Manufactured by Costruzioni Elettromeccaniche Ing. Alberto Bandini in Firenze Via. Morosi, Italy, the Bandini Universal precision Milling Machine was an almost exact copy of the Mk. 1 Deckel FP1. Like all of its type, this was an ingenious, adaptable and versatile machine that lent itself to solving a multitude of machining problems, the secret of the type's success being its ability to mount a number of different heads - horizontal, standard vertical, high-speed vertical and slotting - in combination with a variety of tables - plain, plain-tilting and compound swivelling. All the heads could be driven backwards and forwards across the top of the main column to provide an in-out feed, while the tables bolted to a flat, vertical T-slotted table equipped with power longitudinal and vertical feeds. By juggling the choice of heads and tables, and utilising other accessories, a skilled technician was seldom defeated in his attempts to produce the most complex of milled and drilled components - and all to a very high standard of accuracy.
Fitted with a 640 x 220 mm vertical T-slotted table, the Bandini had feed travels that varied when used under power or manually - these being, respectively, 290 mm and 300 mm horizontally and 290 mm and 295 mm vertically. 14 rates of feed were available, ranging from 9.5 to 2200 mm/min both horizontally and vertically. The overarm (by which means the lateral feed was achieved) had a travel of 150 mm under hand-traverse only (from a large handwheel on the right-hand face of the column) with the No. 4 Morse taper spindle having 12 speeds from 60 to 12000 r.p.m. driven from a 1.2 kW 3-phase motor.
Equipped as standard with a plain rectangular 640 x 220 mm T-slotted table, a maximum clearance of 360 mm was available under the cutter arbor with a minimum of 65 mm.
As was usual with this type of machine, a number of accessories - essential to get the best from the miller - were available and included: equipment for horizontal milling; a slotting attachment; a fully universal tables that could be swivelled, inclined and tilted, a power-driven helical milling attachment; a high-speed milling head with its own motor; attachments for punch milling and die work; a precision boring head; rotary tables and dividing heads with tailstocks and hydraulic copying attachments - in other words, almost exactly the same range as offered by Deckel for their machines.
If any reader has a Bandini machine tool the writer would be interested to hear from you