Would you buy another FADAL????

[machinescnc]

Hello everyone,

I just got my first CNC center, about 6 months ago. Fadal 6030, 1999, 88HS.I used to work with Makino, Mazak,Haas, Hurco..... I was little bit sceptical about Fadal brand, but we need it something with the travel capabilities this machine has and somethig that will fit our budget. I must say that I'm very impressed with the machine. Super easy friendly to use, parts are a LOT cheaper than any other brand. Service available everywhere. If i need another CNC center I would buy Fadal again!

I would like to hear from you guys!

Thanks

E

[David Ferguson]

I don't need another one, but I'm not selling mine!

[carbidecraters]

Definately yes would buy one but if I needed current day and age speed I wouldnt buy one there are much better choices. Fadal machines are great for OEMs and those that dont need to rip out parts faster than the competition.

[KevinV_MEI]

It depends. We use ours for anything and everything. Not blazing fast, but holds tolerances/hole locations like crazy, even for being 21 yrs old. If the price was right like this one was, I have a small selection of tooling already, and the typical workload type was/is the same, sure would. For all of the above reasons, ease of use, serviceability, etc.

[D.D.Machine]

I got a new 15XT back in 98 and have made 80% of my living off it, it has only gone down "once" in 13 years, when I was looking at buying a new small VMC back in 98 I called selway 3 times before they even bothered to ship me paperwork on the haas machines and then after 2 more calls to them I still did not have a price on the haas , I made one call to ellison machine about the fadals and had there sales guy at the shop the next morning, the service ellison has gave me has been 100% . I think haas is a good machine but there dealer out here in seattle area blows. when I started needing a second small VMC I went looking for a fadal and found one a month ago , its a 2002 vmc 15 and had 300 hours on it, I had to fix some oiling metering units on it but thats all it needed, It has payed for its self in 3 weeks of running and I could not be more happy with fadals.

for the price there the best thing going in my book.

[SBC Cycle]

Short answer - Depends.

It always seems like everyone has the same comment about the Fadal. It starts with - "For the money"...

If bottom dollar to get you in the door to CNC machining is the heaviest factor Fadal should be a first choice (availability of machines of course is relevent since Fadal's demise).

Our mid to late 90s Fadals (bought brand new) are pretty rock solid. Fixed some major issues right off the bat and they've been trouble free ever since.

In 2008 we bought the last brand new Fadal our dealer had ('08 3016) and a "new" Factory ReManufactured 4020. We got a great deal on both and still paid too much. Thousands of dollars in repairs in the first few months and constant downtime. The ReMan is a frankenstein like conglomeration of parts that the casting was never designed to use, impossible to order correct parts for, and has a Y ballscrew that is not inline with the ways that CAN'T be fixed (casting interference).

The smaller 3016 hasn't been as bad but there are fundamental flaws in it's design too. Don't want to really get into it but it scraps parts regularly because something is causing the X axis to spontaneously jump a 1/2" or so before it "corrects" (jumps back to where it should be), then e-stops. It happens when we are cutting Delrin (we do a lot of it) and I suspect it is a static electricity thing but we can't solve it. Come to think of it, both of the new machines have done it and I think it's because the servo cables aren't shielded. Anyway, forget the repairs, we are spending thousands a year on scrap parts. The only fix we have at the moment is fan/suction system to keep that shavings out of there which is a minor safety issue.

Too long of a reply already but to sum up - "for the price" of the last Fadals we bought in '08 we picked up 2 used Haas VF-3s (2008 and a 2010 that was just 3 months old) loaded with Renishaw probing, augers, P-Cool, basically loaded, in December last year. Lucky? Maybe. But I won't be looking at another Fadal. Maybe for the garage at home because tooling is not a problem but not to try to make a living with. These Haas machines have never had a tech's hands on them.

[Waynno]

Hello everyone,

I just got my first CNC center, about 6 months ago. Fadal 6030, 1999, 88HS.I used to work with Makino, Mazak,Haas, Hurco..... I was little bit sceptical about Fadal brand, but we need it something with the travel capabilities this machine has and somethig that will fit our budget. I must say that I'm very impressed with the machine. Super easy friendly to use, parts are a LOT cheaper than any other brand. Service available everywhere. If i need another CNC center I would buy Fadal again!

I would like to hear from you guys!

Thanks

E

Im a one man Job shop, Most of my past work was lathe work, so
I accumulated 6 older model Mori Seiki cnc lathes over the span
of 22 years or so

I added a Fadal VMC 40 about 14 years ago just to do secondary ops
related to the lathe work, simple stuff, just milling 2d profiles
and drilling/tapping holes, Never a single problem with it

Long story shot, the production turning has long since dried up
and I was finding myself in front of the VMC 40 for days on end.

So late last year I picked up a newer model VMC 15, and absolutely
love it. It has high speed control, and rigid tapping.

