Poorly N sick Fadal 15 VMC Will live again!

[JAZZCNC]

Ok another small update, Spindle motor off ready for clean up or replacement with Servo Spindle motor.?

I needed to measure shaft length, diameter plus find bolt spacing because I'm considering fitting a 10,000rpm 11Kw Servo Spindle so needed this info, which I could probably have found from Fadal spec sheets if honest but I wanted to get in there and give it a good clean up and check belt condition, etc. Which is like brand new.

With the belt off, I can now feel and check the spindle bearings and balance, both of which are perfect I'm pleased to say.

As you can see nothing on this machine is lightweight so it's a bloody good job I've got a fork truck because I wouldn't fancy humping that big lump down from up there.!!

[Uguessedit]

You’d have to ask about voltage needs but this is one of those I was talking about. Pretty certain again that I talked to these folks or another party and they could make changes for voltage by request. They 15kw were the $2,000 models. With a bt or cat 40 if you can fit it that would be ideal torque given the rpm suits your needs.

US $1,148.00 | high performance 380V 48Nm 7.5kw spindle servo motor with drive SZGH-S4T5P5
https://a.aliexpress.com/_d6zXpk1

[pippin88]

I'm interested in how you find them.

At some point I'll be looking at 3x750w servos and probably a spindle servo.

Have been considering Delta.

Always good to have multiple options.

Did they give you a pricelist? Any idea how much for a 750W? Or how much each 1.5kw is costing?

[JAZZCNC]

I'm interested in how you find them.

At some point I'll be looking at 3x750w servos and probably a spindle servo.

Have been considering Delta.

Always good to have multiple options.

Did they give you a pricelist? Any idea how much for a 750W? Or how much each 1.5kw is costing?

No price list but I have got the prices. $369 per set but those are for Absolute drives with upgraded 23Bit Japanese Encoders and all the cables etc which are more expensive than standard cables due to the fact the have Battery backup built into them for the absolute system.

The Company is great and I'm really impressed with them so far. They have setup a what's App group so I'm dealing directly with the engineers who are quick to reply and who are asking me questions regards ATC setup etc. So looking good so far.

[Muzzer]

That looks like a great set of components. Proper Tamagawa resolvers and closed loop (to the controller) should give decent performance! And as you say, great value for money.

I have the 990MDCa (non absolute model, lower spec controller) that is also supplied by SZGH. However, mine came from Newker and I have to say it's been the very devil's own job trying to work out WTF their Chinglish manual was trying to say. It even got to the point where I machine translated the Chinese manual myself in desperation. Newker (and Newkye, different company) didn't seem to have anyone who could speak much better than their manuals were translated. I might have been better going with SZGH but I wasn't to know. In the end, I replaced it with an Acorn on my Shizuoka and moved the Newker onto my smaller Bridgeport machine. It's clearly quite a capable controller but has taken a lot of reverse engineering (aka trial and error) to figure out how to use some of the features. I had to rewrite the tool length offset and WCS measurement macros to get them to work on my machine and generate usable (English!) status messages.

I'm not sure exactly how these controllers came about. Newker, Newkye and SZGH are located in completely different parts of China yet physically their 990 models look identical. Note that the firmware is subtly different, so I can tell you that mistakenly reading one company's manual while trying to program another's controller doesn't end well and they aren't prepared to support each other's products(!). I paid about £300 for my 4 axis version when I was working in China but I don't think that saved me a lot of money in the end.

I'll be interested to see how this works out. In the meantime, I've taken a look at the 1000MDC manual and it is recognisable in general format but does at least look a bit more readable than what I was up against with the 990. However, there will still be some learning to be done while you get your head around how it is organised and what some of the Chinglish words actually mean. It's good to know you have a responsive team at SZGH - hopefully extending beyond the pre-sale period. This should be a fine machine when it's done!

[JAZZCNC]

I'll be interested to see how this works out. In the meantime, I've taken a look at the 1000MDC manual and it is recognisable in general format but does at least look a bit more readable than what I was up against with the 990. However, there will still be some learning to be done while you get your head around how it is organised and what some of the Chinglish words actually mean. It's good to know you have a responsive team at SZGH - hopefully extending beyond the pre-sale period. This should be a fine machine when it's done!

Yes I've done a lot of researching and looking around at these and all the other controllers and all the feed back relating to SZGH was mostly positive. The manual I have here is probably the best Chinese manual I've seen, I've been dealing with the Chinese a long time so I'm very fluent in Chinglish and to be fair I've got an ABB VFD manual here that is harder to read than this, mostly because it's overly technical.!! . . .There's nothing in it I don't understand in principle then I'm hoping it's just a case of feeling my way around the controller learning what's what.!

