CNC RETROFITS - HOT TAKE

[@lawerencecohen8287]

Fadal is great, Calmotion controller upgrade you can do yourself. At-Man has a great series on that, it's plug and play. A great selection of new parts can still be found from ball screws, ways covers to spindles.

[@ericschneiter]

@@lawerencecohen8287 always thought they looked like solid iron. Thanks for the info! 🙏

[@toolpath]

Nice video Eric! Keep it up!

[@ericschneiter]

Appreciate it guys! Thanks for being here. Shoutout to the Toothpath team! 👊

[@dragonamp2]

those KSL listings though... every few weeks when I check them I always have a chuckle at the people wanting 10k+ for their old pre 90's or pre 00's cnc's.

[@ericschneiter]

@@dragonamp2 it’s so wild. Seeing a desktop cnc on there for 7k or a router for 40+. Always good times browsing haha! 🤣

[@linuxcnc1736]

Love it Eric. I agree on pretty much all the stuff you have said. I have 6 CNC machines here 2 vertical mills. 2 CNC lathes. 1 really big cnc router (6.5m travel) And of course the fh680 mazak which is the big brother to your mazak. I use linuxcnc so it's interesting. Comparing to centroid. They are both Rock solid i think. Linux CNC is more versatile. And rigid tapping is really well implemented i can rigid tap at 1500 rpm if i wanted.. But centroid is easier the first time around. Great thoughts and awesome to see your shop.

[@ericschneiter]

@@linuxcnc1736 I need to learn more about Linux. I know it’s super versatile I’d love to dig in more and get up to speed. Might grab a lathe here in the next year and maybe I’ll go with Linux for that retrofit. I LOVE the probe basic UI it looks so good.

[@madmat990]

Thanks for the video. Very interested in doing this myself. One question...could you please elaborate on what the problems with rigid tapping are? Are there issues getting the spindle and the z-axis servo talking to each other?

[@ericschneiter]

@@madmat990 I think my issue is in the velocity tuning in FOCM mode. I can accurately control the rpm’s but the reverse and dwell isn’t quite right. I could probably figure it out with more time but have gotten pretty comfortable with thread milling and I prefer that in stainless most the time even though it’s slightly slower. That being said the Centroid board can control rigid tapping very effectively but knowing how to adjust and tune the spindle drive properly can be a little bit tricky.

[@WeberMachineWorks]

Great video,Thanks.I have mori sl 4 to take on.subscribed

[@ericschneiter]

That’s awesome!! Man, honestly I want one so bad. If I find one here locally for a decent price I’m gonna snag it. They are BEASTS.

[@TeoHarlan]

Wow, cool video. Appreciate the concise breakdown as well as listing some of the caveats! Something I've always been interested in doing, but I think its a little outside my abilities, for now at least. Subscribed!

[@ericschneiter]

@@TeoHarlan thanks for being here! Reach out if you ever wanna learn more!

[@Bendayjoe]

If only all us home gamers in SLC put our heads together and started a collaborative machining Buisness ….. 😂

[@ericschneiter]

@@Bendayjoe truth! A force to be reckoned with.

[@Bendayjoe]

@ at the very least it would be an easier route to lvl up faster

[@Bendayjoe]

anyways I just finished a retrofit last week and am beginning to “debug” a fadal w/ calmotion 527fx. I’d love to check out your shop and make another local connection in the industry

[@ericschneiter]

@@Bendayjoe that’s awesome! Nice work! Yeah, winter is a lot less busy for me so let me know when you’d like to come up and hang out for a few.