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E-MAIL Tony@lathes.co.uk Home Machine Tool Archive Machine Tools For Sale & Wanted Machine Tool Manuals Machine Tool Catalogues Belts
Deckel FP1 Universal Precision Milling Machine Handbooks and Parts Lists are available for the FP1, FP2, FP3 and late models FP4M
FP1 Page 2 FP1 Page 3 Pre-WW Deckel FP0 & FP1 Deckel FP2 Deckel Tool & Cutter Grinders
Founded in Germany during the early years of the 20th century, the Deckel Company's machine-tool business grew out of their involvement with the camera industry. Their specialisation was leaf shutters, using the brand name "Compur", an item widely used by leading manufactures including Hasselblad inside their "Type C" lenses. Deckel also developed the well-known and very successful bayonet lens mount for the Retina Reflex, Voigtlander Bessamatic and Ultramatic cameras - a design that held back, for a while, the invasion of the much cheaper, yet just-as-well-made, Japanese single-lens reflex. By 1984, and with demand for leaf shutters confined to a shrinking market, Zeiss (who owned both Deckel and Alfred Gauthier, makers of Prontor shutters) merged the two firms. Production continued until around 2002 when, due to a final catastrophic fall in demand, a halt was called. From the earliest days of the company Deckel were involved in the manufacture of machine tools, but these seem to have been, from the lack of contemporary advertising literature or in contemporary machine-tool trade journals, for use in their own factories. Introduced in the early 1930s - and the result of steady improvements to earlier much simpler, flat-belt drive versions, the first batch of 100 FP1 models appear to have been released at some point between 1932 and 1934 - a group that might be regarded as a prototypes. This first version and had its table feed driven by changewheels with a longitudinal table travel of 250 mm (later 300 mm) and the direction and engagement of the table power feed (left and right and up) operated not by the familiar Deckel "stickshift", but a little lever under the table for the longitudinal direction - and by another on the left-hand side of the machine for the up travel; the feed in the down direction was by handwheel only. However, the very earliest examples of this versatile design can be traced back to 1917 - with further, very similar models introduced during the 1920s to become what is now referred to (but not by the factory) as the FP0 . This first design had a slender main column carrying a T-slotted vertical table (on which could be mounted various pieces of dividing apparatus) with, at the top, a horizontal flat-belt drive spindle able to be moved fore and aft by a screw thread. By the end of WW2, in 1945, some 4100 examples of the FP1 had been manufactured and, although by the late 1930s Deckel had gained sufficient experience to manufacture other specialised machine tools for general distribution (spurred on by the German re-armament programme) camera shutters remained a mainstay of their business. As late as 1953, on the 50th anniversary of the Company, the brochure was almost entirely devoted to camera-associated products - and it was not until the late 1940s that production of machine tools expanded significantly. By the early 1950s, and with the introduction of new versions of the FP1, FP2 and other high-quality milling machines and milling accessories, a new company was formed, separate from the shutter business, to take advantage the rapidly expanding post-WW2 industrial market. Results were impressive with, by 1965, some 50,000 examples of the FP1 having been produced, together with many thousands of other models. Other makers of the type were also active including Thiel, with their superb Type 58 and other models, and Maho, who produced a range of machines bearing a startling similarity to the FP. However, Deckel appears to have seized the lead and the FP Series (FP1, FP2 and FP3 and variants) became the most desirable types to install in toolrooms and small workshops. With its ingenious, adaptable and versatile design, the Deckel leant 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.
