Hi, i am looking for advice on purchasing a machining center for my garage. I have a friend of a friend that has a 1985 fadal 904-1 22x16 machine with the cnc88 control for sale. The machine turns on, jogs all axes, changes tools, but i have not seen it run a part. The machine was supposedly owned by a dentist who made teeth molds on it and used it lightly then the guy who is selling it purchased it approximately 20 years ago and had a friend run a few jobs on it but never learned how to run the machine himself so it has mostly just sat unused. Is there a runtime counter on this era of machine?

The few upgrades that i know of are as follows:
The control has an lcd screen installed.
There is a usb reader installed.
Separate MPG from control. Not sure if that is standard or not.

The owner told me the machine was capable of rigid tapping but from what i have read that is highly unlikely without some expensive upgrades since these early machines didn't come with that feature. How can i tell if it has rigid tapping capabilities.
How do i know if the control has upgraded processing boards and memory?
Will this machine be able to run cam programs with 3d contouring without choking?
Is this a machine worth buying because of its age?
How to tell if turcite on ways are good and if way lube system is working correctly?
Pictures of the machine and control cabinet are in second post below.


A few of the reasons im considering this machine are its size, has a tool changer, can be wired for single phase, price. I believe i can get the machine for 2500 to 3500$. Is that a good price if the machine is in good condition?

I have ran a late 90s fadal quite a bit in the past, numerous haas machines, large gantry dms 5 axis machines, Modern bridgeport machining center with okuma control, 6 axis tube cutting laser, i build a 4x8 cnc router from scratch. As you can see i have some decent experience with cnc machines but i am by no means an expert. I mainly program in cam programs like fusion 360, mastercam, delcam, hsm express.