Seven year Fadal Rebuild

[scadvice]

I Thought this might be of interest to those who contemplate buying an old machining center and rebuilding it, and the problems that can occur along way along with the things in life that may impede its completion.

But, it is a happy ending, and that just goes to show you that if you don’t give up, things will work out. I'm sorry that I cannot show you the pictures of the machine before the rebuild as they were lost during a messy divorce.

So here it starts:


Bringing to life a sleeping 1996 FADAL...

About 7 years ago (2003) I’m on a business trip down in San Diego, Southern California. At this time I happen to work up in Northern California in a town called Healdsburg, and I’m doing a vendor audit and first article inspection for parts on the Army’s Excalibur project.

For those who are interested, do a web search on “Excalibur 982”, that should link you to the details, it also has been on the program ‘Modern Weapons .

I work for General Dynamics, and they are the sole providers for the electro- mechanical system that guides the shell after it has been fired. Anyway, during a lunch conversation with that vendor, I happened to mention to the shop manager, I really wanted to have a machining center again for a retirement shop I was thinking of setting up.

He said he knew of an auto transmission shop just around the corner that had a 1996 Fadal CNC 88HS 15XT with a 4th axis for sale. It had programmable coolant, HT and ridged tapping…. and it was just sitting there… and it had been for a long time. He said they wanted to get rid of it so they could use the service bay it was in for transmission work.


The story was that the original owner was a ‘one man’ mold shop who, two years after buying the new machine, retired or got sick, I’m not sure which, at the time I wondered why a mold shop would have ordered it with the 4th axis, but who am I to question? Anyway, He sold it to this guy who owns the transmission shop and that guy sets it up in one of his shop bays.

You see, he has this idea he can make a lot of money making ball joints and steering linkages for VW’s which were really popular in San Diego at the time. Mind you, the guy doesn’t even know how to run or program the machine, so he has to hire a guy to setup and program it for him.

Well, this is 1998 and the machine tool market has just taken a big hit so nobody is buying. So, when the project falls through 3 months later, the machine sits in this bay, unused, gathering dust, dirt and crud for almost 5 years… never running.

Once during this 5 year period it’s slow at the transmission shop, and the owner, to keep one of his guys busy, tells him to go get paint and do the inside of the machine. He had him spray can paint it because it was coolant stained and he thinks it will help sell it easier being painted.

Well, his worker, who has not that experienced in painting, did no sanding or any preparation what so ever, he doesn’t even wash it off first and now it looks like hell inside and the color doesn’t even come close to matching the original. But, other than that and a 1/8” thick layer of dust, grit, plus the tool changer not working and faulting out because of all the gritty crap on it coming from some nearby grinders he uses for transmission rebuilds… most everything else works great and the table has not a mark on it.

I turned it on, home it, jog the axis and run the spindle, we talked a bit, and the guy, concerned about the tool changer, says that if I decide to buy it offers to get it fixed.

The year I’m looking at this machine is 2003, and it’s again right at the very bottom of a used machine market down turn, so 25 cents on the dollar is the normal selling value of a machine. I want the machine… but I’m not sure he’s going to go for what I got in cash to offer.

Anyway, as I said that’s all I got so I just decided to be honest and tell him what my situation is and how I see the market, because as I see it, it doesn’t hurt to try.

”Look, I said, if you were willing to hang on to the machine for somewhere between six to eighteen months the prices may come back up to 20 to 26k or even more for the machine after it was cleaned up. Right now though, a dealer is going to give you maybe 10 or 13k max, unless of course, he has a buyer on the hook, then he may go a bit higher, it’s even a possibility you might be able to pressure him you to get you 2K or more because of the 4th axis and programmable coolant."

I tell him,” they‘ll charge you six to eight hundred bucks to come out and fix the tool changer and it’s mostly just dirty which I can fix it myself, if I buy it. I want the machine, but my problem is I only have about 13k and I need twelve hundred for shipping and about eight hundred for a fork lift on each side, so I’ve only got around 11k left to offer you.”

I’m sure he probably won’t go for this deal, but he says he’ll let me know later that day. He seems to be a really nice guy and I’m glad I didn’t try to BS him, no matter how it comes out.

