First of all, sorry for my English.
I`m the "happy" owner of used Fadal 4020A machine. The workshop is located in Ukraine and the machine is from Germany.
1) When I turned it on first time my reaction was "What?? Why the interface in deutsch? How I can switch to english?" The answer is "No way((". New board with english interface costs ~500$. For example on Fanuc 0mc control I switched from deutsch to english by changing one digit in the parameters.
2) The second surprise was - no air, no oil in the waylube system and NO ANY AIR/OIL LEVEL ERRORS. I turned on the machine without air connected, without oil and machine starts fine, moved all axis, and have not any errors. Is it normal? Or maybe the previous owner done some "hacks" and disabled the air and oil level checking. According to the previous experience with haas, fanuc and heidenhain controls the machine have to check these levels.
3) All the ballscrew is leaking. Fadal is the first machine I saw with ballscrew cooling system, it is redundant. I bypassed coolant tubes outside the thrust bearings blocks
4) Axis motors accelerate and deaccelerate with some jerks. When I turn on the machine, push the green "cnc power" button I hear a couple of jerks. Looks like it appear when the power of axis amplifiers is turning on. During joging or program running the jerks appear when the motor starts, stops and changing the direction especcially rapid movement. I tried to adlust the gain and balance pots in the axis amplifiers according to maintenance manual, now motors run little better but jerks are still on. Maybe I will make the video a little bit later. The motors are brushless
5) Jog mode is awkward. To move the axis I need choose the one by turning the switch, then press + or - to apply direction and then push jog button to move. Why Fadal has no separate buttons for x+ x- y+ y- z+ z- jogging. It is very convenient for probe moving, manual facing, simple part milling etc. It is the thing I used to working with fanuc, haas and heidenhain machines.
5) There is not enough thrust to hold the tool... no, there is no thrust at all. The new CAT40 tool holder is swinging cw/ccw between spindle dogs. Belleville washer need replacement. Is the Fadal use the same washers in different spindles? My spindle is 7.5k with through tool coolant. I found next dimensions - OD - 1.235" ID - .647" Thickness - .077" Height - .110". Thanks god the washers is metric.
6) Inch threads. In USA it is not the issue, but in europe... To replace any screw i have to order it from USA. Also all the electric parts have USA voltage (110V). Maybe it is one of the reasons why the Fadal machines are so cheap in EU
Positive things: travel range is perfect for the outer machine dimensions, command line is very useful, interface is pretty simple even in deutsch, DNC working well. And the most positive thing is the detailed maintenance manual
You will not get an air alarm. If you try to use something that needs air you will then get a click sound in the back and then the control will say waiting on air valve. The oil tank has a float and when it is low you should get an alarm on the screen that says check way lube. The float hooks into the 1100-2 board in the back.
Yes you need new washers... plus get new retention clips for the drawbar springs. Makes a big difference in a locking drawbar. Should pull 1800-2000 with a force gauge. When you pull the drawbar you should deburr the inside lip of the drawbar where the pull stud goes in.