I need to have a 4020 moved from Connecticut to western Canada. Are there any precautions specific to Fadal that a machine rigger wouldn't know?
Is pinning the counterbalance common to all mills?
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I need to have a 4020 moved from Connecticut to western Canada. Are there any precautions specific to Fadal that a machine rigger wouldn't know?
Is pinning the counterbalance common to all mills?
While I'm on the topic, we'll need to use a forklift from the rear of the machine to get it into our space.
Does anyone know where the center of gravity is on the machine and the location of the holes for the lift bars?
You'll need to:
1) Mechanically lock X, Y and Z axes. If you do not have the original shipping brackets, you can make some easily with some 1 1/2" angle iron and 3/8" x 2" x 2" flat with 17/32" holes.
2) Yes, pin the counterweight on THIS machine. Make sure you lock the Z axis in the correct position so the thru holes in the machine casting align with the holes in the counterweight. Fadal has 2 sets of holes in the casting & counterweight already for this purpose. There is also a smaller 1/4-20 tapped hole next to the pin hole to use as a pin retainer (not common on all mills since not all mills have a counterweight, by the way).
Forking this machine from behind is perfectly fine. The 4020 casting has provisions for either forks or beams running inline with the X axis. Look under the machine and you will clearly see them. To fork from the rear, simply run a beam thru each of the cutouts and position the forks under the beam. The other option (the one that my shop uses on these machines) is to fork under the base of the casting and when installing the machine at the new location, set it up on approx. 4" tall blocks. As you may know, the Fadal 4020 is hard on the back of anyone over 5' 8" tall. The extra 4" lift accommodates taller machinists/operators and eliminates the need for the extra beams to run thru the casting.
Hope this helps!
Insist on an air-ride truck/trailer. Get it in writing. If the machine does not travel on an air ride trailer, the higher vibrations from conventional trailers can damage the electronics boards. For instance, all those capacitors held in place only by the little leads at the base of the component will get bounced until they fall off the boards.
As as64075 states, lock all axes. Be creative if required using some t-slot nuts and some chunks of angle iron. It doesn't have to be pretty. It just has to prevent the table and saddle from moving. Imagine the forklift operator needing to tilt the machine a little to get it under a door and suddenly the table and saddle start to move dramatically shifting the center of mass.
Typically on machines with counterweighted Z axes, the procedure is to pass a bar through the column and counterweight. Once the counterweight is pinned, use the handwheel to raise the head slowly until there is slack in the counterweight chains and place a wood block (like a 4" x 4" cut to length) under the head just behind the spindle. Then lower the head onto the wood block. This will put the counterweight on the cross pin and the head on the table so neither will move during transport and the chains cannot stretch and/or break.
If the machine has an umbrella type tool changer, consider locking that also. Many machines use the incoming compressed air to keep the tool changer in the retracted position. Remove the air pressure and the carousel will move freely.
Having moved printing presses around for many years in addition to the air ride trailer already mentioned I always requested a solid wooden deck also so we could nail blocking around the machines to keep them in place during transport.Quote:
Originally Posted by Caprirs
Bruce
Great advice guys thanks.
I'm feeling a little sketched out with the broker handling the transportation. They've got experience with this kind of thing I don't. However it seems like they've got a different story everytime I talk to them and the price keeps going up. Yesterday it was up to $3500, when I balked it came back down to $3100. If this price seems out of line, any suggestions for a trustworthy carrier?
Everyone's advice here is pretty sound on shipping the machine. Make sure the counterweight is locked by a solid bar AND screwed in. This is important...the bar can fall out if not secured by a screw (5/16 I believe).Quote:
Originally Posted by ddgman2001
The head should also be locked to the table...using a 4"x4" is okay but you should try find a piece of steel/shipping bracket to use.
You can also get some stretch wrap and a tarp to wrap around the machine. The trucker should also tarp.
If you need help getting a truck, let me know. We ship machines all the time and can also get you a quote if you'd like. All our machines ship on trucks that are insured, tarped (twice) and air-ride flat beds (or step decks).
If you have any questions, feel free to give me a call. :)
-Shelvin
(818) 678-9456
TheFadalParts.com
Received the machine yesterday. It was well tied down and arrived in good shape. It looks like several days of cleaning necessary but the box ways are in good shape. I suprized at how much grease is caked up on the spindle motor. Worse there than anywhere else.
If this is an old style motor with vents on the top under the fan and vents on the bottom,these motors are prone to having power bleeding to ground.disconnect the power wires from the overload block (rear cabinet to the lower right side of the large spindle drive)and use a mutimeter,set to ohms and check the wires to ground there should be no reading,or better yet if you have acsess to a megameter,meg to ground should be 500 megaohms+.if it does not pass the motor should be baked and recoated to prevent spindle drive damage .If it is the new sealed motor it should be fine, i have not found a bad sealed one yet.the old ones got coolant mist blown down on the windings over the years by the fan ,causing the power bleed issue.the motors that are caked in dirt are usualy good canidates for testing.a car air filter works good mounted over the fan to keep it clean.
Thanks for the tip. It's got a shrouded fan on top with slots on the bottom. I'll check for any shorts. I'm tempted to have someone pull the motor apart and clean it but I'll try looking for shorts, and powering it up first.
How are people mounting the auto air filters? I'm going to put one on the back cabinet too.
you can get a mtr-0127 from fadal,that is the filter and cover kit.or get a filter about the size of the fan shroud and make a simple sheet metal plate to cover it,take the fan mounting bolts out and put in threaded rod long enough to go through the fan,shroud and filter+cover put a nut on the bottom to hold the fan up another to hold it to the shroud and a wing nut to hold the cover+filter down.fadal sells a filter cover for the cabinet wir-1119 that is low cost around $20.00 and works good .the mtr-0127 was over $100.00.
Thanks Alex.