To be continued...

Steve

[scadvice]

"As I said, “He seems to be a really nice guy and I’m glad I didn’t try to BS him, no matter how it comes out”."

Later, that afternoon, while I’m winding up my business for General Dynamics, I get a call from the transmission shop owner and he tells me we have a deal if I’m still interested. He says he really needs the service bay and he knows I was honest with him because just a few weeks back he sold it to a dealer for 11k.

The deal fell through when the dealer shows up with a truck and a fork lift ready to move the machine and proceeds to give one of his customers a bad time for being parked in front of the bay with the machine and is yelling at the owners employees about it. A real piece of work this guy, he’s ordering everyone around and disrupting the shops business.

So, the owner comes out, see’s what’s going on, walks up to the dealer who hands him a check for the machine. The owner is now not happy. He looks at the check, then looks up at the dealer and tears up the check. He says the deals off, and for the dealer to get the hell out of his shop.

I tell him I sure am interested and arranged to come over early that evening. When I get there, I give him a check for the machine then, while he does paperwork in his office, I work on the machine to get it ready for shipping.

I clean enough dirt and grit out of the tool changer and get it the control to open with a TC, 1 command then rotate the carrousel and remove the few tools that are in it. I drop the spindle down on to a 6 by 6 chunk of wood, install and bolt in the shipping bars, jog the tension off the chains and shut her down.

As I unload the 4th axis tails stock I find 16 assorted tool holders that are to go with the machine. It’s a nice surprise as I hadn’t noted how many there were before.

I stretch wrap the whole machine with a big roll of wrap I bought on the way over from a U-Haul dealer, Now is getting close to midnight so after boxing up the tools and checking the bolts holding the 4th axis on the table, I shake hands with the shop owner and head, exhausted, back to the hotel to sleep.

Early the next morning, I hop a plane back to my Santa Rosa home in Northern California. That’s near my office in the next town Healdsburg.

About a week later its machine arrival day and it is pouring rain. I mean it is really POURING RAIN. The type of rain that will soak you to the bone in 30 seconds. What am I going to do to keep it dry after the trucker pulls off his tarps for the move? Well, he is nice enough to wait until I can run over to a local Harbor Freight store and get some plastic traps to cover it when he removes his.

I’ve rented a forklift and have some good experience in moving equipment. So I lift the machine off the truck and he’s on his way down the road. All of this is happening in front of the gate at the storage rental place. Unfortunately the access road was too narrow for the trucker to get his rig in and a course the larger units like the one I’ve rented is way in the back row.

This is going to be great.

I’m all by my stupid planning self with no one to help or guide me. No spotter for the 500 feet to the storage unit. Its late fall and 4:00pm, so it’s going to get dark real soon. The forklift rental place is a 10 minute drive away from the storage unit and it closes at 5:00pm. The timing is going to be close, but it should do able with no problems… Right??

Leaving the forklift running with the machine on it, I walk back to the storage unit to get a lay of the land so I don’t have to get off the forklift too much. The downpour, incredibility and impossibly continues to get heavier, cutting off more of the decreasing light. As I get close to my unit, I suddenly splash wetly into over a foot of water now covering the access road. What the… is my storage unit flooded also?

To be continued ...

Steve

[scadvice]

Back to the story:

”As I get close to my unit, I suddenly splash wetly into over a foot of water now covering the access road. What the… is my storage unit flooded also?”

Disheartened, I slosh through the rising flood to the front of my unit. Covering my cap with my hand I can just barely see the roll up doors and the unit numbers in the rain. With a sigh of relief I find my unit is actually above flood stage and will remain so, but it does have a river of water flowing in a torrent past the roll-up door and out into a field next to the storage area.

I hurry back to the machine and move it forward toward the unit. At the deepest part of the flooded roadway I find I can’t see, and I have to get off of the forklift to check for clearance around the corner, thereby again soaking myself up to my knees. The flood has deepened. But, I can see my roll-up door and fortunately it’s still above the high water and looks to continue to stay so due to the flow out in to the field.

