Problem- Do you have new machine problems?

[ghyman]

In over four months, our new Fadal has not run one week straight without breaking down.
We have a timeline and a stack of service orders, but we would like to be able to see if this is just an isolated problem with our distributor, or a wide-spread problem with Fadal in general.
Both Fadal and the local service company have told us at various times that "this is a known problem" and that "Fadal is working on a new widget/program/update/firmware" to address the problems we have been having.

What major / recurring problems have you had with your new machine, and what solutions have you been given/promised?

Thanks.

[IN2GLAMISGIRL]

I have read your other thread with your coolant / spindle problems. I have lots of Fadals with thru spindle coolant some 15 years old. From my expearence the seals last a verry long time. Leaks start when debris get between the cermnic sealing faces.

The common causes of this are a dirty/ bypassing coolant filter, running TSC without the spindle turning, and running with a solid retension knob. When we have had a leak it has been fixed by just cleaning the seals. We are in So. California so we are serviced by the factory van's on machines under warranty. We do our own service on the rest.

I have a 2007 3020 and the TSC design has been changed. There is an air line and timer relay which controls seal engagement. No service on this machine yet, so I have not seen what is different under the cover.

[ghyman]

Thanks, in2glamisgirl.
Any feedback on this is appreciated.

[Admirp]

We are having some serious problems with our new 6030's

Spindle was bogging down and belts were getting fried.
Also, when using thru spindle coolant, in the middle of the cut spindle would shut down, but machine would keep feeding until axis overload shuts it off. This caused a lot of scrapped parts and ruined tool holders.

Fadal came back with a seal retrofit kit that they've been putting on machines that didn't get the right stuff in factory. According to them seals in machines that we had were not strong enough for some reason, and would let coolant seep into spindle cartridge. That stopped the belts from frying and spindle from bogging down, but spindle still shuts down out of the blue when we try using thru the spindle coolant.

Honestly, I'm at the point of wanting to return all 3 machines. We have about 70 CNC's here, all the lathes are Mori Seiki, and mills are Mori's and Enshu's.
I'll give them another month to resolve this, then i'm done forever with Fadal.

[ghyman]

I'm seriously not trying to start a Fadal-bashing thread here.

Our 4-month-old 2216FX just ran for 8 days in a row without requiring a visit from the distributor... this is the first time in 4 months it has run for more than 4 days straight.
Every time they come in to fix this machine, it has been down for 2-3 days while waiting for replacement parts or custom fixes. And every time, they tell us that they have *never* had a new Fadal with serious problems.

I just want to know if they're jerking us around, or if brand new machines from them work flawlessly from the day they're dropped in place.

[ltmquik]

Originally Posted by ghyman I just want to know if they're jerking us around, or if brand new machines from them work flawlessly from the day they're dropped in place.

I can tell you that we have never had a Fadal machine work the day it was delivered. There was always something that required an extra day or two to get the machines up and working properly. This accounts for four (4) machines I actually purchased and one that I made Fadal take back. We had a Siemens controlled machine that never did work right up to the day it left our building. That one started out with the z-axis moving down 4 inches while the DATC arm was under the spindle doing its first tool change. That was a two (2) week repair after some tech from Fadal comments "oops, I guess we installed the old software.". "I guess" and "old" are something that one should not hear when they recieve a new $120K machine.

I had enough and decided to try another machine manufacturer. I still have two (2) Fadals but figured that it really could not be worse. I have not had a single day of down time on those machines.