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Restoring a Fadal Vertical Machining Center
- Thread starter aarongough
- Start date
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- Mar 12, 2013
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I've been watching John's videos for ages! He's part of the reason I got so interested in CNC way back when... Taken me a while to actually get a real machine!
Nathan the Machinist
KnifeMaker / Machinist / Evil Genius
Moderator
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
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- Feb 13, 2007
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- 18,953
Well dude, you've got a real machine. 10x more mill than a Tormach...
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- Mar 12, 2013
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I'm definitely very happy with how it panned out! Getting a Tormach PCNC1100 here in Canada is close to $10k, so my machine has actually worked out cheaper even with money spent on parts and rigging an so on... So I'm definitely really happy with how it turned out!
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- Mar 12, 2013
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Ok guys! The machine is finally making real movements and is at least partially re-assembled!
[video=youtube;_A4IJtxi_mg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_A4IJtxi_mg[/video]
Very cool to see it finally actually moving properly! I lashed up a sharpie mounted to the spindle, I've found with previous smaller CNC machines that this is a good way to get familiar with setting offsets and so on with very little risk or expense.
The grease system on Y axis is fully operational now and seems to be working well. The covers are back on the toolchanger and head, and the new Z axis way cover is in place and working nicely!
I'm going to leave the covers off the X and Y for a bit so I can make sure the grease is getting where it should. Once I'm looking at actually cutting some stuff the covers will go back on.
I went and had a look at the compressor I want to buy today. Made in Cadana by Canbuilt, it's a real beast for it's size and price. 5HP two stage compressor, 80 gal tank, with intercooler and aftercooler for CAD$2100. USA made Baldor 5HP motor, USA made air receiver and Italian made pump. The pump is only being run at 790RPM and puts out 17CFM at 175 PSI. The machine is really quiet, you can have a normal conversation right next to it when it's running which is really nice. It weight over 700lb which is going to make it a bit interesting to move into my shop...
My new vise is also on the way from Orange, looking forward to getting that early next week!
Looking forward to actually getting some prototypes of the new Resolute design underway!
-Aaron
[video=youtube;_A4IJtxi_mg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_A4IJtxi_mg[/video]
Very cool to see it finally actually moving properly! I lashed up a sharpie mounted to the spindle, I've found with previous smaller CNC machines that this is a good way to get familiar with setting offsets and so on with very little risk or expense.
The grease system on Y axis is fully operational now and seems to be working well. The covers are back on the toolchanger and head, and the new Z axis way cover is in place and working nicely!
I'm going to leave the covers off the X and Y for a bit so I can make sure the grease is getting where it should. Once I'm looking at actually cutting some stuff the covers will go back on.
I went and had a look at the compressor I want to buy today. Made in Cadana by Canbuilt, it's a real beast for it's size and price. 5HP two stage compressor, 80 gal tank, with intercooler and aftercooler for CAD$2100. USA made Baldor 5HP motor, USA made air receiver and Italian made pump. The pump is only being run at 790RPM and puts out 17CFM at 175 PSI. The machine is really quiet, you can have a normal conversation right next to it when it's running which is really nice. It weight over 700lb which is going to make it a bit interesting to move into my shop...
My new vise is also on the way from Orange, looking forward to getting that early next week!
Looking forward to actually getting some prototypes of the new Resolute design underway!
-Aaron
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- Mar 12, 2006
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- 2,264
Truth.
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- Oct 20, 2008
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- 5,547
Way cool.
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- Mar 12, 2013
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- 1,167
Thanks very much mate!
Thanks Salem! I never get tired of seeing machinery like this!
Hi Fadal, welcome to Bladeforums!!!
Haha, I'm going to have a 'baby shower' soon at the shop for the machine, planning to have a competition: whoever comes up with the best name for it wins a bottle of scotch!
- Joined
- Mar 12, 2013
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Was able to put all the way covers back on yesterday, really pleased with how everything has turned out!
For the most part I was able to sand a lot of the rust/pitting off the way covers with the help of an orbital sander and 80 grit ceramic disks. Where I wasn't able to remove all the pitting what I did was to degrease them thoroughly, then paint them with 'aluminum' tremclad. Once that had dried for a few days I sanded the way cover again. The paint was removed from all the good metal, but it stayed in any areas that were pitted. In some cases this merely made the covers look 'ok', but in others it made the pitting disappear entirely! Very glad that worked out ok!
Before:
After:
Before:
After:
I'm proud to have this machine in my shop now. It definitely feels like it's 'mine' and I'm looking forward to making chips soon!
For the most part I was able to sand a lot of the rust/pitting off the way covers with the help of an orbital sander and 80 grit ceramic disks. Where I wasn't able to remove all the pitting what I did was to degrease them thoroughly, then paint them with 'aluminum' tremclad. Once that had dried for a few days I sanded the way cover again. The paint was removed from all the good metal, but it stayed in any areas that were pitted. In some cases this merely made the covers look 'ok', but in others it made the pitting disappear entirely! Very glad that worked out ok!
Before:
After:
Before:
After:
I'm proud to have this machine in my shop now. It definitely feels like it's 'mine' and I'm looking forward to making chips soon!
- Joined
- Mar 12, 2013
- Messages
- 1,167
shoot some vid making chips. I can watch that all day long.
will do mate! I'll be doing a video covering the development of the new Resolute, will be lots of chips in that video for sure!
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- Mar 12, 2013
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Thought you guys might like this!
[video=youtube;bP158y03VxQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bP158y03VxQ&t=88[/video]
While I was working on the machine I had my camera setup the whole time. It took about 55,000 photos over the course of 2 months and I stitched them into a timelapse of the process!
It was really a lot of fun working on the machine. Now I'm very much looking forward to making chips with this beast!
[video=youtube;bP158y03VxQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bP158y03VxQ&t=88[/video]
While I was working on the machine I had my camera setup the whole time. It took about 55,000 photos over the course of 2 months and I stitched them into a timelapse of the process!
It was really a lot of fun working on the machine. Now I'm very much looking forward to making chips with this beast!
- Joined
- Mar 12, 2013
- Messages
- 1,167
Thanks mate! I had a lot of fun with this, kinda tempting to go looking for other old machinery now, but knives first!
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- Jan 23, 2010
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Nice reconditioning job!!
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Hey mate!
No I will leave the control as it is, it actually works very well and has a lot of features despite the fact it looks old!
-Aaron