Thanks for the great comment, and for continuing to watch even after I got the CNC! :) Having made knives both by hand and with the CNC I can tell you that making them with the CNC is far more challenging to get right, though less labor intensive when things are going smoothly. I think it's a good balance for me personally, it tends to put the emphasis on working out processes and fine tuning details, rather than repetitive manual labor. Personally doing low skill labor again and again really takes the joy out of the process for me, so I am working to reduce that! -Aaron

Amazing the things that get lost when you take a machine apart! I'm sure we've all had an 'extra' screw or two after doing a project... This was not the only thing that the previous owner had done incorrect on this machine though unfortunately... When I got the machine the 15 HORSEPOWER spindle motor was held in place by only a single bolt. 🤨

Very true Yan!

Thanks very much Ashley!

Really glad you enjoyed the video mate! It's definitely somewhat hard to present things like this in a way that will keep people engaged, I cut out about 95% of what I actually filmed lol. Hopefully you now know some stuff about CNC! 🙂

@@GoughCustom I think you should do a fully unedited video for us who like the information and or just listening to explanations lol

Thanks very much Scott!

Thanks for your support mate, and for continuing to check out my videos! Very cool to get to share the journey with awesome people like yourself!

Yeah he’s good at this . All nice and clean equipment and workspace . With care too .

Hey Bert! I've been a bit slow posting this video, filmed it kinda early last year (around April) and the machine has been running great since then, so it seems like no harm done! I actually keep a spare thrust bearing on hand (as well as a bunch of other spares for the machines) so if it does end up going it will only be a few hours of downtime to swap it out... Downtime is definitely a risk with these older machines so I try to keep common stuff on hand to mitigate that!

Glad to hear mate! If you do a backlash test, make sure to add whatever backlash compensation is set in the machine to get the real numbers. If you're comfortable doing it, the best way is actually to zero out all the backlash comp before doing the test.

Thanks very much for watching mate!

Me too! Especially when I don't have a plan in the first place! :)

Really glad you enjoyed it Mark!

Cheers Jef! Glad you enjoyed it!

Thanks very much Mic!

No worries at all mate, thanks for watching!

Thanks very much Grant! I have actually posted a few videos over the last few months, worth checking out if you missed them!

I have indeed missed them . Thank you for the heads up. That’s my evening sorted for tonight. Take care.

@@grantcook5376 You too Grant! Hope you enjoy the videos mate!

No worries Chad!

This is the way indeed! Not sure if you saw them but I actually released 3 videos over the last couple of months!

Thanks very much mate!

Hey William! Even better it was USD$100, plus shipping and import duties and everything, so probably closer to $160 CAD! One really cool thing about these particular machines (Fadal) is that they're actually really affordable. If you're in the USA in particular... I bought these one for $3,900 each though they needed a lot of work. In the USA it's not uncommon to see Fadals in decent shape selling for $8k or less!

@@GoughCustom I'm in NYC but renting so I'd need a place to put them but good to know and even better that you saved 160 CAD.

@@Madlintelf Just chuck one in the living room mate! :)

@@GoughCustom I'm sure the wife would love it! :)

Thanks mate! Yeah always nice not to have to throw money at the problem!

Hey mate! Really glad you liked the video, thanks for watching! Ballscrews are very cool, I just wish they were cheaper! :)

Cheers Tony! Glad you enjoyed the video!

Thanks very much mate!

Thanks mate! Yes I was definitely very happy with the outcome!

Sounds like an awesome dream!

I totally agree! I am at the point where I'll probably be looking for an upgrade within a couple of years, and even then there are options for Fadals to modernize the control and make them more accurate... My machines have certainly treated me well!

You're welcome!

Thanks very much Michael, glad you enjoyed it!

Haha well I'm glad you enjoyed the video Dan!

Thanks Steven! It's really nice having the larger machines, though I wish I used Milly more than I do at the moment! If you ever get a garage big enough to fit one I definitely recommend the upgrade!

Cheers Max! I think it would be great to make machine repair videos, lots of people would love to learn more about the process I'm sure, myself included!

Thanks mate!

Cheers Russell!

ooof that is a lot of backlash! Luckily it's definitely less of a problem on a manual mill as I'm sure you know... having that much backlash on a CNC would mean a full rebuild or a trip to the scrap heap!

Hey Nicolás! The preload on the thrust bearings is actually determined by a thin metal shim in between the inner races of the two thrust bearings. So tightening the nut that retains them does not affect the preload which is great. I have seen some designs, especially in spindles, where the preload is altered by the torque applied to a retaining nut and it tends to be a very fiddly and generally poor design, thankfully they didn't do that in this case! -Aaron

Thanks Mark!

I will make sure to include some in a future video! Thanks again for watching mate!

@@GoughCustom Defo! 👍🏻

Hey James! Yeah it can definitely feel that way at times lol. But think of all the money we've saved! Especially you with your fancy machines mate! :)

Thanks mate! Yes next video coming on April 1st! Make sure you subscribe to get notifications!

Cheers Jesse!

It definitely did a number on the electronics, but I've been surprised at the mechanical condition of the machine so far! That said I know the previous owner put a LOT of parts through this machine. I think all the ballscrews have been replaced at least once each...

@@GoughCustom I've seen just about every major machine tool builder out here struggle with Graphite when they try to just hang an exhaust system around the cutting zone and call it good. Purpose built machines still struggle with the stuff. You did a fine job ressurrecting these machines.