It’s a slam dunk from here right? Moving through the flood, I maneuver the machine up to the roll-up and start edging it in. I look to each side of the machine and up to the z axis motor checking the clearance as I go, and find I’m going to hit the top of the roll-up by about a inch!! I know I measured everything for clearance… what the Hell… Damn, I realize I have forgotten about the height increase from the fork extensions and the ramp approach angle!

Disheartened, cold, wet, and really stressed now…I get off the forklift.

The rain unbelievability has gotten harder, no lightning or thunder though, because there’s not too much of that in California. I have about 35 minutes to get the machine in the unit, then get the forklift to the rental place where my truck is, it’s almost dusk and, getting really hard to see with all the rain and cloud cover.

Fortunately, my dad taught me to keep my tool box with me at all times during these type projects and it’s on the fork lift where I put it as I left the rental place. I pull back the tarp, climb up the back of the machine remove the 4 hex bolts holding the z axis motor then lay it down between the spindle motor and z axis motor mount. I drop the bolts into sheet metal by the table and quickly recover the machine.

I hop down the machine leaving my tool box on the controller cabinet and drive the machine into the unit. The cable cover rubs on the roll-up but I’m just able to get her in. I set it on stacked two by fours, then quickly close the roll-up and drive the forklift back to the rental place with 5 minute to spare.

Cold and shivering I drive back to the storage unit and hit the light switch. Go figure, the light is burnt out in the rental unit and I can hardly see a thing. I pull the tarps off anyway using a flashlight and wipe the machine down as best I can in the dark.

When I wearily head home and walk in the house wife asks where the hell I’ve been? I keep my cool, stay polite and keep my mouth shut a head for the shower.

The next day the sun is shining and after I get off work I go back the storage unit to check out the machine. I find that it’s wet all over despite the tarps I used because it was just too much rain. I’ve brought rolls of paper towels, a fan, an electrical extension cord, plus one of those screw-in light sockets with a plug in the side combos that I picked up on the way over from the hardware store and also, a light bulb.

I wipe it down again and wipe 30wt motor oil with a rag on everything that is bare metal.

When I open the electrical cabinets I, find the cabinets insides and the electrical boards are wet with condensation, so I point the fan I brought inside and turn it on. It takes three days to dry it all out.

To be continued…

Steve

[scadvice]

When I open the electrical cabinets I, find the cabinets insides and the electrical boards are wet with condensation, so I point the fan I brought inside and turn it on. It takes three days to dry it all out.

The machine sits in storage for almost two years while I build a shop in the back of our house thanks to all the county building codes, rules, and fee’s.

It’s 2005 now and when the shop is finally done. I rent a truck and forklift to move the Fadal in along with a manual lathe and an old knee mill with a Trak Plus controller I also bought. Fortunately this time the equipment is now being moved into the shop in the summer, so the 6 inch thick packed blue rock driveway on the side of the house has no issues with the weight.

Well, life throws you some curves sometimes and my wife and I go through a bit of a nasty divorce. Well, during this time and unknown to me she turns off the heating and cooling to the shop, even though I’m paying for the utilities.

So, as I said, it’s a bit nasty and takes about two and a half years to finalize. Divorce lawyers are the scum of the earth by the way. I’m staying away from the house a lot during this time, as you might expect, and when the house gets sold as part of the settlement, I have to move the machines out with very little notification.

I enter the work shop after being away for two years I find the machines covered with heavy rust. Thank you very much Ex! The power turned off for who knows how long in a metal building, not good at all.

I’m really pi$$ed and I call my attorney to complaining that she failed in her responsibility to keep our assets in good condition as ordered by the court. He says, sure, he can get me compensation but that his fees would by more than I could get!

I settle down and get to busy plastic tarping the machines before the rigger comes out because it’s raining again! Why does it always seem to rain when I move a machine?

Day one:

It’s been three days of rain but it should be no problem…right? Uhh…I said right? The rigger and I have talked about the weather, the forklift, and the 200 foot of blue rock driveway. So, like I said… no problem.

The rigger arrives and he has shown up with the wrong forklift. He takes one look around, says he’s not ready for this and to let him think about it then drives away.