*Proof of the type's success - the genus Precision Universal Milling Machine - is evident from the number of similar machines made in various countries including: Austria: Emco Model F3 Belgium: S.A.B.C.A. Model JRC-2 Czechoslovakia: TOS FN Models England: Alexander "Master Toolmaker" and the Ajax "00", an import of uncertain origin. Germany: Hahn & Kolb with their pre-WW2 Variomat model Wilhelm Grupp Universal- Fräsmaschine Type UF 20 N/120 Hermle Models UWF-700 and UWF-700-PH Leinen Super Precision Micro Mill Macmon Models M-100 & M-200 (though these were actually manufactured by Prvomajska); Maho (many models over several decades) Ruhla Rumag Models RW-416 and RW-416-VG SHW (Schwabische Huttenwerke) Models UF1, UF2 and UF3 Thiel Models 58, 158 and 159 Wemas Type WMS Italy: C.B.Ferrari Models M1R & M2R Bandini Model FA-1/CB and badged as Fragola (agents, who also sold a version of the Spanish Meteba). Japan: Riken Models RTM2 and RTM3 Poland: "Avia" and "Polamco" Models FNC25, FND-25 and FND-32 by Fabryka Obrabiarek Precyzyinych Russia: "Stankoimport 676" Spain: Metba Models MB-0, MB-1, MB-2, MB-3 and MB-4 Switzerland: Aciera Models F1, F2, F3, F4 and F5 Christen and Perrin Types U-O and U-1 (Perrin Frères SA, Moutier) Hispano-Suiza S.A. Model HSS-143 Mikron Models WF2/3S, WF3S, WF-3-DCM & WF-2/3-DCM Perrin Type U-1 Schaublin Model 13 The former Yugoslavia: Prvomajska (in Zagreb with Models ALG-100 and ALG200) Sinn Models MS2D & MS4D "Comet" Model X8130, imported to the UK in the 1970s by TI Comet. Sloane & Chace in the USA produced a miniature bench version and at least five Chinese-built models have also been made, including one from the Beijing Instrument Machine Tool Works. A number of the "clones" merely followed the general Thiel/Maho/Deckel concept whilst others, like Bandini and Christen, borrowed heavily from Deckel and even had parts that were interchangeable. Should you come across any of these makes and models all will provide "The Deckel Experience" - though you must bear in mind that spares are unlikely to be available and, being complex, finely-made mechanisms, they can be difficult and expensive to repair..
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1932-1943. The original FP1. Note the very large micrometer dials and lack of a "Stickshift" table control lever
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One of the earliest examples of the type, now referred to as the "F0" from the 1920s
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1935 and the first "stickshift" model is announced. The knob on the end of the long power-feed direction and engagement lever can be seen between the two speed-control handles on the right-hand face of the machine.
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Mk. 2 FP 1 as manufactured from the mid 1950s until the early 1960s - the spindle-speed and table-feed rate changes became "all-lever" operated
Continued: Over the years the FP1 was to be built in four main versions, each easily distinguished: the prototype of 1932-34 with non-stickshift table controls; the Mk. 1 from the mid 1930s until the late 1940s with lever-operation of spindle speeds (by the juxtaposition of two controls on the right-hand face of the column) but changewheels (inside a case on the right-hand side of the column) to vary the rate of table power feed; the Mk. 2 of the mid 1950s used levers to alter both speeds and feeds whilst the Mk. 3, introduced during the early 1960s, was fitted with more convenient and modern-looking dial controls. General Layout Constructed in an ingenious way, the layout of the spindle-drive system was both compact and effective: the top of the main column was machined as a slideway to carry a separate housing that doubled to mount a horizontal milling arbor or act as a base for the various heads or a horizontal milling overarm. The chrome-nickel alloy spindle was case hardened and ran in bearings that provided both excellent support and an easy means of adjustment. To solve the problem of how to drive the spindle when its housing was moved forwards and backwards (to provide lateral travel to the cutter), a long fixed gear was mounted parallel to and beneath it on the final-drive shaft and the upper gear allowed to slide along it. A word of warning for users of the English-made Alexander "Master Toolmaker" who might want to fit a Deckel head - the Alexander drive gear has a 21-degree pressure angle whilst that of the Deckel is 14.5. Besides normal horizontal and vertical milling operations, all models were available with a range of accessories to cover slotting, jig boring, jig grinding, spiral milling and punch milling. In respect of these operations, an important part of the machine's versatility