[xenginebuilder]

I'm kind of looking at a used 1986 904-1 VMC-40 with the CMC88 control. Is there anything that is a big service item on these old machines that I should check besides the sound/health of the ball screws and spindle?
The control can hold "277 ft. of memory", what is this in Kb?
Are these machines a good candidate for a controls retrofit?
Any input appreciated, thanks.

[DareBee]

You should be able to pick that up for scrap price ($55/ton x 5ton = $275).
New spindle is $4000.
Ballscrew assemblies $1000ea.
Throw out the control and put on a Fagor 8055 ($10k).
It will be a perfect machine.

Check the ways and keepers very carefully for excessive wear and you are good to go.

[scadvice]

...old, also the cnc88 is a fairly slow by todays standards. For a hobby maybe, if it is in good shape, has a quite running spindle, servos and ball screws and runs now, worth between 3 and 5k max. maybe a little more with a lot of tooling thrown in. How much can you spend?
There are newer Fadals out there in the 8 to 12K range. The control should be at least the lowest cnc88hs control. Spend some time reading all the Fadal post here, it will help you decide. You will be doing some repairs
One last thing, make sure all the ways are "oil wet" before buying any machine. If it is the stand 10k spindle look for a faint oil mist coming out of the lower bearings by the tool taper. Very important. Retrofit? No... on most any brand machine that old. Cost too much. You can buy a little smaller VMC new for that kind of money.
Steve

[xenginebuilder]

Ok, thanks DareBee and scadvice, I think I'll wait and save up for a newer machine. The one I was considering was relatively close to my location and had a 4th axis, but it looks like I need to try and find a machine that is a bit newer. The pricing was quite a bit higher than what you guys were estimating for a reasonable cost, so not the bargain I was thinking.

[DareBee]

A few years ago, I had to re-surface the ways on my 94 4020 88HS machine. It was due for a new spindle and already had the ballscrews replaced.
I thought about ditching the machine - I was offered $6000 for it!!!!!
NFWAY
I spent $10g on it.
Worth it considering what replacement would cost and the fact that we don't use it heavily.

(all $ are CDN)

[scadvice]

...to what I orginally said in price... now 4.5k to 7k...if in good shape.
Steve

[DareBee]

If you want to look at it from that angle.
My hand was forced into the rebuild. I wouldn't have bought that machine from me for more than scrap price.

I see similar era machines selling at auctions for scrap price.