Later, he calls me and says that it’s his fault for not having the right equipment, so it’s on his dime for today. We talk about it and I say I can rent fork lift for tomorrow with dual pneumatic tires and he says let’s go for it.

Day two:

Now its four days of rain with stuff literally floating in the yard. But we’re smart, you see, we got 4 sheets of 1 1/8 inch flooring plywood the real stuff.

I told you, we're smart so we get started…

The rigger drives the forklift into the shop and gets manual lathe (3500 pounder). As he backs load back over the plywood it leaves about inch depression in the driveway. OK, not to bad. Next he brings out the manual mill and now we know we got problems because the plywood is floating!!

The neighbor next store to has come out and is watching all this with a wrey and simpathic smile on his face then says the obvious, we have a problem. He pops up with “why you don’t take the two cords of firewood you have stacked by the fence and lay it out under the plywood to give the platform a solid base.” I'll be dam# out of the mouths of ....

It takes three hours to get the Fadal on the truck, moving the firewood and two sheets of the plywood at a time.

It was real fun cleaning the gravel driveway up. I had to wait a month for it to dry enough to work on. The new owners were none too happy.

To be continued… The work now starts to clean up and rebuild the Fadal… maybe.

Steve

[scadvice]

"It was real fun cleaning the gravel driveway up. I had to wait a month for it to dry enough to work on. The new owners were none too happy."


It’s early 2008 and after almost three years of going through a divorce, I’m dating now and take a wonderful lady snow skiing. I taken a number of women out before this, not being a guy who likes being alone. It’s kind of ironic that with the many ups and downs on this dating thing, I find that one lady… just when I stop looking. I tell my best friend that I thought this date was just a good time with someone who likes the same sport, skiing for the weekend and we would go our separate ways. But, I am one of the fortunate ones who finally finds his true partner at the downhill side of his life, a little late, but better than never.

It’s time for a change, so I move to Lodi, California where she lives and now need to move my machines and set up a new business.

I moved the machines and put them in storage for 8 months until I finally find a shop to move into. The unit I have doesn’t have 3 phase but the owner promises to put it in as that the unit next to mine has it... so... no problem. Right?

I’m finally able to start taking the old girl apart and clean her up (The Fadal, not the girl friend!!) . I pull the tool changer completely off and clean all the individual pieces. Fortunately, only one part needs replacement. The roller bearing attached to the arm that moves the umbrella forward for a tool change is rusted solid. I buy the stud and bearing from FadalCNC for around 25 or 30 bucks.

The table was well protected because I coated it with motor oil and rags well soaked in the same. There is some rust, but most comes off with a little elbow grease and a copper wire pad, kerosene and ironically, a Boraxo hand soap mix. I pull the way covers off because they are rusted badly. I don’t understand why they used non stainless metal? Cost reduction I guess. Anyway, I also pull the front and back covers for the rails off and there are literally piles of rust globs sitting there on and by the rails. But, I'm lucky because the grease covering the rails protects them and it all wipes away accept for one small spot on one of the X axis rails that does not effect the performance, nor can you hear it.


I buy an orbital sander on E-Bay during that time and after applying rust remover, sand and texture the surface the way covers and all other bare metal surfaces. I replace the old rubber wipers with new wipers from Gortex. Some of you will recall that, because I sold the rest of the $150 minimum buy to some of you!

Alas…again….. I have to move because the commercial building I’m in has no 3ph power and the landlord, who promised to install it, has not done so after five months of waiting, I break the lease based on this and move.He threatens to sue and after a brief consult with an attorney, I tell him to go ahead, but he never does. Anyway, So far, I’m out 3 grand in moving cost, and here we go again, I gather up my machine, now in pieces, and get ready to move.

Since, I’m only moving about two blocks I rent a forklift to move the machines myself. I’m still working a five day week and commute 2.5hrs three times a week, so I and can only move the machines on the weekend. I make arrangements for the rental on Saturday and as the day arrives, the forecast is for rain. Again???
To be continued...

Steve

[scadvice]

“So, I make arrangements for the rental on Saturday. Saturday arrives and the forecast is for rain.”