Regards the Service then it's out standing so far. Just today they set up a direct What's App link with the engineer who is setting up and dealing with the whole project.
He's asking me about the ATC so that is all setup and it will just be a case of tweaking timings, position parameters etc and now I've thrown the rotary 4Th axis in to the mix as well he'll be setting that up as well.
None of this was any trouble He's offering good advise regards the Servo spindle, asking for pictures of the machine to get a feel for the conversion etc.
I asked for the Key way to made to match the existing pully which to be fair I thought was a little skinny at 6.35mm(1/4") given the power and he's suggested unprompted not to do that because this new spindle is more powerful with higher speed so go with standard 10mm key way and I agree.

From my dealings so far I don't think they will ignore any questions regards after sale and while I fully expect to have reasonably large learning curve and possibly the odd head bashing session I'm quite happy and reassured so far that it will work out ok... Time will tell.??

[JAZZCNC]

Another small update: After further investigation of the 4th axis it seems I can remove the DC motor and replace with an absolute AC Servo to match the others, only 750W instead of 1.5Kw.

The old motor was a round flange type and the new ones are square but it's simply case of drilling a few more holes and tapping into to the existing plate. There is a seal on the plate that motor shaft goes thru and the pinion gear clamps onto the shaft using a collet type system. SZGH are making the shaft to fit the seal and pinion.

So when done it will back to all it's glory using the factory fitted 4th axis slimmed down with a nice shiny new controller, some extra grunt in the motors and spindle.!!! . . . . Well that's the dream anyway so lets see what reality delivers...

[Colin Barron]

Another small update: After further investigation of the 4th axis it seems I can remove the DC motor and replace with an absolute AC Servo to match the others, only 750W instead of 1.5Kw.

The old motor was a round flange type and the new ones are square but it's simply case of drilling a few more holes and tapping into to the existing plate. There is a seal on the plate that motor shaft goes thru and the pinion gear clamps onto the shaft using a collet type system. SZGH are making the shaft to fit the seal and pinion.

So when done it will back to all it's glory using the factory fitted 4th axis slimmed down with a nice shiny new controller, some extra grunt in the motors and spindle.!!! . . . . Well that's the dream anyway so lets see what reality delivers...

Hi, did you look at the GSK controllers that are more expensive but appear to be the make that is copied by the rest of the market? It is comforting to hear SZGH are helpful.

[JAZZCNC]

Hi, did you look at the GSK controllers that are more expensive but appear to be the make that is copied by the rest of the market? It is comforting to hear SZGH are helpful.

Yes Colin I did. I've looked at all the main controllers from China and Taiwan and just for fun n giggles some of the well-known brands like Siemens.

I contacted GSK directly asking questions and requesting manuals also a quote or the name of a supplier but didn't get a reply. So contacted a third party supplier who gave me a quote that was 3x the price of SZGH, couldn't answer my questions and sent me the manual for Lathe controller.!. . .

SZGH has been fantastic so far. Virtually instant reply's (within their working hours) both with Girl who is supervising the order and the engineer. Should see it go out the door this week so hopefully not that long before lands at my door..

[Colin Barron]

Yes I've done a lot of researching and looking around at these and all the other controllers and all the feed back relating to SZGH was mostly positive. The manual I have here is probably the best Chinese manual I've seen, I've been dealing with the Chinese a long time so I'm very fluent in Chinglish and to be fair I've got an ABB VFD manual here that is harder to read than this, mostly because it's overly technical.!! . . .There's nothing in it I don't understand in principle then I'm hoping it's just a case of feeling my way around the controller learning what's what.!

Regards the Service then it's out standing so far. Just today they set up a direct What's App link with the engineer who is setting up and dealing with the whole project.
He's asking me about the ATC so that is all setup and it will just be a case of tweaking timings, position parameters etc and now I've thrown the rotary 4Th axis in to the mix as well he'll be setting that up as well.
None of this was any trouble He's offering good advise regards the Servo spindle, asking for pictures of the machine to get a feel for the conversion etc.
I asked for the Key way to made to match the existing pully which to be fair I thought was a little skinny at 6.35mm(1/4") given the power and he's suggested unprompted not to do that because this new spindle is more powerful with higher speed so go with standard 10mm key way and I agree.

From my dealings so far I don't think they will ignore any questions regards after sale and while I fully expect to have reasonably large learning curve and possibly the odd head bashing session I'm quite happy and reassured so far that it will work out ok... Time will tell.??

I think the main thing would be to blue the shaft to check the angles on the shaft and pulley are the same (assuming the pulley is tapered). SZGH are keen for business as you say, usually same or next day for information or quotes.