FADAL VM40 Homing issue/TC issue

Hello guys and gals i am in IT by trade but i have always been interested in CNC machining. I reason i mention that is my vocabulary and presentation of the issue might be off so please be as specific as you can be. Thanks in advance.

I recently bought a FADAL VM40 and put it in the garage. It powers up and i can jog it around. This machine came with a 4th axis. I will eventually use it but for now i want to just focus on 3 with just a single vise. So here is what i did -
1. Took 4th axis off machine physically.
2. Put the cap over the 4th axis connector.
3. In parameters i set it to just use 3 instead of 4 axis.

Am i missing anything? Is this all that is needed?

So at this point i assumed i did everything. Granted i am doing this with google and the fadal manuals. I then need to home the machine. So i lined up the x y z with the lines and hit CS in command prompt. Is this all that is needed for setting the home position? The reason i ask...this machine came with some demo programs when it was being sold. So i ran one to see if it would work. As soon as it went to change to the next tool the tool changer moved in correctly but it z'd down right into the tool changer. There is no tool in the spindle or any tool station.
Why did this happen?
How do i get it unstuck?
I can jog z up...but then what?

Thanks for your time!

It sounds like you're doing things right to me? One thing to note is that sometimes you can CS it but end up in the wrong position, so I usually check the lines afterwards too. Was there another move after the CS move? On ours we have another move after the CS (I guess a "homing" move) which moves the machine zero to another spot on the table (maybe yours is moving it to a different and incorrect Z level too?).

It sounds like something simple is wrong, like, a wrong setting or coordinate or a bad toolchange program. We've had a Fadal for a year or two and seeing as nothing has gone wrong with it (just been making parts) I don't know the ins and outs of it, unlike a lot of guys on here.

Cold start and Home are separate on Fadal's

Line up the marks on XYZ then type CS, If the control prompts you to "move to last home pos" type N (enter)
Then Jog the machine to wherever you want your 'Home" pos to be (usually all the way towards the doors in Y)
Then Type SETH (enter) this makes that loc. your Home Pos.
When shutting down the machine type SETCS (enter) then HO (enter) and the machine will go back to CS (center of table)
When you fire it back up it will ask you after CS "do you want to Move to last Home ?" type Y (enter)
and it will move the table out in Y to the Loc you SETH at the day before

Good luck and Congrats

Thanks for your reply! I apologize for the delay in responding. I believe i did everything described except setting
the home position with the commands you provided. The position saved from the previous owner was at CS position on x y but z was right in front of the 4th axis i removed for some reason. At first i thought it was going to run into the table but it stopped. (Scary)I believe id like that all the way up for safety. I can see why having y forward would be beneficial because otherwise your reaching to get to stuff. I did not get a chance to try today so i will update tomorrow evening.

My remaining question for now is why did it run into the tool changer bottom? If the home can be set anywhere it doesn't effect it then right? so would it be more likely the CS position was set wrong?
I am totally ok with it being my fault lol. Im sure new machines would be way easier to set up anyways. Looks like on haas etc you just home and go. Thanks for the help!

There is a mark on the right side of the z column up high you must line them up before you cold start the machine also the x and y axis also need to be lined up first or the tool change height won’t be right
Don


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Ok so CS being off in z does in fact crash tool changer.
How do i get the tool changer to move back? Do i just jog z up to proper cs position and cs again?
I dont want it to run into it again! :p
I appreciate your knowledge Thanks alot i will repost an update tomarrow.

marks about here, jog your head up and you will see it. you line the bottom of the head with the mark. then do it on x and y.
then type CS enter. just say no for home
goto MDI type m6 t1 or what ever,
hit enter then cycle start and you should change the tool with out any issues.

Also after hitting Cs and sitting at home in z axis
before you do anything else. just goto mdi screen type in tc,1 this will bring the toolchange to the spindle so you can see if its alinged.

to get it back just hit manual/ reset

if you think its off still then goto fadalcnc the pdf files its in chapter 8 of the fadal manual called tool changer

Sounds like the other guys have you sorted out!

One thing worth remembering is not to move the 'home' ('SETH') position around if you have fixture offsets saved. The fixture offsets are all stored in relation to the home position so if you move the home position later you will move your fixture offsets too... Not a big deal as long as you know about it!

I have collected some manuals for Fadals, most of them are the same as what everyone else has (CNC88HS manuals and so on) but there is a great document called the 'Fadal Operation Training Manual' that is perfect for beginners to Fadals, I have a copy of it in the folder here:

Fadal Resources - Google Drive

I wish i would of knew about the tc,1 command before i did the tool change that would of told me right away! Thanks alot! I got a ton of stuff i can try now!

The crew here are very helpful, they all helped me get up and running with my first Fadal 6+ years ago, and now I try to do the same as well whenever I can!

They are great machines, especially for the price!

I downloaded all the manuals you had. This is going to save me so much frustration. That operator manual is very very helpful i appreciate it!

No worries at all mate! That operator manual got me started as well!

By the way: after cold start the machine asks you if you want to move to the home position, if you say NO it actually wipes the home position I believe, so always say yes lol!

I've had to do "interesting" things to get oversize parts to fit inside of the machine travels.... not going to go over it.

BUT, if you have accidently set x,y, or z to zero in a position other than CS, you can eliminate the "move to home" dialogue screen by trying setx,sety,setz immediately after the cs without moving anything.
Then before you power machine off, HO.

No more goofy moves, or worrying if its zeroed out proper. (be cautious if you have stored offsets based on home position).
I prefer working from machine zeros myself, but mostly only do 1 offs.

Lots of good replies here. I’m only a few steps ahead of you on the Fadal path.

One thing that may or may not be obvious,

Your machine (and my similar machine) does not have glass scales(or any other means of measuring actual position) - it totally relies on the control knowing where it started from. When you cold start the machine, you are telling the control the start position from which it can move all the axis. The control has programmed “soft limits” that control the max range of motion for each axis. There are no limit switches.

There are (at least on my machine and one other that i inspected) long rods on the table axis that have stops on the ends, the stops have a short stack of Belleville washers on them that would cushion a over-travel situation, and hopefully the axis controller will fault before real damage.




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