was dictated by the multi-angle, swivelling and tilting table; with just the plain table in place, the miller remained very desirable, but it was not possible to enjoy, in full, all the FP1's ingenious capabilities. Drive System for Head and Table Cleverly arranged so that the table-feed rates were completely independent of spindle speeds, the drive system on the Deckel began with a two-speed, 3-phase motor mounted at the back of the machine on an easily reached, completely open and height-adjustable cast-iron platform. The table-feed gearbox was mounted inside the column, below the spindle-drive gears, and had eight speeds; used in conjunction with the two-speed motor this arrangement gave 16 rates of feed, the fastest of which, the makers suggested, was quick enough to use in place of a proper power "rapid-traverse". Whilst the rate of table feed was set by either pick-off gears or (later) two levers or a dial, on all versions except the 100 prototypes the direction of movement was controlled by an unusual (for a machine tool) ball-handled rod, rather like a car gear-change lever - what the Americans would refer to as a "stickshift". The lever controlled the movement of the main "vertical table" through eight different directions - left, right, up, down and a further four combinations where, with both horizontal and vertical feeds engaged at once, the table would move diagonally at an angle of 45 degrees. The table feed screws were all precision ground, ran though large bronze nuts and were fitted with exceptionally clear, finely engraved satin-chrome finish micrometer dials. Built-in steel rulers were provided for each axis of movement which, in combination with holders to accept dial-test indicators and gauge blocks, allowed high-precision measurements by co-ordinates to be made, independent of the feed screw readings. All table movements (around 300 mm longitudinally and 340 mm vertically) were fitted with automatic tripping stops with the upper one, to limit the table's vertical rise, fitted with micrometer adjustment. On the earliest model, to protect the table-drive mechanism against overloads, a shear pin was fitted hidden under a slip spring above the coolant pump. All gears, and their shafts, both spindle and table drive, were hardened and ground-finished. The "Y" movement was, of course made by the head, the travel being in the order of 150 mm. Heads Several types of vertical head and cutter supports were available: an overarm and drop bracket to hold a horizontal milling arbor (supplied as part of the standard equipment); a Vertical Spindle Head, powered by the machine's own drive system; a High-Speed Vertical Spindle Head with its own motor; an Angular Spindle Head driven from the main motor and designed to assist with the milling of hard-to-get-at sections; a Corner Milling Spindle with its own motor and a swivelling, belt-driven end tip intended for machining internal corners and edges - and a rare Precision Boring Head from the LKB Optical Coordinate Jig Boring Machine. A simple Slotting Head was also listed. Vertical Heads Usually ordered with every machine as a standard accessory, the ordinary vertical head could be swivelled through 360º and was equipped with a (rather short) 2.375" (60 mm) travel quill carrying a No. 4 Morse or 40 INT nose. The maximum clearance between spindle axis and inner face of the main column was 11 inches (280 mm). Unfortunately, the head had exactly the same range of 16 speeds from 40 to 2000 rpm (or 95 to 1900 r.p.m) as the horizontal spindle - a range that (compounded by a very short lever and small knurled-edged handwheel to move the quill) limited its ability to use very small cutters. To get round the problem Deckel offered an alternative head, the "High-speed", powered by a 0.75 h.p. 3-phase motor that gave six belt-driven speeds from a low of 1900 to a maximum of 6000 r.p.m. Fitted with a 40 INT nose the head could be swivelled 45 degrees either side of central and, because the unit was self-motorised and did not require connect to the horizontal spindle-mounted drive gear, the base was able to be made extra long to provide a useful 7.875 inches of extra travel and an additional 4" of clearance from cutter centre to the column face. Unfortunately, instead of equipping the High-speed head with a long-travel quill with fine-feed control, Deckel used the same annoyingly restricted unit from the standard head - a design decision that operator charged with the delicate handling of small cutters found most frustrating. Continued below:
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Deckel FP1 Mk. 3 of the late 1950s and early 1960s with dial-change for speeds and feeds and fitted with the standard vertical milling head.
