Watch out for coolant getting into your limit switches

Had a Haas VF-2 go down hard last Tuesday because coolant seeped into the X-axis limit switch housing. Machine threw a 103 alarm and just locked up mid-cycle on a $2,000 aluminum job. Had to pull the whole cover off the rail, dry out the switch with compressed air, and seal it with silicone. After that, I started putting a thin bead of silicone around every switch housing on our three mills. Has anyone else dealt with moisture getting into those switches on older machines?

3 comments

3 Comments

val_shah9d ago

Oh that silicone trick, does it actually hold up after a few heat cycles? I sealed a switch on our old Mori and it was fine for like a month then the bead cracked and we were back to square one. Maybe I used the wrong type? I just grabbed whatever was in the maintenance closet.

jason_stone599d ago

Dude same thing with the wrong silicone. Grabbed some hardware store stuff and it flaked right off.

taylor9579d ago

Yeah, had the same thing happen on a Fadal last year. Total pain.