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My little (home) shop

Perry Harrington

Titanium
Joined
Oct 7, 2006
Location
Klamath Falls, Oregon
I'm starting this thread with a new machine day.

I've had 3 actual shops since I started machining, not including a nearly dirt floor shed at my last house. I'll post one or two pics of the last place, but none of the previous ones because I don't have any or don't want to think about it.

I was trolling eBay last week and came across a Fadal VMC40 from 1985 that was a couple hours away (close, in country terms).

Well, one thing lead to another and I won the auction for $1000.

Picked it up on Saturday, so let's tell the story in pictures (not too many because I was busy actually doing stuff).

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I'm jealous - I'd love to have a CNC mill in my garage. Were you able to see it running?

An aquantance of mine is fixing up slightly newer fadal and it is talking him a while to find what he needs (up here in Canada anyway).
 
Well, the previous owner didn't know how to turn the thing on, he was that green. Old school sheet metal guy who sold his product line off and had the building for sale. I turned it on, figured out the E-stop to enable the drives, then figured out how JOG worked and jogged it into shipping position.

I read the other threads about preparing a fadal for shipping, but this machine didn't match any of that advice. I made up steel bars to go through the counterweight, but it turns out they want a 2x6 to support the bottom of the counterweight. Next the head lockdown bracket wasn't quite right because the casting had no holes! I prepared ahead of time and brought a piece of 3/4" MDF with a couple of holes as a spacer just in case my 17-1/2" bracket was too short. Well, it turns out that a 17-1/2" bracket with a piece of 3/4" MDF under it is just the right height to rest the Z on and take tension off the counterweight. I drilled a couple of holes in the bracket and used a ratchet strap to secure the head to the table.

I tarped the machine at the pickup because we were getting some light rain, knowing that rain in Merlin meant it was dry in Klamath, I drove until it got dry in White city, removed the shredded tarp, and drove up the mountain. Well, the clouds convened around the mountain and it was light rain all the way up the west side of the cascades. Once we got to the top, it dried out and the machine dried off on the way down the mountain and across the valley.

Got home and there wasn't a trace of moisture on the machine.

I called the local rental place and EVERY forklift they had in 3 stores was rented. It just so happened that the 8k telehandler I was interested in was rented to the elementary school project a mile or so up the road. I struck a deal with them and rented it for a couple hours to unload the machine and move my CHNC-1 into the garage (from the barn).

Now the garage has 10lbs of crap in it.

I need to do some re-decorating in the garage to put the machines in a place that makes sense. The Hardinge will sit on blocks for the time being while I clean up the mill. The Hardinge has its own issues, including wonky servo drives, which I'm hoping to remedy with tuning and/or new firmware.

I haven't seen the spindle turn on, on the Fadal, but it's relatively simple and easy to get at. This machine has a pair of belts and 3 pulley ranges, I think they are 2500, 5000, and 7500 speed ranges. It has an air mist lubricator for the spindle bearings, so I don't know if it could possibly be a 10k spindle or not. It doesn't look to have a locking drawbar.

The labels inside the control cabinet say the backlash is 5-6 tenths per axis, and I don't think the machine has been used much since, but the way lubricator was empty and there are way lube hoses that are not connected :(
 
Moving a machine youself is always a saga. A while ago, I bought a Harrison L5a at auction (1800 lbs). I moved it, not knowing the first thing about rigging. I have more that a few stories about that adventure.

the way lubricator was empty and there are way lube hoses that are not connected :(

Sounds like every mill I've ever seen for sale. I've never understood the general lack of interest in preventivative maintenance, but then again that is what I do for a living.

From the sounds of it, it looks like you got a pretty sweet deal for $1000.
 
Well, the saga is deeper than I realized at first. The disconnected way lub hose seems to have been for a 4th axis or something. I used the block off bolt on that manifold to cap the main saddle manifold. It looks like all the saddle and table lube points are accounted for.

So, the lube pump doesn't seem to be working, I put way lube in it and used the manual plunger a bunch of times and it doesn't seem to want to prime. I'll have to mess with it more tomorrow, perhaps I need to disconnect the outlet and run it into the tank and prime it that way.

I have a feeling the low lube circuit was bypassed :skep:

I spent some time scraping the rust off the Z ways, there was a good layer of surface rust that built up over the last 10 years of sitting in a shop in the wet region of the state.

One of the reasons I moved to Klamath is because it's dry, I got tired of living in a rainforest!

