Found a 12” piece of turcite…

[604Pook]

Rebuilt in 2003 Fadal 4020, have had since 2009, was planning to do some work to it soon, ( have new ball screw assemblies to install ) but machine is busy at the moment, so this is very bad timing.

I was changing out parts and was cleaning chips away from the drain when I saw a skinny longer piece in with the chips. Found a roughly 3/4” x 12” piece of turcite laying under the table on the left side. Luckily I had just cleaned out the machine earlier and it wasn’t there, So machine didn’t run very long without it. Piece looked in really good shape. No gouges still nice and smooth and decent thickness

My question is does anyone know where this piece would have come from? Hoping from the gib so I can do a quick fix until these jobs are done. Haven’t had to do anything which required removing the table on this machine so not sure what’s all under there for turcite.

 

[Garwood]

Fadals don't have Turcite problems. You're just trolling aren't you?

 

[604Pook]

Fadals don't have Turcite problems. You're just trolling aren't you?

I wish.

But it is the first time I have had an issue with the turcite on a 20+ year old machine that we have owned for 14 years

 

[Garwood]

I can only imagine how much that sucks. I'm just messing with the folks here that say Fadals are divine machines with Turcite bonded like it were a part of the iron itself.

 

[BT Fabrication]

I wish.

But it is the first time I have had an issue with the turcite on a 20+ year old machine that we have owned for 14 years

Yep it doesn’t last forever. Probably came off the area you don’t want to run it without and cause a ton more work.

 

[gbent]

Hmmm. I might have some questions about the accuracy of the last parts you ran.

I agree, you better put it back before you run any more.

 

[mkd]

Had an issue with a fadal maybe 6 years ago.
While at an x limit, You could grab the table and knock it back and forth more than an inch.

 

[604Pook]

Hmmm. I might have some questions about the accuracy of the last parts you ran.

I agree, you better put it back before you run any more.

Yeah luckily, its not a big deal to make another part. just the time line to get things up and working. I have a broken/cut up thumb right now, so wrenching in a machine isn't very much fun.

Stuck doing shop drawings right now for other projects, but tonight I will be in there trying to figure it out.

 

[604Pook]

Thumb was healed up enough last night I could get it into some 2xl gloves, so I tore things apart. Found the table strap gib missing the turcite, removed the other 3 and they were starting to delaminate as well. A lot of chips, oil and crud in there and I can see why, no protection from chips piling up at the front and back of the machine on the covers. In the future I will need to do a better job of clearing stuff out of there in between part loading. Probably should add some coolant lines to specifically wash those areas out, while the machine is running for extended amounts of time.

Luckily the table itself still looks smooth and no gouging, and I have the new parts on order. Time to schedule a bigger tear down. I have new ballscrew assemblies to install, and want to check the shape of the rest of the turcite.

 

[Speedie]

Start cleaning and remove the gibs. They are scribed with sizes. Easy fix but not exactly fun

 

[604Pook]

I got those gibs replaced and the machine up and running last Monday. Scheduling in a bigger tear down when I get caught up in a couple of months.