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Continued: Angular Spindle Head An interesting accessory, designed to machine into places that would otherwise have been impossible or very difficult to get into, the Angular Head was fitted as standard with a No. 1 Morse taper socket into which a variety of special or standard cutters could be mounted. The head could be swivelled 360 degrees about both its longitudinal and vertical axis, so allowing the tool to be set at any desired angle "in space" - not quite up to the ingenious flexibility of the system used on the (very much heavier) French-built multi-swivel Hure miller, but not far off. Corner Milling Spindle Head Another unit intended for use in workshops producing mould and die tooling where access to internal corners and edges was difficult. The spindle carrier assembly could be rotated through 360 degrees about its vertical axis, whilst the cutter-spindle proper could be twisted through an angle of 90 degrees. A single-lip cutter was usually used, ground specially to shape for the job required. Driven from its own 0.55 kW motor, a round drive belt, with a pair of jockey pulleys to keep it in proper contact with its pulleys, passed down the length of the column and drove the spindle head directly. Because only very small cutters, required to run at very high speeds, were employed, just two speeds of 4000 and 6000 rpm were provided. Precision Boring Head. Lifted from an accessory range intended for the Deckel LKB Optical Jig Borer, and offered on all sizes of FP millers, the unit for the FP1 required the use of an intermediate gearbox. The head, as might be expected, was intended for very close-tolerance boring work, especially on proper jib-boring operations in conjunction with Deckel's own optical or standard measuring systems. The spindle ran in specially made, high-precision ball bearings and had 21 speeds and 6 rates of feed. Coarse setting of the head was made by hand against a graduated scale, whilst fine adjustment was through worm gearing against gauge blocks and dial-indicator readings. The head could be tilted through 90 degrees in both directions. Slotting Head The swivelling slotting head is one of those accessories that can sit unused on the shelf for months, but, when needed, is an invaluable tool. Eleven ram speeds were provided ranging from 16 to 200 strokes per minute. The ram stroke, the setting of which was read from a graduated scale, could be adjusted between a travel of 0 to 80 mm (31/8"). Buying an FP1 There are a few general points worth considering when looking for an FP1 or similar miller. Used examples are now available very reasonably, and it's possible to invest in an example with basic equipment, in sound working order, for little more than the price of a new, but larger Far Eastern machine of indifferent quality. Unfortunately the various accessories (especially the high-speed and slotting heads and various dividing attachments) are very sought after, and command high prices; however, once acquired they are a solid investment and easily sold on when no longer required. Being relatively complex machines, with finely made parts, dismantling requires a certain mechanical sympathy. Be suspicious of any example that shows evidence of rounded nuts, hammer blows to any of the casings or other signs of brute-force intervention - it may have been through the hands of a mechanical incompetent and suffered hidden, serious and expensive-to-put-right damage. The joy-stick lever should slide without undue force through its gate - if it has to be wrenched, something is amiss. The FP1 was developed into the larger and mechanically very similar FP2 and FP3 Series machines with the former, in many respects, identical to the FP1 and with most of the foregoing FP1 notes applicable to it. However, the FP3 Series, made until the late years of the 20th Century, included some rather different, specialised versions and none of the FP1 and FP2 accessories able to fit..
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Above and below: sections through the column-mounted gearbox of the Mk. 1 Deckel FP1
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Table feed direction-control lever. Note the large table-feed micrometer dials. Table feed direction on the FP1 was set by an unusual (for a machine tool) ball-ended rod, rather like a car gear-change lever; this controlled the movement of the main "vertical table" through eight different directions - left, right, up, down and a further four combinations where, with both horizontal and vertical feeds engaged at once, the table would move diagonally at an angle of 45 degrees. The feed gearbox was mounted inside the column, below the spindle drive gears and had eight speeds; used in conjunction with the two-speed motor this gave 16 rates of feed, the fastest of which, the makers suggest, was quick enough to used in place of a power "rapid-traverse". All the gears were made from hardened steel and slid on hardened and ground steel shafts. Table movements were around 300 mm longitudinally and 340 mm vertically with the "Y" (in-and-out) movement made by the head - the travel being in the order of 150 mm.
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Stops were provided for automatic tripping on all table movements. The upper stop, to limit the table's vertical rise, was fitted with a micrometer adjustment.