I am also enjoying the fact this VMC 15 does rather well on 3d profiling

My only drawback is floor space, if I had a bigger shop, I would most
defenetly get a newer model 60 30 or something along those lines,
size has been an issue and I have had to no bid some stuff because of it


So answer to original question, Would I buy another? You bet!
These are great machines for the price, My shop set up is on a large
piece of property in the Mojave desert CA, I dont pay rent, I was lucky
and found a property with a shop, house already built and Im running all my
stuff on a rotary phase converter, so far, 6 years on the RPC, and
still no problems

Waynno

[millingkevv]

This is a old thread but figured I would add my 2 cents for anybody out there with the same question.. Fadal is a hunk of junk. Unless you like smoking spindles every 6 months(assuming your a job shop putting alot of hours on your machines), I would not invest!! My shop has 4 fadals-2 6030's and 2 4020's...Really we have 2 fadals, a 4020 smoked a spindle and the boss doesnt even want to replace it, one 6030 has .01 of backlash. With the type of parts we make .010 will never work.. And the 6030 is a 2002!!!! Not that old of a machine!! Although it has been crashed a few times, and literally only a few times, what does that tell you?? There weak, they dont hold up. I don't care what anybody says, somebody is bound to crash a machine, wether its not looking at H values on new programs or just un-experienced operators putting in the wrong offset. Sounds stupid but this DOES happen! We have a 87 matsuura mc 510-vs that holds +/- .0005 in every direction!! That was the first machine in our shop and its ALMOST as good as the day we bought it. This thing has been in constant use for 25 years!!! As you could imagine it's been crashed several times. Although the good ol' matuura is down do to some sort of electrical probelm for the past couple months, my point is it's hard to beat jap machines. 6030 MIGHT have a place for you if your doing large parts, just for the price of the extra axis movement.... But hell now days used 6030's are going for some serious bucks!! My advice, get an older jap machine, matsuura, morei-sekia,etc

[carbidecraters]

This is a old thread but figured I would add my 2 cents for anybody out there with the same question.. Fadal is a hunk of junk. Unless you like smoking spindles every 6 months(assuming your a job shop putting alot of hours on your machines), I would not invest!! My shop has 4 fadals-2 6030's and 2 4020's...Really we have 2 fadals, a 4020 smoked a spindle and the boss doesnt even want to replace it, one 6030 has .01 of backlash. With the type of parts we make .010 will never work.. And the 6030 is a 2002!!!! Not that old of a machine!! Although it has been crashed a few times, and literally only a few times, what does that tell you?? There weak, they dont hold up. I don't care what anybody says, somebody is bound to crash a machine, wether its not looking at H values on new programs or just un-experienced operators putting in the wrong offset. Sounds stupid but this DOES happen! We have a 87 matsuura mc 510-vs that holds +/- .0005 in every direction!! That was the first machine in our shop and its ALMOST as good as the day we bought it. This thing has been in constant use for 25 years!!! As you could imagine it's been crashed several times. Although the good ol' matuura is down do to some sort of electrical probelm for the past couple months, my point is it's hard to beat jap machines. 6030 MIGHT have a place for you if your doing large parts, just for the price of the extra axis movement.... But hell now days used 6030's are going for some serious bucks!! My advice, get an older jap machine, matsuura, morei-sekia,etc

Sounds like that 4020 needs a good home. Let me know if he wants to move it. IF you have .01 of backlash you need thrust bearings if not a need ballscrew for sure. Keep in mind that the Fadal uses the same bearings and same ballscrew types as that matty. It is moving much more weight around and probly had more roughing than that other machine. It is also possible your lube line has become restricted. I do belive the older DC machines from 1993-1996 were the best of the DC machines and the AC machines from 1997-2001 were the best AC machines. After 2001 something changed.

[Waynno]

Here is a short vid I recently made to show my Two Fadals,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNH2Dn9IBrs&feature=relmfu]Nosala Engineering.mpg - YouTube

The VMC40 I have had 15 years, never 1 problem, Its running
as I type this, almost 2 years ago, I picked up a VMC 15, I love it

I wish I had more floor space, I would have already bought a bigger model

Wayne

[millingkevv]

I'll ask the boss man if he wants to get rid of it. The matuura and fadal may have the same type of bearing and ballscrews, and the 6030 does have a bit more weight to it I would think, but thats no excuse. They should have built them to handle that extra weight...Know what im sayin As far as one machine being used as a rougher more than others is not the case either. Our machines all get a variety of materials, and no one machine in the shop is a roughing machine. I stand by my statment, fadals are a bad investment. But if they work great for you, and you never have repairs on them, more power to you!!

[Delw]

They did build them to handle more weight but the problem is the operator didnt think about the weight when he crashed the machine.
I think your main problem with your fadal is the crashing of the machine as you stated above. you more than likely wiped out a thrust bearing or screwed up the ball screw nut.