@@terrymoorecnc2500 Thanks Terry! It was definitely a bit of a process! Thankfully I think the final result has been worth the work... This video was actually filmed last April and the machine has been running great since then, making knives every day!

Hey PJ! Thanks for watching as always mate! Yeah that knuckle hurt, didn't leave a scar though luckily :) You can offset quite a bit in the control, up to about 0.005" I think, however anything over 0.001" probably won't give reasonable results. 0.0005" is about the most I would want to comp in the control before replacing the screw and/or thrust bearing.

Thanks mate! I'm honestly not sure if there's a torque spec for the thrust mount bolts, I guess I should check the maintenance manual next time I have to do this job!

Hey mate! Yes I believe there were fadals with linear scales, I have personally never seen one though! There were lots of fadals of this vintage that had chilled ballscrews though, I think that was meant to be their cheaper solution to thermal management... only problem was the rotary unions tended to leak and destroy the thrust bearings!

That doesn't sound like something a Sith would say... 🤣

Hey Sarah! The steps involved in removing the X/Y ballscrew are pretty much the same as what I show in the video for the Z axis, except you don't have to worry about the counterweight.... Remove the servo, remove the thrust bearing mount and the ball-nut mount bolts, remove the entire ballscrew assembly, then you can dissassemble it and re-assemble it as I show in the video! I have not tried re-balling a ballscrew yet. If your screw is in good condition and has fairly even wear then it should definitely be an option!

@@GoughCustom Thanks for the help. I wish I could have read what you wrote a couple days sooner because I took apart the X ballscrew and didn't realize the ball-nut mount, therefore my tiny balls went flying everything when I backed out the screw. I guess it's a good excuse to go ahead and attempt the re-ball, I went ahead and ordered nominal 0.125 Grade 10 balls as I measured a few of the existing balls to be ~0.1241 - 0.1245 . It's about 5X the cost for non nominal sized tiny balls. In case anyone is attempting also, I estimate about 250-300 tiny balls per ball-nut.

Not naive at all mate, good question! I think a weak threadlocker would be fine, I wouldn't want to use a strong one though, too much risk of causing damage when trying to undo the bolts in the future. That said my other machines have not had threadlocker on these bolts and I haven't seen one come loose yet!

I use the blue Loctite 243 glue stick on everything unless I know it will be undone regularly. When it arrives, I plan to use a torque wrench on important bolts (plus 243)

Hola, nosotros en lo personal usamos loctite anti aferrante C5-A, nunca no a dado problemas aun cuando lo usamos en maquinado con refrigerante liquido y como dice el compañero siempre respetando los torques, espero le sirva, saludos.

Hey mate! The floor under the machine is 6 inches of concrete, it's not the best floor ever but it's pretty good. The machine has been levelled very carefully! Thanks very much for the kind words, glad you liked the video!

Install the ball-nut bolts but leave them a bit loose, same with the thrust bearing bolts. Move the Z axis all the way up, then tighten up the thrust bearing bolts, then the ball-nut bolts. The thrust bearing and its mount should determine the alignment, then you just tighten the ball-nut in place to maintain it... Run the Z axis all the way through its travel with a cordless drill or by hand to make sure it doesn't bind up or get tighter anywhere in the travel, and then you're done! Definitely not a precision process but it has worked well for me so far.

Good one but thought he should first must contact Jorek Byrnison for some forged sky iron to prototype with. ;-P

@@pjhalchemy That reference went right over my head xD

Perhaps once my signet has been revealed...

haha seriously!

Thanks for the concern mate! This video was filmed shortly after I first put the machine into service in my shop, and in it's previous life it was mainly cutting graphite which is why the oil was coming out so black... I've been running the machine for close to a year now and the oil is mostly coming out clear now, just needed time to flush out all that graphite!

Yeah imperial units are definitely a bit silly compared to metric. I grew up with Metric but learned imperial as soon as I started making knives so I'm pretty comfortable with both. I use imperial in my shop (mostly) because all my materials and tooling are much easier to get if I buy imperial...

@@GoughCustom aussies went metric thank f hahah, spent a good part of my life there, but the feet seemed to stay haha

@@draganpastrovic2157 yeah I grew up thinking kilometers for distance and feet for how tall people are lol, bit weird! Using 'decimal imperial' (thousandths of an inch, ten-thousandths, etc...) is honestly pretty pretty straight forward and is the norm in most North American machine shops...

@@GoughCustom yeah just getting used to it I suppose

Gough: that is *fucking* perfect! 🤣

I love it XD

They are yes. Unfortunately the end machining on this screw is not standard which means I would have to pay extra for custom machining, if they even do it. Additionally the quality of AliExpress ballscrews is very variable... cheap ballscrews are fine for a hobby machine or for a machine that you're fine with tweaking, but my livelihood depends on this machine so I would only buy high-end ballscrews for it!

Haha yep! This was actually filmed right as I put her into service, early last year (april) she's been running great since then and the oil runs clear now! :)

I'll have to disagree given that the before and after showed that I fixed the problem... It doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to be able to detect the issue. I am not really taking a quantitative measurement here, just a qualitative one. The sudden change in indicator reading when I reverse direction is all I'm looking for as evidence that the ballscrew is moving on its long axis. If the ballscrew is rotating outside its central axis then that would show up as a slow periodic change on the indicator, in step with the rotation of the screw, much like what you see in the 'after' measurement. This does not really hinder this measurement from being effective.

This was actually not too bad! I think the whole thing was done start to finish in less than a day, maybe 6 hours or so?