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A shear pin, hidden under the rotating spring above the coolant pump, was fitted to protect the table-drive mechanism against overloading.
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FP1 with an overarm for Horizontal Milling Several types of vertical head and supports were available to mount on the top of the Deckel FP1: a standard overarm and drop bracket to hold a horizontal milling arbor; a standard Vertical Spindle Head, powered by the machine's own drive system with the same 16 speeds as the horizontal spindle from 40 to 2000 rpm; a High-Speed Vertical Spindle Head with its own motor and a speed range from 1900 to 6000 rpm; an Angular Spindle Head driven from the main motor and designed to assist with the milling of hard-to-get-at sections; a Corner Milling Spindle with its own motor and swivelling belt-driven end tip intended for machining internal corners and edges and a rare Precision Boring Head, fitted by means of an intermediate drive gearbox, and originally developed for the LKB Optical Coordinate Jig Boring Machine. A simple Slotting Head was also available; For the Standard and Angular Spindle heads the drive was picked up from a long gear on the machine's horizontal shaft from where it was transmitted through a pair of spiral-bevel gears to the cutter head. Whilst the angular head could be rotated through 360 degrees the standard vertical head was restricted to 45º in each direction from central--though unlike the former it was equipped with a 23/8" travel quill. All the heads could be wound forwards and backwards on their seating aided by both a very a large zeroing micrometer dial and finely engraved ruler.
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Standard Vertical Head - driven from internal gearing by the main motor. A short-travel, spring-loaded quill was fitted to help with light drilling and tapping operations. The in-and-out movement was around 150 mm
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The High-Speed Vertical Spindle Head carried a 0.75 h.p. 3-phase motor and had the same No. 4 Morse or (depending on year of manufacture), 40 International nose fitting as the standard unit. Six spindle speeds were provided, from a low of 1900 to a maximum of 6000 rpm. Because it had a self-contained motor, and did not rely on the usual column-mounted drive gear, the base of the attachment was made extra long to provide, in comparison to the standard head, a very useful 77/8" additional movement on its slide - and an extra 4" of clearance from the centre of its cutter to the column face. The head could be swivelled 45 degrees either side of central. Unfortunately the head lacked a fine-feed mechanism - an to the quill, an omission that any operator charged with the delicate handling of tiny, high-speed cutters would have regretted.
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The Angular Spindle Head was an interesting accessory, designed to machine into places that would otherwise be impossible or very difficult to get at with conventional tooling. The head carried a No. 1 Morse taper socket into which a variety of special or standard cutters could be mounted. Because the head was able to be swivelled 360 degrees about its longitudinal axis, and was mounted on a 360 degree swivel vertical axis, the cutting tool could be set at any desired angle "in space" - not quite up to the ingenious flexibility of the (much more heavily built) French multi-swivel Hure system, but not far off.
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Corner Milling Spindle Head. This unit was designed for the accurate machining of internal corners and edges in places where access was difficult. Generally a single-lip cutter was employed, ground to the shape required for the job. The unit was driven from its own 0.55 kW motor through a round belt running over 2-step pulleys that gave speeds of 4000 and 6000 rpm. The belt passed down the length of the column and drove the spindle head directly with a pair of jockey pulleys keeping it in proper contact (in the picture the belt can just be seen emerging from the column housing). The spindle carrier assembly could be rotated through 360 degrees about its vertical axis (the graduations can been seen around the housing) whilst the cutter spindle proper could be twisted through an angle of 90 degrees.
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Precision Boring Head. This accessory was lifted from the LKB Optical Jig Boring machine and offered on all the FP millers - but for use on the FP1 an intermediate gearbox was required. As might be expected the head was intended for very close tolerance boring work especially when employed for proper jib-boring operations in conjunction with Deckel's own optical or standard measuring systems. The spindle ran in specially-made high-precision ball bearings and had 21 speeds and 6 rates of feed. Coarse settings of the head were made by hand against a graduated scale whilst fine adjustments were through a worm gearing against gauge blocks and dial indicator readings. The head could be tilted through 90 degrees in both directions.
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