¶ Getting It Inside
At nearly 8,000 pounds, moving the VMC was an adventure in itself. We rented a telehandler capable of transporting the machine and, with the skilled support of Stark Raven Fabrication, maneuvered it into the shop and set it in its permanent home. We only had one minor tip-over.
¶ Z-Axis Assembly
To clear our roll-up door, the Z-axis had to be disassembled before the move. Once inside, we carefully reassembled the head assembly and aligned the axis to ensure smooth and accurate motion.
Will Putnam, the donor, helped us get the z-axis properly put together and aligned.
¶ Power & Controls
The Fadal required a dedicated electrical setup and careful work on its control systems. Once a three-phase 220v circuit was added, we were able to power on the machine. Unfortunately, this also meant we discovered some things that needed to be fixed.
¶ The video monitor
We learned from the previouys owner that the screen might need a new power supply, so we checked to see if that was indeed the case. After some short troubleshooting, we found that the power supply worked as expected. But the screen did not function.
The problem turned out to be the screen itself. It was a 30-year-old screen with some old and unnecessary components. We replaced the screen with a modern HDMI flat screen.
Charles, a member, helped us get the control system working. Note the missing screen in the pendand, but we had it hooked up to a television on a stand.
¶ The Controls
To our surprise, every button on the pendant worked! Toggling into JOG mode gave us complete control of the machine.