes for guests. Two lucky visitors had a chance to win tickets to join the Haas team at the race itself, while everyone present was entered into a global raffle for an all-expenses-paid VIP trip to the 2017 Monaco Grand Prix. And as the Haas F1 Team travels the world from race to race, it represents a chance for Haas to engage its customers while supporting local manufacturing.
“One thing about the Haas F1 team is we’re lucky enough to have customers worldwide at every one of the races or venues we’re going to be at it, in case we need a part,” says Ramirez. “Like yesterday, we needed a couple of parts, so we went to a local customer here in Melbourne, NDZ Industries, who actually produced the parts for the F1 Team. We’re using local machine shops to machine parts we might need at the last minute.
“Having the ability to use our local resources in whatever part of the world we’re at does give a little bit of advantage. And our customer was very appreciative. He was like ‘Hey I got to make parts for the new F1 team’. He was very excited about that.”
The VF-16 – Haas’s latest machine
The Haas F1 Team’s first racecar, the VF-16, is the latest, fastest, most exciting machine to carry the famous Haas VF prefix. The car was officially revealed to the press on 21 February at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain, where it began pre-season testing the following day. Of all the Haas machines with VF nomenclature, the four-wheeled, Ferrari-powered model has been perhaps the most eagerly anticipated.
The dark grey, light grey and red-toned livery of the Haas VF-16 was derived from that of Haas Automation’s CNC vertical and horizontal machining centres, turning centres, and CNC rotary tables and indexers. Gene Haas founded Haas Automation in 1988, and it has subsequently grown into the largest machine tool builder in North America, with more than $1bn in annual sales. Based in Oxnard, California, Haas Automation employs around 1,300 people, and exports approximately 60% of its annual production to more than 60 countries. There are close to 185,000 Haas CNC machine tools installed around the world, supported by a network of 170 Haas Factory Outlets (HFOs).
“Just as Haas Automation’s CNC machine tools evolve continually, becoming better and more efficient as time goes by, our methodology behind the VF-16 was to make it the best evolution of a good F1 car,” explains Guenther Steiner, team principal for the Haas F1 Team. “As we’re a new team, we studied what the successful Formula One teams were doing, so we had a strong baseline for the direction we needed to go with our design.
“We need to go out there and show that we can do the job – that’s our first objective. Then show we can finish races, that we are respected by the fans and other teams in the paddock and, of course, that we can score points. That’s the goal!”
Expanded lines
While its move into Formula One has dominated the headlines lately, Haas remains a frontrunner in the field of machining technology, continuously expanding its range in this area. Most recently, Haas expanded its Drill/Tap/Mill product line with a pair of high-speed, Lean-style machining centres – the DT-2 and DM-2 – that provide the same high acceleration rates, fast axis speeds, and short tool change times as their smaller counterparts, while offering an additional 203mm of X-axis travel and table length – with only a slight increase in footprint.
The new DT-2 and DM-2 are identical in specifications, except for spindle taper and tool changer. The DT-2 is a BT30 taper machine, with a 15,000rpm inline direct-drive spindle and a high-speed 20+1 side-mount tool changer. It is available with an optional 20,000rpm spindle. The DM-2 is a 40-taper machine, with a 15,000rpm inline direct-drive spindle and a high-speed 18+1 side-mount tool changer. The new DT and DM both allow high-speed rigid tapping to 5,000rpm, with up to four times retract speed to shorten tapping cycles.
Both machines offer a 508mm x 406mm x 394mm work cube and a 864m x 381 mm T-slot table. The increased table size, longer X-axis travel, and larger work envelope easily accommodate multiple fixtures and multi-spindle rotary tables for increased production and setup flexibility. However, their compact footprint still allows multiple machines to be placed side-by-side for efficient use of valuable shop floor space.
The spindle on both machines features a 11.2kW vector drive system that provides 62Nm of cutting torque. The spindles are coupled directly to the motors to reduce heat, increase power transmission, and provide excellent surface finishes. Cutting feed rates for both machines are 30.5m/min, and 61m/min rapids and high acceleration rates combine to shorten cycle times and increase throughput.
For efficient chip removal, the DT-2 and DM-2 feature steeply sloped internal sheet metal. Optional twin chip augers transport chips to exit at the rear of the machine, allowing multiple machines to be placed close together. A rear chip-lift auger is also available for higher-volume applications. A 170-litre flood coolant system is standard, with options for a programmable coolant nozzle, and high-pressure through-spindle coolant systems. A wide selection of options is available to further boost productivity, including high-speed machining software, wireless tool and work probing, fourth- and fifth-axis capability, and much more.
Race day
After the open-house event, it was time for the Grand Prix itself, and for the Haas F1 Team there was no shortage of drama on the day. On lap 17, Haas driver Esteban Gutiérrez was taken out of the race in a spectacular accident when his left-rear was clipped by the McLaren driven by Fernando Alonso. The impact launched Alonso into the air and sent Gutiérrez spinning into the gravel trap. Fortunately the two men walked away unscathed, but both Gutiérrez and Alonso were forced to retire from the race.
However, Gutiérrez’s misfortune came to benefit his teammate Romain Grosjean. The accident prompted officials to display the red flag. With all drivers required to return to the pit lane, the Haas crew took advantage and changed Grosjean’s tires from softs to mediums. The switch proved crucial, allowing Grosjean to outlast and outrun many of his counterparts to finish an impressive sixth.
The result surpassed expectations, earning the Haas F1 Team eight points to place it fifth in the constructor standings. The last time a Formula One team scored points in its debut race was in 2002 when Mika Salo finished sixth for Toyota. The team were right pleased with the outcome, though Gene Haas noted that there’s still a long Formula One season ahead.
“There’s a new F1 team on the block, and it’s an American F1 team, so we’re real proud of that,” he said. “But these other teams are pretty dang good at what they do. I wouldn’t sit here and say we’re going to be in front of them all the time, but today was a good day.”
“Before the race started I got the opportunity to ask Gene Haas what he would consider to be an excellent result,” added Buhagiar. “And his answer was that if they were anywhere between 10th and 15th he’d be very, very happy. So to achieve a sixth place result was unbelievable.”