Saturday is here, and so far it’s only cloud covered and windy. My girl friend’s older brother, Stanton owns a 600 acre vineyard ranch and has one of his workers, Rauleu available to help if I want him. I do, so I hire Rauleu and borrow Stanton’s tractor trailer... also from the vineyard.

We arrive at the shop, fortunately with no change in the weather. I load up the machines with Rauleu’s help and he drives the four blocks to the new site with me following on the forklift. This time I beat it, the rain starts just as I move the last machine in! I’m getting really good at moving these machines!

During this time, I also I buy a 1997 Akira Seiki ASL-17 lathe with a Fanuc OT control and an almost new Kent Series II knee mill with a 3 axis AcuMill control, adding these to my little equipment list. The shop is now starting to take form even though I not in the final building.

The tool changer is still off, along with all the poorly repainted covers. I have to remove programmable coolant to remove the spindle cover which I want to repaint also. I take these covers over to the ranch and sand blast the paint off of them, then primer and repainting them with two part epoxy paint.

I’m not in the building for a month now when I get a call from my new landlord telling me the city will not let him rent industrial but only sell storage spaces after they already gave him a permit to do so! They rescinded building permit and code on the new building because the city, in its wisdom, didn’t tell him he had to put in a now $250K storm drain spill containment system!

I’m beginning to think the fate is stomping on my back yard to keeping me from making this happen.

Not that it helped much, but the landlord did refund my money and allowed me a free rent until I found a new place. I did quickly find a place but was only good enough to store and finish fixing the Fadal plus store some other stuff I had. It is now coming into late 2008 and I’m moving again.

Since the move was only about a block, I used only a forklift and on a Sunday, moved them one by one to the temporary shop using the road. Thank God there was no rain and it was bright and sunny. Maybe things are looking up?

This place has 240 volt 3ph power, so I can fire the Fadal up when I got her back together enough. I wire the Fadal, Kent, and Manual lathe up, but I decide not wire the Akira Seiki lathe because the voltage is 243 volts on each leg so I don’t risk it since that it is more than 10% over the recommend voltage.

I take all the coolant lines out and replace them, spend weeks cleaning the rust off and the same amount of time cleaning and sanding the paint down on the inside and outside surfaces of stained, scratched, and worn places. Three areas do not get new paint, the front, back opposite the tool changer and the right side. These are look good after cleaning and rubbing out with rubbing compound and waxing.

My paint bill now is hitting over 375 bucks and that has painted only the inside cowling covering the spindle, the auto coolant, tool changer, and its umbrella, also the removable side panels, and the inside front panels, the outside rear of the machine chip guard, but only as I said, the left side. The top panels and right side chip housing. The gray castings have also been repainted.

While talking to a friend that I practice martial arts with, he comes up with a solution to solve my painting expense problem. He has friends who are in the sheet metal business that owe him favors and… he owes me favors for things I’ve done for him. The end result of all this is 22 gauge, bent to fit, stainless sheet metal panels for the remaining side and bottom surfaces on the inside for a 150 bucks.

I make a few adjustment cuts to them with my nibbler and using “The right Stuff” , liquid nail, nuts and bolts with aluminum trim to install a nicely finished inside chip guard.

The tool changer is still off and so is the auto coolant servo, but I want to test the table servos a little and the spindle after the years long sleep. With hesitation but still determined to do so, I throw the breaker… Humm… the fans come on… no popping sounds… I check the electrical and everything, so far, is good.

Now, am I gutsy enough to turn the servos and cpu on? For those who have Fadals…do you feel lucky enough to hit the green button? Ya… that’s what I set out to do… so I’m going to do it. Flinching and with my face turn slightly away as if it’s going to blow or something … I press the green button…

Nothing…just a little solenoid bump… then nothing…well, the inside light did come on. So, I walk quickly around to the front of the machine and look at the screen …It’s on! The screen flickers a few times and then settles down.

I told myself I would bring it all the way up… servos on… and spindle on. Mind you, this machine was last turned on in 2003 and it’s now the end of 2008…close to five years has passed. This machine has been subjected to heat, cold, sweating, dripping rust, dust and dirt. Not to mention a bad divorce.

