aarongough
Stainless
- Joined
- Oct 27, 2014
- Location
- Toronto, Canada
Hey guys!
I have a Fadal VMC15 that I am rebuilding, one thing I would like to add is a spindle chiller. My current machine is also a Fadal (with the 7500RPM grease pack spindle, same as the new machine) and it exhibits quite a bit of thermal growth in the spindle throughout the day... enough that I actually can't change tools once it's warm as otherwise my offsets don't work out unless I manually tweak the tool length.
To avoid the thermal growth I'd like to fit a chiller onto the 'new' machine. It looks like there is an NPT threaded port in the side of the spindle nose that appears to be where the coolant should be plumbed in, and then the coolant goes from there into the inside of the head casting, and then through a return collar at the top of the spindle cartridge... I know I need to take the spindle out and add in the large o-rings that keep the coolant inside the head casting, but is there anything else I need to worry about when retrofitting this?
Were all Fadal spindles setup internally for chilling? Opening the side NPT port on the spindle I can see a solid polished surface that's either the back of the bearing races or a sub-wall of some kind...
I've attached some annotated photos that show the various ports with labels matching their intended use as far as I know, please correct me if I'm incorrect on anything. I know the air curtain port is correct as that is currently connected and working on this machine.
Thanks guys!
-Aaron
I have a Fadal VMC15 that I am rebuilding, one thing I would like to add is a spindle chiller. My current machine is also a Fadal (with the 7500RPM grease pack spindle, same as the new machine) and it exhibits quite a bit of thermal growth in the spindle throughout the day... enough that I actually can't change tools once it's warm as otherwise my offsets don't work out unless I manually tweak the tool length.
To avoid the thermal growth I'd like to fit a chiller onto the 'new' machine. It looks like there is an NPT threaded port in the side of the spindle nose that appears to be where the coolant should be plumbed in, and then the coolant goes from there into the inside of the head casting, and then through a return collar at the top of the spindle cartridge... I know I need to take the spindle out and add in the large o-rings that keep the coolant inside the head casting, but is there anything else I need to worry about when retrofitting this?
Were all Fadal spindles setup internally for chilling? Opening the side NPT port on the spindle I can see a solid polished surface that's either the back of the bearing races or a sub-wall of some kind...
I've attached some annotated photos that show the various ports with labels matching their intended use as far as I know, please correct me if I'm incorrect on anything. I know the air curtain port is correct as that is currently connected and working on this machine.
Thanks guys!
-Aaron