But why? I was one of the last Acroloc folks. Times change and technology changes.
Because it works. Except for being faster, what would you change on a Fadal?
Chip handling obviously, or the ability to EASILY add a conveyor.
A little faster accelerations would be nice, newer motors and faster control should
fix that. Maybe a little more on the rapids, but its really the accelerations that
make it seem so slow.
The tool changer. Back in the day at some point they did have a servo turret option.
A swing arm would be nice I guess, but its more complicated and more expensive, and I
know it was an option at some point, but I'm pretty sure it was right at the end. And
again.. Keep it simple.
Control wise, super easy to use, really friendly, I don't think the interface needs to change
at all. Some color would be nice, and that's already been taken care of with the new 64
bit controls. Some better graphics would be cool on a backplot, but I think that's been
taken care of too.
A fadal is what a Fadal is. Its a simple, no frills, easy to fix and maintain job shop machine.
Its not trying to turn a Nova into a Corvette, its trying to turn a Nova into a Cavalier, or
a Ford Focus.
I'd keep the same two speed head because its really simple, and it works really well.
I'd also want to keep the commonality with the older machines because there is already
a fairly large network of people that supply parts and support, and if I owned 'Fadal',
I'd want to keep that network in place. That's one of the reasons I like Fadals, I don't
have to go TO FADAL to get parts and support. I think that is a potential HUGE selling point.
"This machine will be supported for at least 30 years, and you don't have to buy parts from me"..
HUGE selling point for a small shop.
Back to the carousel tool changer. Years ago I worked in a shop with a Fadal and
a Mazak FJV20 (22x16 machine), 1100ipm rapids, and a carousel tool changer. The
Fadal was an AC machine, so it had 900ipm rapids.
Pulled a job off the Fadal because I needed the travels for another job, and put it
on the mazak. Same tools, same feeds, same speeds, same tool paths. I don't remember
if it was a 4 or a 6 tool job. I don't recall the exact #'s down to the second, but
we went from a 6minute 40second run time to just over 3 minutes.
The time savings was all in accelerations, quicker orientation of the spindle, and the
Mazak carousel would spin from T1 to T10 in about a 1/2 second. it was also 21 tools.
I'm not arguing, just discussing, and thinking out loud. If you woke up this
morning and you all of a sudden owned 'Fadal'... What would you do?