[carbidecraters]

Post up guys...everything from taking off the door interlock. We like our older F.A.D.A.L.'s (Frank, Al, Dave and Larry) but they could benefit from some small changes. Lets hear what others have done.

[IN2GLAMISGIRL]

Thru spindle coolant
Top chip covers (to keep everything inside)
Air blast controled by M7 (110v air valve pluged in to m7 port)
New lexan windows
Extra flood light on toolchanger side

[carbidecraters]

Thru spindle coolant
Top chip covers (to keep everything inside)
Air blast controled by M7 (110v air valve pluged in to m7 port)
New lexan windows
Extra flood light on toolchanger side

Which kit did you use fo the psindle through coolant?

[IN2GLAMISGIRL]

I installed the seal kit and tool out piston from Fadal parts. The drawbar comes with a coolant hole. (mine did anyway). And used a e-bay 250 psi gear pump. My orentation bridge was also drilled for the seal assy. The most work was routing and pulling the hose through the flex conduit down to the back.

[carbidecraters]

That is a very nice addition!! What did it end up costing you?

[DareBee]

I added a timed control to shut down the spindle fan, chiller, and chiller pump and immediate shut down of the air. Now I don't have to throw the disconnect switch to keep the machine from making noise, using power and pumping waylube when not in use.

[IN2GLAMISGIRL]

The parts from fadal were about $600 in 2001.
The used pump was $150
Filter,line and fittings $150
Look at the parts manual it is not that complicated

[fizzissist]

(--Francis, Adrian, Dave, And Larry--)

Put a -Y- in the coolant hose output, strung a plain ole garden hose inside the sheet metal of our 4020 for washing down.

Added 4Mb ram, and disconnected the door interlock. Toolchanger side light is next...then speakers.

I like the M7 airblast idea!

[IN2GLAMISGIRL]

wash down hose a must. On my machine with thru spindle coolant it is hooked to the high pressure line. It cleans up the leavings real nice.

[carbidecraters]

Yeah we T'd our coolant line as well from the pump for washing down the machine. On the older Fadals you really should do this. Also Their should be a kit for the spring loaded tool holder covers on the carousel like Haas has on their machines. I wonder if a upgrade is available for the carousel.

I see Fadal has their 5 axis head pictured but none for sale on their site....wonder whats up with that.

[redman]

I upgraded from a -2 with 422k to a -5 with 4megs memory.
i love it . it is worth every penny to me.

[carbidecraters]

what did that cost you?

[redman]

It was $5,300 for the up grade after core charge. I had fadal do the install,that was about $300.00 with drive time. The ram i bought for $500.00 from a customer of mine who upgraded to 8 megs. In my opininon if you have an old system (-2) and are doing surfacing work, Its worth every dime.Not just becuase of the extra memory, the machine runs so much faster on surfacing jobs, It is great.

[carbidecraters]

Is the -2 the MP? I thought the -5 was the 88hs, maybe I am wrong

[redman]

1988 VMC 40 with the Fadal cnc88

[little bubba]

The best mod I haven't gotten to yet is to eliminate the water cooling to the ballscrews. Before we got the machine, it had already been eliminated on the X axis, if it had it there at all. Horrible design, the seals leak, and there goes the thrust bearings. I can understand cooling the thrust bearings and the ball nut, but trying to run coolant through the spinning ball screws, thats just asking for trouble, especially since the coolant comes in right at the thrust bearing.

Other mods I haven't gotten to, switches to turn off the spindle chiller, way lube pump and spindle fan at night(noisy buggers), I don't like shutting the whole machine down at night, its takes too long to bring it back up, just an e-stop.

The other mod is some sort of cooler for the cabinet with all the boards in it. We run most of the summer with the cabinet open or risk stupid errors and overloads. There are 5 fans in there, and no way for the heat to escape, I know the fans eliminate the "hot spots" but it gets really really toasty in there, maybe one of the dirt cheap 3000 btu AC at Lowes for about $70. I know people say you don't want to blow in, but our Mazak has a cooling unit on the back that sucks into the cabinet and that machine is older and more reliable, though it is labeled as a heat exchanger, so I don't know if any air is actually going into or leaving the cabinet, I'll have to go look at it a little harder, I don't get back there much.

[DareBee]

The best mod I haven't gotten to yet is to eliminate the water cooling to the ballscrews. Before we got the machine, it had already been eliminated on the X axis, if it had it there at all. Horrible design, the seals leak, and there goes the thrust bearings. I can understand cooling the thrust bearings and the ball nut, but trying to run coolant through the spinning ball screws, thats just asking for trouble, especially since the coolant comes in right at the thrust bearing.

Other mods I haven't gotten to, switches to turn off the spindle chiller, way lube pump and spindle fan at night(noisy buggers), I don't like shutting the whole machine down at night, its takes too long to bring it back up, just an e-stop.
.

The Y axis seems to be the worst for leaking, but they are all very easy to bypass.

For the time-out circuit on the air, chiller etc; we had to install a new Estop with a double contact circuit and pull in dedicated wire to the timer relays. We were getting power fluctuations through the factory circuit and the relays were chattering on startup.

[fizzissist]

Forgot to mention we also added the carburetor air filter to the top of the spindle motor....keeps the motor cleaner, and cooler.

[carbidecraters]

1988 VMC 40 with the Fadal cnc88

So you went from cnc88 to what?

[redman]

It is still a cnc 88, Just has -5 system now