Lots of cleanup and maybe even disassembly before this thing runs again. The ways don't appear to be turcited, just plain old iron on iron.

At least it's easy to work on, no enclosure in the way and all the guts are right there.
 
Please keep us posted on your progress and costs. I have 4 mills, a shaper and 3 lathes in my shop plus all the other tools and machines required to actually use them. I would like to acquire a 3 axis NC machine as well. I think you will find this very time consuming and expensive to get the machine useable. I wish you luck.
 
We have a member (Aaron) who just did a complete rehab of his FADAL and he did a nice thread about the process and an even nicer job getting the machine back in service. I will do a search later and see if I can find the thread. if I do I'll post a link. Take your time and get the machine fixed up and running right. You will be a happy camper if you do it right. Those early machines were built like tanks and if the control and motors are all working you will have a very capable machine to use.

Good luck, nice machine.

Make Chips Boys !

Ron
 
Well Perry, you now are in "Sierra Cement" territory! :D
The "cement" part aint exactly
Bounce.gif
, but at least there is lots of snow close by! (Maybe not this year tho?)

Next thing - you'll hafta see aboot fetchin' a sled deck for your truck, and then a sled to put on top.
Enough sledders in Klammoth for you to hook up with someone to show you the ropes.

:D


-------------------------

Think Snow Eh!
Ox
 
Next thing - you'll hafta see aboot fetchin' a sled deck for your truck, and then a sled to put on top.
Enough sledders in Klammoth for you to hook up with someone to show you the ropes.

:D


-------------------------

Think Snow Eh!
Ox

Hehe, my parents are 50mi east and bought a trailer with 2 old Yamaha sleds on them. They get much deeper snow that we do, so that makes sense.

Interestingly, when they went and looked at the first property there, they rode back on sleds. Now they have that piece and several others around them :)
 
Please keep us posted on your progress and costs.... I think you will find this very time consuming and expensive to get the machine useable. I wish you luck.

Well, the machine powered up and moved, didn't have any faults when I was getting it ready.

The hardware and electronics on these machines are pretty simple and straightforward, and this isn't my first rodeo. I bought a Hardinge CHNC1 basket case and did a lot of work to get it running, still on the cheap.

This machine has the following advantages:

a) I have 3 duplicate axis motors off my old Shizuoka sitting in a box
b) It's old 8088 S100 bus stuff, and I have old 80's vintage logic analyzers/oscilloscopes on my bench
c) I have a ton of old 80's vintage PC chips/parts from a defunct PC maker
d) They use more-or-less bog standard DC servo drives
e) Parts are readily available (for $$$$) from several suppliers
f) The machine doesn't have a lot of excess complexity (I'm looking at you German control designers)
g) The machine is put together in what seems to be an intelligent manner, no stupid frustrating design choices (taking the table off looks to be 3 bolts for the X screw mount and all the gib plates)
h) I don't have any "hot jobs" that need this thing right away, so I have the luxury of taking my time (balanced by my own impatience)

Anyway, my ultimate goal is to make some of my own products and try to make some $$$ on the side.
 
I wonder if that was your ripped up tarp that I picked up outta my yard this morning?


Are you originally local to the area, or did your folks chase you down?


-----------------

Think Snow Eh!
Ox
 
I wonder if that was your ripped up tarp that I picked up outta my yard this morning?


Are you originally local to the area, or did your folks chase you down?


-----------------

Think Snow Eh!
Ox

Nah, we emigrated from California, they moved up full time about a month after we did, but they've been planning it for 20 years.
 
Did your family vacation there back in the day?


Sounds like my chumm and some of his family moving to Da U P eh?



------------------

Think Snow Eh!
Ox
 
Here's a walkaround video I did of the machine after I evaluated its needs, so far I have to go through the whole lube system, clean the thing from top to bottom, take apart the spindle motor to clean the gunk out, and get a new spindle motor cooling fan (the motor was there, but the Al hub didn't have a fan attached to it).

 
Here's a walkaround video I did of the machine after I evaluated its needs, so far I have to go through the whole lube system, clean the thing from top to bottom, take apart the spindle motor to clean the gunk out, and get a new spindle motor cooling fan (the motor was there, but the Al hub didn't have a fan attached to it).



Thanks for sharing the video. It was a very good and fair discussion on that machine. Your all heart taking on such a dinosaur. Every now and then you see boards and parts pop up at auctions for those vintages. It really shows how different the later generation Fadals were from the earlier and how much they were the same. Oh and .0005 to .0006 backlash on a ball screw is nothing.
 








 
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