Help.

My used machine arrived with some issues. The big one is taken care of, CRT was bad. 1k later new color CRT is in and working fine.

OK now I find that the hard drive in the 32 mp controller is bad. Getting a new hard drive is cake, 40 bucks off the net, but my big problem is the software. Fadal won't just sell the software, they want 2500$ for a new (10 yr old technology) hard drive and mother board. Can't just buy the hard disk, and software and they wont just sell the disks. What a racket.

I can't believe they won't replace what is supposed to be "stock" software after a hardware crash...Thats like selling someone an install of windows and not allowing them to have the disk...WTF?

Does anyone want to contact me off the board and help me out?


Nervis3@netscape.net
Thanks

Isn't that just great? You have my sympathies.

I got sick of that racket, albeit from different "black box" manufacturers.

It's enough to drive a guy to do a pc based cnc retrofit. Doing so might be a bit of short term pain, but I think in the long run PC's are where its going to go anyways.

AMEN TO THAT !!!!!!!!

Can you believe this AL? I guess the 2500 mile trip was hard on this rig. The Fadal rep was there for cold start , and helped me track down the problems. The good news is that the spindle has either been cutting plastic it's whole life or was recently rebuilt because it's as loud as a celing fan at 2000 rpm. All of the driver cards, vector drive, toolchanger and 88 controller interface work fine, so I can still use it.

This mp controller is handy though and worth fixing I think. Having an onboard 40 gig hard drive and 128mb memory, cd player and two 3.5 floppies. I could easily swap a cd-r in there when I get it up and running. That would make program handling easy as falling off a log.

I can't tell you how much Fadal pissed me off though, when the parts guy told me they can't just sell me the disks.

The broken hard drive is at a local data recovery place right now. They tell me they can (probably ) recover the programs and replicate the whole disk. Everyone cross your fingers.

Hey Dave, when you read the posts about how Fadal stresses there service and parts above all else, HU, ( OUR RESIDENT nc GuRu) is right about the PC, the quicker you can get away from Fadal service I think the happier your going to be. Make really good friends with the Fadal rep. Even better buy stock in the company so when your really PO'ed you can tell them as an owner your not happy. Only Kidding don't get nervis. We set here in envy awaiting that moment when we see the pic's of the flying CHIPS.:D

I respect Fadal, but some of their policies seem short-sighted. For example, they want to "stick it to you" for service and or parts, but risk you as a machine customer by turning you off." Our company offers control retrofits that make their machines much more accurate and productive, and they even hold up better. Rather than embracing us as a proven domestic control builder, Fadal has fought that too, surely at the cost of a lot of market share. For alternative tech support, i suggest you contact KMAC-Parts Inc. at http://www.kmac-parts.com. they are well experienced and have a lot of parts, as far as i know.

The data recovery guys tell my HDD is kaput and no manner of man magic will bring the files out.

Apparently the lube that resides in the sealed spindle got out and spilled all over the spinning platters, then the heads made nice grooves all over them. Unrecoverable. Bummer.

I found a new CPU and HDD, upgraded from the 95 model for less at cncpros, so it should be here next week.

As soon as it gets here Norton Ghost will be used to make 2 backup hard drives, and I'll make backup CDs as well. That should solve that problem. If the main board goes I can replace it with a P4 for less than 200 bucks.


Anyone with an MP32 would be wise to do this BEFORE the hdd crashes, it's only a matter of time.

IMO, PC based control retrofit is the way to go now that you've spent all you should on your fadal control...

We're going to have side by side comparision going on here onsite between fadal's new augusta 104d control on a brand new AC servo CNC,
and a Rubicon / Numeryx PC based control retrofitted to an 8 year old fadal (with old DC servos).
The new fadal rapid = 900
The old fadal rapid = 700

Anyone want to wager which one will have faster cycle times, be far more accurate, break down less, be easier on wear items (ball screws, ways)?

Be sure to vote in the Fadal poll!!!

Scott_bob

This sounds like we'll have some Fun with this one, I can hardly wait to see the chips fly! It does offer to be more fun than watching the demo-crap pri-mate-aries on the boob tube. Stay tuned sports fans!:cool:

I think you should retrofit my machine for free and use it as a test bed. Of course you are welcome to come over and use it anytime.

If something is free of charge, it usually comes at a cost too high...

The best things in life come at a cost...

The value of something is measured by it's cost...

I'm a little philosophical right now,

Scott_bob

S just out of curiosity whats a full tilt conversion for a Fadal VMC go for? Ill guess 25-30 k?

For the Rubicon we're having installed, it's 28k...
That's installed, waranteed for 1 year, training...

But for the do it yourself'r it can be as low as 15k.
You gotta know what you're doing though for that.

Ben doing this a long time, and I've never seen anything like this before. We'll do some videos to show you all...

Imagine setting a glass of liquid on the mill table and running a program that is programmed at F400. with 3D toolpath, and not spill that liquid cause the CNC motion is so smooth. Can you imagine the improvement to quality, speed, tool life, machine life...

Very cool,
Scott_bob

I can't wait to see the pics of this installed on Dave's new toy. Love to be a pic on the wall when he explains to his wife why he's got to have it. Why do I feel their may be record low temps in the Valley of the Sun?

Jezuuus, don't ya know AL. 1st rule a being a guy says when telling the wife how much a new tool cost take any tool price and divide by 10.

Nervis1,

Here's the line I use with the wife: she buys appliances and so forth so she can do less work, I buy machine tools so I can do more work ;)