Looking at buying a Fadal
I'm looking at a 94 model 4020 with 88HS control.
I'm a couple hundred miles away but recently made a trip.
What I know so far. Machine powered down for several months.
Power up and have a memory corrupt error and need to Zero Memory.
They say the battery dies and it lost the params?
Can jog the X,Y,Z and they sound good. Pulled way covers back or both sides of X and jogged to limits and ways looks good and oily. Could not see or feel any turcite under table but visibility was limited.
Removed front Y cover from table, jogged back and ways look good any oily. All lube lines are in place.
Can't do a tool change or turn on the spindle because I guess the params are lost.
Checked backlash with DI and using MPG.
0.004 on X
0.006 on Y
0.010" on Z
Hopefully thrust bearings?
So my questions are......
1) Whats your thoughts on the BL. I assume we lost the BL settings.
2) Memory Corrupt Error and ZeroMem a result of a dead battery or something more serious?
3) Does Fadal store the factory settings on the machine somewhere are am I hosed...?
4) Does anyone know of a reputable company familiar with the Fadal and the 88HS in the Houston Area that can check the machine and perform an inspection?
Thanks,
Rev
Re: Looking at buying a Fadal
It may help if you put a location.
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Re: Looking at buying a Fadal
Sorry, copy and paste issue.
North Houston TX
2 Attachment(s)
Re: Looking at buying a Fadal
https://www.cnczone.com/forums/attac...d=407228&stc=1
This is pretty much what both sides of the X looked like and about what the Y (towards the operator) looked like. They were oily before i wiped them down.
Opinion?
The old panel isn't the cleanest I've seen but not real, real bad. They have some probe adapters and WiFi to Serial adapters and supplies laying in the bottom as well.
https://www.cnczone.com/forums/attac...d=407230&stc=1
Re: Looking at buying a Fadal
Quote:
Originally Posted by
rwskinner
The ways look fine to me. MUCH better than the condition of mine when I picked my VMC40 up. You can check out my prior posts to see the condition mine were in. I am by no means even a novice in CNC but your cabinet and ways look fine.
I am in MD and dont have any suggestions for a person to inspect the machine.
Re: Looking at buying a Fadal
I should mention parameters are listed inside the monitor cabinet. It’s common if the machine is power off for a while to lose the parameters. You’ll also get the zero memory error if you pull the cpu card out of the card cage. It’s no big deal just look up Fadal zero memory procedure on the google. Also all manuals are available free.
Re: Looking at buying a Fadal
Thanks. Zeroed the memory and entered the params with setp and got it to come alive.
I ended up buying it. The price was fair enough that it left a little on the side for replacing the thrust bearings, support bearings, and freshening up the drawbar. I'm still a tad worried because I can tell the table was fly cut at one time. Hopefully that horrid "Turcite" word isn't in my immediate future!
I should have it back this weekend where it will have to stay on the trailer for awhile until it dries out some and I find a way to unload it. A 12k forklift is difficult to find around my town and they run about $1K per day on rental by the time they add the delivery and pickup charges. It's a full day charge regardless how long we use it.
More to come in the following days.....
Re: Looking at buying a Fadal
Quote:
Originally Posted by
rwskinner
Thanks. Zeroed the memory and entered the params with setp and got it to come alive.
I ended up buying it. The price was fair enough that it left a little on the side for replacing the thrust bearings, support bearings, and freshening up the drawbar. I'm still a tad worried because I can tell the table was fly cut at one time. Hopefully that horrid "Turcite" word isn't in my immediate future!
I should have it back this weekend where it will have to stay on the trailer for awhile until it dries out some and I find a way to unload it. A 12k forklift is difficult to find around my town and they run about $1K per day on rental by the time they add the delivery and pickup charges. It's a full day charge regardless how long we use it.
More to come in the following days.....
Congratulations on the purchase. I have a 94 4020, the Turcite on the table does not go the full length of the table like on older machines. If the table is centered, you will just see iron on bottom of the table, but if you move to the end of the travel I think you can see an inch or 2 of turcite. Im glad they did it this way, the turcite is normally sandwiched completely between 2 pieces of iron and probably much less likely to separate from the table compared to having nothing below it.
Another thing to check in 94 is the flexible oil line going to table. In your pic that shows X axis ways/springs etc. The flexible hose should run in the channel just behind the front spring. It tends to pop out, get tangled and torn off. I replaced mine with a flexible cable carrier to be sure it wouldnt tangle again. I used mcmaster number 4516T45. Pain in the ass to do it, but the original design really sucks, you need to fix it properly at some point.
Your backlash doesnt sound good. Check thrust bearings and couplers. If you replace thrust bearings, verify the new shim puts enough preload on the bearings. There is a 0.001" shim supplied with bearings, but i found it wasnt enough for my new bearings. Remove the cooling lines from ballscrews while your at it, just run cooler to spindle only. The coolant leaks and takes out bearings. Also look close at couplers. They are weak on the 94's and tend to loosen up on the ballscrew. Consider adding another set screw 90 degrees apart and assemble everything with red loctite, put it between coupler and ballscrew as well, not just on screws. Not a bad idea to replace the rubber spiders, or if your cheap, cut and carefully bend shim stock around the lobes of one half of the coupler to tighten it up. I re-balled the Z and Y axis screws in my 4020, was fairly easy and made the screw alot tighter. After all that I have less then a 0.001 backlash now. Good luck with the machine, hope you enjoy it.
Re: Looking at buying a Fadal
So I'm going to try and get a fork lift out here tomorrow and get this thing set inside the shop.
All I have is some solid 1"x3" rectangle bar I can use for the lifting slots in the base. The slots are 2x4 in the base.
Do you all think the 1x3 solid bar is stout enough? Planned to use some wood between the forks and steel bar to keep it from sliding.
Wish me luck.
Richard
Re: Looking at buying a Fadal
Quote:
Originally Posted by
rwskinner
So I'm going to try and get a fork lift out here tomorrow and get this thing set inside the shop.
All I have is some solid 1"x3" rectangle bar I can use for the lifting slots in the base. The slots are 2x4 in the base.
Do you all think the 1x3 solid bar is stout enough? Planned to use some wood between the forks and steel bar to keep it from sliding.
Wish me luck.
Richard
I heard that thick wall pipe is actually stronger than solid bar. I moved my machine with rectangular pipe because that is what the previous owner used with great success. No signs of excess stress.
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Re: Looking at buying a Fadal
Quote:
Originally Posted by
NismoGT
I heard that thick wall pipe is actually stronger than solid bar. I moved my machine with rectangular pipe because that is what the previous owner used with great success. No signs of excess stress.
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That’s interesting so are you of the opinion that a heavy wall 2x4” tube is stronger than a solid 2x4 bar? I have some solid 2x3 that I have set aside for when it comes time and I get a new machine. I figure solid could only be stronger than tube.
Re: Looking at buying a Fadal
Quote:
Originally Posted by
ianagos
That’s interesting so are you of the opinion that a heavy wall 2x4” tube is stronger than a solid 2x4 bar? I have some solid 2x3 that I have set aside for when it comes time and I get a new machine. I figure solid could only be stronger than tube.
You cant take material away and end up stronger. Solid is always stronger for the same dimensions. That being said, not by as much as you would expect. And slighter larger hollow sections can be stronger. For example 1.25" dia tube with 0.125 wall is actually stronger then 1" solid.
Good luck moving it Richard