[zmajmr]

Hey Mike, any news ?

[mike^3]

Hey Marco! Yes much news! Ill upload some pics and vids tomorrow morning. But here goes...

Finished all the drywall (pics and vids soon)
About to mud up the walls
I found a Fadal VMC15 about 2 hours away from me for 2k! I could not resist the opportunity, so I bought it and finished putting it in my shop about an hour ago. (Pics to come tomorrow ;D)
I moved all my machines from my front garage to my rear garage. I still have a ton to do, but at least my shop wont be a blistering hell hole.

any news with you marco?

[zmajmr]

No news at me, cool , you have new machine, will be interesting to see your videos. You did not post long time so I just wanted to know how you doing with your projects.
:cheers:

[mike^3]

Its cool Marco .

[mike^3]

Im uploading the videos now, so they should be up and running shortly I will post the links when done ;D

[mike^3]

Alright guys, heres an update! WHOOT WHOOT! So here is where I stand with everything:

Just bought a Fadal VMC 15! Moved into shop on Monday.
Gonna retrofit to mach 3

I am so annoyed at linuxcnc that I am switching back to Mach 3. I gave it 3 months to learn about linuxcnc, and unfortunately its a PITA.
So I am returning my mesa cards (these are really cool cards, but only supported with linuxcnc , and buying a DSPMC. To become a truely closed loop system.

I will be retofitting my VMC 15 first, as I will need this to make brackets and parts for my other machines. That means these CHNC's will be taking the back seat for a little while.

Here are a few pics and new videos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGIs...ature=youtu.be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TT4a...ature=youtu.be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TF-t...ature=youtu.be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YSn...ature=youtu.be

[PIVOTALCUSTOMS]

First off, Congrats on the new machine. That was an absolute STEAL. Second if the FADAL powers up and runs, I REALLLYY don't see a need to retrofit. The Fadal control is admittedly "different" to use but once you use if for a week its not bad at all. I've run tons of parts on them, they even have some nice built in settings for setting offsets and such. I just don't see any benefit in taking a function machine and pulling all the electronics to retrofit. To much headache and cost for not enough gain. As far as the ballscrew goes why in the world did the balls fall out of the ballscrew nut? Where they trying to repair it? If the screw is still good and you decide to Reball the nut, i can give you the link to the guy I ordered my precision balls from, he had the best prices but some what limited selection. And hes in Orlando

[mike^3]

Hey Pivotal

So I powered up the machine, control works great! But one of my resolvers is bad. Its the X axis resolver, so I am going to swap it to the Y and double check its just the resolver not the interface cards.

I am uploading some vids so you can check them out .

Also the ball screw is fine! The guys that were repairing it thought the ballscrew nut ball came out. Its not that, its actually the linear rails that have play in them. If I push the table forward and back (from the far end) it moves a little. And the balls (1) that I found in the coolant base was way larger than the ballscrew balls, it wont even fit in the groove of the ballscrew. So now I know its the linear rails, I might have to replace them, ill try to take off the table in a couple days and take a look.

[PIVOTALCUSTOMS]

When you picked up that ball I was like WOW that is a huge ball in that screw! when you say you push on the table and it moves, are you pushing on it in line with the ballscrew and rails or perpendicular? I Replaced all the rails in the brother mill I am rebuilding and retrofitting, it was pretty pricey but the old ones were pretty trashed. I don't know what brand Rails and linear guides are in that machine, mine were tsubaki.

[mike^3]

So I took off the covers, and found where the balls were coming out, out of one of the linear rail hands (i think thats what their called).

Either way, I dont think thats the only issue. I think the y axis ballscrew has some where because when i push PERPENDICULAR (thanks pivotal ) to the x axis (basically from the front of the machine. I can feel it jump a bit, same thing when I go the opposite way, I will set up an indicator tonight and see if its the rails, ballscrews, or both....

Vids soon, damn iphone wont connect!

[mike^3]

Hey Pivotal, where did you buy those balls from? I may need some I think I have about 0.002" of backlash going on....

[mike^3]

Hey Guys im gonna start a new page on the fadal rebuild, once my shop is done il get back to the lathes

[zmajmr]

Hi Mike whats going on

Does Fadal thread exist or I can not find it?

[mike^3]

Hey Hey Everyone! So I have been making great progress so far...I had to rebuild some things on my fadal here http://www.cnczone.com/forums/fadal/...etrofit-2.html

I have to buy a 1 new linear rail truck $80. I reballed the ballscrews which had about 0.002" of backlash, now they should have none. I also had to replace the X-Axis resolver....$180.00...

I am repainting the interior of it today, and next week putting it all back together, everything works great on it, it just needed some clean up.

But I have a guy coming over that will be fabricating the enclosures, its gonna look and function very well! I will update pics soon

Thanks for everyone for following the thread....I might be moving up to colorado so I need to finish these machines before I move LOL