Adding through spindle coolant to FADAL

[Fudd]

I would like to add through spindle coolant to my Fadal's. As I am a one man shop I do not want to shell out 5-7K for a factory upgrade. It looks like you can add a rotary union to the top of the drawbar and spacer up the tool knockout cylinder to push on the rotary union and make it work. What am I missing? Has anyone retrofitted one themselves?

Thanks,

Scott

[Delw]

Scott
no offence but only buy FADAL parts for this, you can end up damaging a spindle if one of the parts are wrong.
Personally I wouldnt add through spindle do to the leaks that have been popping up from time to time and I myself couldnt risk the downtime or expense.
I had it before never had a leak, had friends who have had tons of leaks and had to replace spindles.
When I had it I only used it for deep drilling it didnt work for small endmills very well at 8-10k rpms

just my opinion.
Delw

[extremecase_8]

Because of the drawbar design on a Fadal it is not easy to adapt a coolant union to it. The drawbar does not have a guide to ensure it's consenticity to the machines spindle. Since the drawbar is able to oscillate within the spindle it causes far more viberation than any union that uses carbon composite or ceramic seals can handle. Since those seals are so brittle, the viberation causes them to chip and eventually shatter allowing coolant to leak.
Mounting a coolant union to the drawbar is a great idea, it's just that it is far more difficult than it may seem at first. For a coolant union to last for any length of time it needs the shaft that it mounts on to be running within .0004 concentricity.
There is a company called Tanis Technologies that developed a system that will guide the drawbar within that tolerance and they mount a Deublin union to Fadal machines. The system is called Lightning Cool and it is available as a retrofit kit for all Fadals, and is also the standard system that Fadal puts on the new machines from the factory. The retrofit kits are not that expensive. I have these systems on three Fadals in our shop and they work flawlessly, check out the website...

www.lightningcool.com

[carbidecraters]

What does it cost for a mid ninties Fadal conversion

[Fudd]

In talking with Lightening Cool, they want $3900 for the kit that fits on the spindle. That does not include the pump, plumbing, or wiring. Is it that good or that complicated? They want a service tech. to install it $$$.

Thanks,

Scott

[extremecase_8]

Lightning Cool systems are definitely worth the money. It is very difficult to make a through spindle coolant system that are reliable on machines that do not have integrated spindles, so to make it work takes quite a few parts. The kits cost is justified pretty quickly when you don’t have to buy drawbars, seal kits, drawbar pistons, belts, and bearings all the time, (like we were doing) because Lightning Cool fixes the problems that cause those parts to fail. As far as installation goes, don’t let anyone fool you, it is not hard to put one on. They come with all of the special installation tools and instructions in every kit. I’m not sure if it would affect your warranty if you did the installation yourself.

[Bwana Don]

We just installed a lightning cool on our Fadal. Looks like it is worth the money ($5,000 factory installed). The service manager from VMC Technologies (Detroit area Fadal dealer) tells me this is an awesome upgrade.

We had ours installed on April 15th. It works so far. Time will tell as to the reliability of this system. I have heard nothing but positive things about this. The Dueblin union used to seal the system is a reliable design. I am going to post after we have some miles on it.

[Runner4404spd]

i've been thinking of adding this to my fadal as well. maybe we can get a group buy going for these?

[Bwana Don]

Conversion costs are:

A) $4800 installed (must have tsc allready on machine)
B) $4800 + $4500 (pumps etc) to convert a machine that does not have tsc allready on it. This is installed.

Quotes I recieve in April 09, installation buy the Detroit area Fadal dealer. Comes with a warranty (1 year I think??)

They can also put on a 1,000 PSI pump if you need high pressure.

[extremecase_8]

Lightning Cool has all of their retail prices for retrofit kits, pump kits, and hydro kits listed on their website www.LightningCool.com