[chrisw765]

hey all,well i just got my vmc40 it old but looks like new is from 1985,this baby is loaded with auto lubs an a/c unit for the spindle,etc it way more mill then i thought but heres the question i bought it but cant find any info ive been up and down threw fadal's online pdf but i cant find any info on the olds stuff it is a vmc40 and modle is 904-1 ???? also any one know about cnc88 controler?? ive foung info in 88hs,mb32,104d, but nothing on cnc88

thx chris

[dango]

if your machine is in blue then it one of the first Fadal machine I have fro 89
but 88 is the same as 88HS as far as I know but this not for sure
you have to look in the cpu or mabey on the door of the pendant if it -1 or -2
if it -2 then I can help you
if you can post a picture it will be more easy

[Shizzlemah]

Love my VMC40. Upgraded to the -5 system and using the docs online. I have the original books on the system (from 89) if you need em. Not the greatest, and pretty similar to the manuals online. Not much has changed in 15 years (and that's a good thing!!)

[SCHEMATICS LTD.]

you can buy parts for your fadal at schematics ltd. [email protected]

[Scott_bob]

It is amazing to me to hear some opinions that "change" is not a good thing...

In 1975 I drove around in a 70's vintage car. Today, I would be miserable driving that old generation of car. Today, as I attempt to apply modern machining techniques on our old 1990 vintage Fadal CNC machines, I am miserably disappointed. The poor performance these CNC machines deliver have little to do with their mechanical design or the cnc components, servo and spindle motors. The Achilles heal of this machine is, the control. It's motion commotion man! Hey, I like that new Fadal title...

It's the commotion motion control...

Just one man's opinion,

[Neal]

Gee Scott---
With all the inuendos and faintly masked barbs that you spread, one would tend to think that you didn't like Fadal.
Course, we all know that ain't true.

Neal

[chrisw765]

well any vmc from 95 or older is going to suck as far as controls are consered hass and fanuc etc,look at the tech at the time i remeber in 95 buying a 386 sx comp and dropping another 250 for a math co-processer to make it a dx??? so freak ya ther slow and old but the iron is the same and so just due a control update and bam u take a old 10$ mech and can due more with it then a new 70k fadal with a 104d,im dueing a camsoft control update on my fadal,and its going to be sweeeeeet. full 3d view no more dnc, fast smooth etc..just a not my fadal has the -2 comp in it,witch is based off a tandy/radio shack computer?? camsoft helped right the orignial software for 20 yrs ago...... thats right your older fadals got tandy computers in them...

[Scott_bob]

Chris,

Awesome! You will be so pleased with the performance improvement, I guarantee it!
Like I have said many times here on many threads, you can fix what is wrong with your Fadal CNC by upgrading its control. The rest of the machine is not bad...

It's not a premium CNC machine by anyone's honest definition. It is not designed to be. It's designed to be affordable. That was Fadal Engineering's design intent.
They sold a lot of them.

I think Fadal Engineering could gain a significant business opportunity if they would offer retrofit controls at a reasonable price. Field installed, using their existing techs, they could earn renewed trust from their customer base. But, like so many in this industry, they will probably have the "Not Invented Here" mentality and will refuse to do anything with their product. There are many CNC control retrofit options that can use the older DC drives or the AC drives, or any combination of the two. Our's can...
We can replace one of the Glentech DC drives with an AC unit, and the control has no problem with it. Retrofit controls have been required to be flexible like this because of their primary Design Intent= Flexibility & affordability.

Neil,

It's true; I sometimes veil my disappointments in the Fadal product. Nobody likes to hear a guy bashing all the time. In my defense though, Fadal Engineering should listen to their customers. Would you like to start a Fadal "customer survey" here on CNC zone? I can't imagine they would be very positive...

[unterhaus]

There is a group of people that are retrofitting a Mazak with EMC. http://wiki.linuxcnc.org/cgi-bin/emc....pl?MazakRetro Here are some pictures
I've heard of people doing the same thing with Mach, but I have no links.

[nervis1]

So how much is that Camsoft retrofit and does it handle rigid tapping / helical / 3d contour / thread mill and control the tool changer?