I would like to know if any of you had spindle Failures with your Fadals? We have a Fadal 40x20 that is one & half years old & gone through 2 spindles. This machine only runs about 40-50 hours a week, not even running, that's turned on that many hours, it's no enviroment that I haven't run a machine in before. I would like to know if anyone else is having this problem.
Thanks

What spindle do you have. You can only run about 90% duty cycle on the standard spindles. It is recommended although not documented in writing that the greese packs only be run for 2-4 hours at high rpms and then shut down to allow the greese to cool.

We had the same problems with our 10K standard spindle. I think we replaced about three (3) before I insisted that they (Fadal) replace the spindle with an air/oil system. I have not had any problems with that since (knock on wood).

If it is an air/oil you need to check that the machine is oiling properly. I can not tell you how as I have inquired many times and get different answers each time and none make any sense.

I also like the fact that on my newest Fadal which has a 10K air/oil system, the spindle will not turn off when there is a low air pressure alarm. The rest of the machine stops but the spindle continues to run. We basically cannot run the machine in a lights out situation. NICE!

I'm looking for a solution to the frequent and expensive replacement of what should be a lifetime item - the spindle. Can't live with this any longer. I have the service tech replace our spindles so we know its done right - but they don't last. They're 10K, not air-oil, mostly aluminum cutting, not heavy use. Plus, seals leak causing belts to slip and stall spindle, smoke and burn.

how can you tell if you have an air/oil spindle? i just picked up a 1994 3O16 fadal, i'll try and load a pic of my machine

Look in the back. If you have a second lube resivouir above the way lube then you probably have an air/oil spindle. On a 1994 machine I kind of doubt it.

Neal

its a 15hp motor and has 10k rpm, machine will be delivered thursday. i thought the non air/oil spindles were less horsepower?

so is the non air/oil spindle junk? thanks

I haven't decided whether to use the word junk yet. I'm gettin the service records together, but I know in advance that they don't meet my service life expectation. I can't afford to baby a machine to slow the failures. We run 7 10k machines equipped with spindle coolant, though we don't use it often. I didn't notice bearing failure on our oldest machine, but on the newer ones, the bearings don't last. Seals leak getting the drive belts wet too. The spindle stalls and smokes, breaks the tool, damages the part. Have you had that experience

this machine is my first one, i'm in the process of getting it delivered to my shop, i dont plan on running it full out right away, its going to be a small business for on the side of my job as a machinist, i attached a pic of me standing on a job while i'm machining it, the machine has 40ft of travel, that job im standing on wieghts 38tons, we do big stuff

!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In the last year I've only replaced less than 5 spindles out of over 100 Fadals that I service. Mostly due to overheating. Either the chiller system is not working properly. Or the machine has been running very high rpm's for an extended peroid of time and the spindle was over 5 years old. I've even replaced a grease packed spindle with and air/oil mist spindle, I had to do a retrofit to add the air/oil mist kit, with success.

The pictured machine was just like the ones I used to work on. We had numerous problems with spindle belts, spindle bearings and through tool coolant. We had grease-filled spindles and I found that the only way to get a reasonable service life was run them slower than rated. 7.2K on a 10K spindle. This gave our machines 12 months before problems arose. I gave up on the low gear belts as well and just cut them off as we were only drilling and tapping, it had plenty of torque to do this in high gear. In my opinion these models were way overpowered, a great 7hp machine a fragile 15. It is funny though as our agent was shocked/amazed at the problems we had and always stated that these were only happening with our machines. I think he may have been fibbing a bit.(nuts)

ltmquik if that was my machine I would be worried, it must have been very poorly retro fitted? I believe the best fix would be to get a pressure switch onto your air supply and wire this into the Emergency stop or spindle enable circuit. Probably cost $100 and give you a bit of piece of mind. I am not familiar with the air-oil spindles but if they need air during run down you could fit a receiver with a check valve to hold air pressure during a run down -cool off period.
Cheers
Daza

Hi, I replaced the spindle in my 1990 4020 after 13 years. I ran a 6 inch long 1.250 dia. ball end mill and let it chatter. Bad move. In a few weeks, I could hear the race cage or what I thought it was whipping about every 5 seconds at 8000 RPM. When Victor replaced the spindle, he did not reconnect the oiler and hooked up a positive (5-7 PSI) air flow. He said the oilers didn't really work and Engineering came up with this fix. My 1997 2016L has the positive air to it and it runs 10 hrs a day at 7000 RPM with a very quiet spindle. I have a 1994 VMC15 grease machine and no problems overall from it. Makes you wonder about the day the spindles are assembled as we know a friday car may not be the best.