Fidia machines - worth the buy?

[depthc123]

Why are the used ones in the used market so cheap? Did some browsing the forums and the feedback was they are capable machines. We are looking to expand into some 5th axis. Looking at possibly a K199, the K211 wasn't very desirable due to having to dig a pit for the foundation.

Anyone have any insight about them? Italy made so is the state side service lacking? Are the repair parts super expensive? Any insight would be awesome and appreciated!

 

[5 axis Fidia guy]

I ran a K199 for 20 plus years. First, the good: The control is AWESOME, powerfull and user friendly.
Now the bad: Simultaneous machining is a nightmare. With the head, head configuration you use a ton of space to get to the sides of a block, as huge as the table is on the K199, you can only get 90 degrees around on a part about the size of a grapefruit. Then there are all the head reconfigurations to deal with which is a programming nightmare. Think of the head head config as a 3 plus two machine, at best. Surface finish is horrible when spinning the head and machining, at least for us doing moldmaking work. Tool center point management is difficult to keep decent, at best we averaged about .0015 inches thru the entire range, which is horrible. The Hermle C42 I'm on now stays about .003-.007 mm all day, every day. The service is an absolute joke, they go thru guys like crazy, and all the good ones I know from the past are long gone. The thing eats up spindle drives at $11k a pop like they are running out of style. We dumped our K199 for rock bottom price and we are happy it's gone every day. I have a folder with all the service files that is almost an inch thick, seriously not kidding. I do like the control better than the Heidenhain however.

 

[SteveEx30]

Ran a couple Fidias, Absolutely an awesome control. I liked it much better than the Fanuc Pro series. The offset on the fly was the best.

Back in the day parts/service was never an issue but you should call Fidia and see how it is nowadays. Many of those machines are getting on 25+ years old.

 

 

[???]

Ran a 5 axis with Fidia great control.

When we built the new tool room at Toyota SA they installed a few Fidia 5 axis horizontals from memory 2 or 3 in the tool room and 1 in the pattern shop. I remember that they came with a warranty and local support that installed and then settled in South Africa just for those machines so that could provide support as per the contracted time frame. After the warranty the support just carried on as local sub contractors to Fidia apparently. I do know they went through a few 5 axis heads but that was operator related.