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Help Naming Programs in Fadal 88

Joined
Jan 22, 2019
Hey All,
I'm not sure if this has been covered somewhere else but:
I'm having trouble naming my programs. I've had this 1992 Fadal VMC40, my first CNC, for a few months now and have been just keeping track of what program number corresponds to what, but I'd like to have comments in the title line.
However, anytime I add comments in parentheses when originally naming the program, it tells me to retry. So then I name it a number and on the first line do my O number and then the comment in parentheses, but the comment doesn't show up in my program list.
Any help here would be much appreciated.
Thanks,
Mat
 
Put some kind of usb reader on the fadal and load programs to usb stick off of a computer to organize everything. Most fadals have a very small memory
Don


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Seconding D Nelson's suggestion. Because Fadal naming conventions are so limited and onboard memory usually fairly small I don't bother with any organizational scheme for files that are in machine memory. I just give things descriptive names on my PC storage/Calmotion unit and then drip feed or transfer over with generic names (usually sequentially numbered by operation). Machine memory gets wiped after each job.
 
O12345
(Part bla bla)
G00 X Y
.
.
.
I've always listed my program descriptions like such. Hope this helps.

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I'm not sure the 88 supports comments. I have an OLD unit and I don't recall it storing any comments in the program.
If I remember correctly there are two formats you can run that control in. I'd need a manual in front of me to truly recollect. But have you tried? Both of my machines were older. I had a 4020 and a 3016
As long as the words were in collens it was all good (........)

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Mat
more than likely you are doing something incorrect.
try this
in a program cursor to line what ever hi the letter "C" that stands for change.
type in ( blah blah blah)
hit enter
it should insert them.

the fadal will take comments like any other machine, its not limited in comment. only thing the fadal is limited on is Memory the same way old fanucs, and every other control is.

I have paragraphs of comments in my programs.

down load one of the programming manuals from fadalcnc or the others that have them its very helpfull



Pssst John these are called parenthesis ( )
also the 2 different formats work the sme way for comments
 
You've only got a tiny bit of memory.. Why would you try and store your programs
on the machine??

There are these really cool things called computers and even USB sticks that
hold essentially.. And infinite amount more information than you can stuff
into a Fadal..

EVERY main program is 01000, subs O1001, O1002 etc... I keep a few on there
that are really tiny.. Backlash programs, I think are 1800, 1801, and 1802...
Once in a while my air valves get sticky if I haven't switched gears in a while,
so I have a gear changing program, that is O1600, and there is one part that
I seem to run all the time, and that is O1234, but its just a little guy.

Every thing else is stored off the machine, and 99% of the time I don't even
save the program.. I post straight to a file called "Delete Me"

A '92, its a straight 88.. I know in '93 when they went to the HS(horribly Slow), that
the comments following the O# showed up in the program menu. I've never played with a
straight 88..

In short, don't store your programs on the machine, keep the memory clear, because
you don't have much, and you WILL NEED it.
 
64K should be enough for anyone!

My machine came with 32K and I upgraded it to 160K (the max for this machine).

I've found that 160K will hold a lot of G-code if you do a half sane effort at CAM and posting.

I don't know if this is obvious or widely known, but Fadal designed the early machines with modems. Mine has an RJ11 jack and modem connector inside.

This was so you could remote upload and remote control the machine.

Everything typed at the console is echoed to the serial port, and everything typed on the serial port is echoed to the console.

Fadal basically made a single user OS with serial console.

This is the magic of how the Calmotion unit works, it just watches what you're typing on the console and takes over.
 
64K should be enough for anyone!

My machine came with 32K and I upgraded it to 160K (the max for this machine).

I've found that 160K will hold a lot of G-code if you do a half sane effort at CAM and posting.

I don't know if this is obvious or widely known, but Fadal designed the early machines with modems. Mine has an RJ11 jack and modem connector inside.

This was so you could remote upload and remote control the machine.

Everything typed at the console is echoed to the serial port, and everything typed on the serial port is echoed to the console.

Fadal basically made a single user OS with serial console.

This is the magic of how the Calmotion unit works, it just watches what you're typing on the console and takes over.

8a1f895a3e567baf9b73cec884f177f1.jpg
here are 2 tool paths I’m getting ready to run now as you can see a fadal can’t hold anything that is dynamic or high speed. You need a calmotion set up to get good tool life.
Don



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I run a 8 meg or 16 meg card in my Fadal. its a Fadal card on a 1996 -5 systems. I have no problem with tool life in surfacing with it at HS in tool steel or stainless. typical program ran about 5-6 megs.
in alum we run about 110ipm no problem with keeping up

Im not sold on a cal motion usb yet for my fadal.
 
Can’t speak for Fadal machines but on Doosan you have the O1111;(program description) removing the ;will allow the description to show in the directory.


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Hey All,
Thanks for the replies. I guess my main issue is that I haven't gotten a good link to a PC yet. Tried USB to the serial port but obviously that didn't work. Going to bring down my old desktop to try again. Seems like it'll be worth it.
Thanks again,
Mat
 
Hey All,
Thanks for the replies. I guess my main issue is that I haven't gotten a good link to a PC yet. Tried USB to the serial port but obviously that didn't work. Going to bring down my old desktop to try again. Seems like it'll be worth it.
Thanks again,
Mat

The USB to serial is a pain in the ass cause you have to have the right chipset. I tried a bunch with no luck and use my old windows xp pc's and serial port with no problems.

There is a company that sells the right chipset, friend has one and it worked fine.
CNC Specialty Store, Industrial Supply

the software they sell is also well worth getting it pretty much figures everything out. had a few problems with my normal cadcam software on different machines and there software corrected everything perfectly with no issues or funny Characters.
 
Nice
if you dont mind me asking what brand ball endmills are you using. I generally use Garrs for tool steel and stainless
 
I roughed it out with a Korloy high feed cutter 1.25 dia. .025 doc. .8 step over 3000 rpms the finish was a cheapo 5/8 .125 cr. 4 flute with .013 step over at 3500 rpms. Feed mill was run at 150 ipm and the 5/8 at 50 ipm
Don


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