Need Help!- Has anyone done the Lightning Cool Upgrade

[Bwana Don]

I was wondering if anyone has any experience with the Lightning Cool retrofit for Fadals. We are considering installing one on our Fadal 3016HT. This kit uses a Dueblin Union instead of the hokie ceramic sealant disks to seal the through tool coolant.

Our machine eats belts and ceramic coolant disks. Even at the quoted $5300 (installed) the upgrade looks like a bargain. If anybody has had one installed I would like to know how it works for you.

[Delw]

your belts shouldn't be due to the throu coolant, that is uaually cause by NO air cleaner on your spindle motor and using a face mill, the mist from the face mill is sucked into the top of the spindle motor then exhaust through the botton close to the belts. a air cleaner will stop this from happening.

I had a 1991 fadal(in 1996) with factory thr coolant and used it for 5 years every day with the coolant running and never had an issue EVER.

[gaswiz69]

My company has installed quite a few of these kits, yes they are worth the money. The biggest problem with the Fadal CTS is if you don't use it on a regular basis, ie 2-3 times a week, or if you "Dead head" the system, they are pron to leak. The lightning kit eliminates this because of the dublin union. The belts are still suseptible to contamination if you the coolant you use turns into a mist, and you dont have the motor and belts covered. This system will eliminate 95% of the contamination issue though.
I hope this helps.

[Bwana Don]

Great point about deadheading the system. I even removed the coolant 2 button of the control. It sits right next to the tool in/out button. How easy is it to accidently push coolant 2. It usually happens when there is not a coolant thru tool in the spindle.

The coolant disks need to be lubricated. If not the somehow go bad. I started a warm up procedure that ran thru tool coolant every morning to try and prevent this.

It could be oil from the hi-lo gear changer that is getting on the belts also. Any contamination will cause the belts to slip. Once they slip ,they smoke and then stretch, then replacement is needed.

We have replaced (authorized dealer) the belts and coolant disks 7 times since 2004. It costs about $800.00 -$1000.00 a pop. I went ahead today and called for the Lightning upgrade. They are installing it now. I will post on how we like it.

Thanks for the replies.

[Bwana Don]

Update on Lightning Cool.

It's been over 90 days since we had the upgrade installed from Lightning Cool. This kit replaces the ceramic disks on the thru tool coolant with a Dueblin union.

Kit so far works flawless, it's only been 90 days but no problems whatsoever. Couldn't be happier.

Will post again next April to update on the reliability. We'll see how it performs after a year. If it breaks down sooner than that I'll post then.

Bwana Don

[Bwana Don]

Almost one year on the Lightning Cool thru spindle upgrade. Works and works well. No issues at all. Well worth the money, I would do it again. Too bad we only have the one Fadal.

If you are on the fence about doing the upgrade, go for it, I highly recomend it.