So I hit the jog button…

…and flip the axis selection to the x servo and jog the table over to the CS line then the y and the z. They run great… no weird or unexpected noises. OK… again so far…it’s good. Now I type in CS and hit the enter button the table bumps and settles on the marks… without thinking much about it I type yes to the screen question to go to the last home start position… Whoa!!! The table rapids for the end of the x minus travel and I hit the E-Stop because I don’t know if it’s going to stop or just bang up against the hard stop!

Hum??? Allrighty, let’s do this again… I release the E-Stop put it back jog mode and move the table back to the cold start lines then go through the CS again but say noooooo to going to the last home position. I’ve forgotten how to reset this so I have to look it up in the manual. It resets right to where I want it. I’m thinking everything is good in old Steve’s world today as I look up to see smoke coming from the top of the spindle motor…

To be continued…

Steve

PS...I hope someone is reading this... the last post is coming up next with pictures of the machine and it running. s

[Ron Dunn]

Reading AND enjoying. Way out of my league, but very well written.

[dblox]

I've been checking this thread twice a day for updates! Also, you've made me realise I would eagerly read novels about CNC machines.

[scadvice]

...I almost messed up.

“I’m thinking everything is good in old Steve’s world today as I look up to see smoke coming from the top of the spindle motor… ”

I shut the Fadal down, put some rags on the table, then I climb up to the top of the spindle motor. The original cowling is missing and someone has converted the machine to using an auto air filter, it has butterfly nut atop and its own cover. It’s the same type of air filter I recall seeing on souped up V8’s in hot rods in the old days.

Anyway, I pull the filter assembly off and toss it all in the trash then pull the fan. Looking down into the top of the motor fan assembly, I can smell burnt insulation in the windings. The panic in me subsides as I realize it is just the cooling fan that has shorted out and I can see the burned spot where the smoke has come from.

It’s also covered with oil and not just a few chips. Lack of proper maintenance is most likely the cause. I check fan number and call for a price on a replacement from a local dealer. He says they are 129 bucks and I “Mister Cheapo” tell him I’ll call back. I do a web search and find new one from a surplus outfit for about 50 bucks including shipping… so send for it. I also order a new cowling from FadalCNC. I think it was around 70 bucks or so.

After I get the new fan and cowling in, I go down to the local auto parts and find a new auto filter that will fit inside the original equipment cowling and allow for fan clearance inside. I finally find one, but I still need to cut a slot for the connector to the fan for a nice fit. Now I have a ready source at the local Kragen Auto Supply.

However, I can see the light yellowish color of the filter and I don’t much like the looks of it. As I’m trying think of how to make it look better, I spy a new replacement dark gray foam filter for the shop vacuum. Testing this, cut in half along the horizontal axis, it stretches nicely around the auto filter inside the cowling. This looks much better now and is also cheap to replace and doesn’t seem to impede air flow.

While I was waiting for the fan, I’ve pulled apart the programmable coolant, cleaned and replaced all of the coolant lines. There is about 15 feet of ¾” line in this machine and it’s not a bad job to replace. You do have to cut the old lines from the brass fittings though because they seize to the fittings after time.

Next I put the newly painted spindle and servo coolant covers on along with the servo unit back on the machine. They fit somewhat tight and I wonder at this as I get them on. This doesn’t make sense because they came off quite easily.

I remind you here that all painting on the inner cowlings and parts associated to them were sand basted down to bear metal and thoroughly cleaned with acetone before epoxy primer undercoated with a sealer primer for the epoxy paint, then painted with about four coats of the top coat. BTW - Two part epoxy paint can be very brittle if handled improperly.

I know I can check to see if the servo coolant works by just turning the machine on and moving the manual adjustment pot. Not playing with it is killing me so I have to turn it on… why? Because programmable coolant is so cool! I turn on the Fadal and hit the green button, punch in the “CS”… enter …and watch the axis do their little jump after which the coolant servo starts to move. It’s at that move I hear a loud POP! (I believe there was also message on the screen saying something about a coolant servo amp failure), so with a groan, I quickly shut the machine down.

I walk to the back of the machine and as I do so I can smell burned circuit board. I pop open the Amps and cpu cabinet at the left of the machine, and sniff my way to the left upper corner where the coolant servo amp is located. It is the source of the very strong burnt smell and when I reach up and touch the outside of the amp box I can feel a spot that is still quite warm there. That’s not a good sign I think to myself.

I call FadalCNC just to ask what the replacement amp is worth and feel the pain of about 1200 to 1400 bucks. Ow! Disheartened, I sit there for awhile and think about it while staring at the amp. I decide it can’t hurt to try, so and I pull the amp box completely loose and open it up to see what I can see, but not really expecting much. There is it seems to be the problem… and it appears to be staring me right in the face. Well, maybe it is anyway. I can see this large 50 watt resistor blown apart. It looks like there was a crack in the ceramic case and that moisture had gotten into it so it self-destructed.

I ordered two of them for about 20 bucks including shipment from an electronics catalog, get out the old soldering iron and solder in the replacement a week later. I put the amp back in and cranked the Fadal up and son-of-gun if she’s as good as new and everything works fine!

By this time I’ve reinstalled the tool changer and gone through the adjustment procedure as outlined in the manual. It’s really well presented and everything has work out just fine with a few minor adjustments. I find the, new to me popping sound, that the tool release makes discomforting until I hear the same sound on some of the U-tube vids making the same noise. My old 89 Fadal didn’t make that noise.

For those of you that may want to repaint the inside of a Fadal, I’ll give you a little advice… the sheet metal covers to the tool changer and spindle will warp if you sand blast the old powder coat off. Recall that I said the spindle cover fit a little tightly? Well, that was, as I found out, because the sheet metal warped with the sand blast, so you will need straighten the walls back out before painting. I had to do this after painting, which is risky and may crack the epoxy paint. I was just lucky that it didn’t.

You can straighten the covers with the standard ½ inch hold down stud and bolts set. You use them to create expansion tools. With those and blocks of wood, you stretch the sheet metal back out and straighten the sidewalls. It takes patience, but it works quite well.

I’ve never liked the lighting system Fadal has and as I’m getting ready to address this issue, the x- axis amp board dies…

To be continued… and it is the last of this series…the next posting will have the pictures I’ve promised. Not all of the problems are fixed yet, but with that posting they will be…

What is in the future postings? How about setting up a new machine shop business?

It takes me 2 to 3 hours to type up an episode. Then, because I think weirdly, I have to rewrite it into 'Normal' for the rest for all of you to read!

Steve

[Hack]

I enjoy reading about your saga. You have moe patience then what I would ever have. Keep em coming.

Dan

[carbidecraters]

I read your posts on the practical site. Wish you had pictures.

[scadvice]

It's funny, I just didn't think about them too much at the time. What pictures I did have were lost during the big "D". I've looked for pic's on the web of machines in similar condition to use as representative examples but found none that had so much rust and such.

I also keep thinking of little details and discovered tricks that happened along the way that could help others in buying, shipping and rebuilding a fadal, or any machine for that matter.

One example on the Fadal is that if you take the tool changer apart, as I did, it really would have helped if I had taken pictures as I removed the parts, especially in my case where the changer was apart for more the 8 months. One little thing I did do that was of great help was I measured and wrote down the distance the main umbrella shaft nut was at from the end before removing it.

When after re-assembly, when I discovered the tool change position was almost exactly one half of the ball screw pitch, it made it easy to realize that I had re-installed the Z motor 180 out on its coupling after removing it on that flooding and rainy night at the storage place and not tightened the Bellville washers system down too tight.

This is not to say that the manuals are lacking, it’s just little things like that that are a really great help.

Another trick is that any part you remove that has and adjustment is to mark, measure, and replace them to the orginal position they were at. This helps greatly when trying to tune those positions, because to start over and try again, all you have to do is move back to the starting point. It can be very confusing if you've lost your original.

Think about it, if what your adjusting is NOT the issue your trying to solve, without this starting point, you now have just added a new adjustment problem. Not good!

I found also, it was just about impossible to disassemble the main body of sheet metal without damaging it. I was only able to remove the top pieces, ect. If anyone has managed to do so, I sure would like to know how they did it without bending things all out of whack?!

Steve