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FEHLMANN Milling/Drilling Machines

Fehlmann are a family-owned Swiss company founded during 1929 in Seengen by Willie Fehlmann whose early work as a jobbing engineer was concerned, like so many of his kind, with providing a repair service and parts for the local metal-working industries.  By 1936 his company's first machine-tools were in production - a metal-coping saw, vices and two sizes of column-type drilling machines - but it was not until 1954 (and the graduation as a professional engineer of Fehlmann's son Willie Junior) that work started on the design of what was to make the company so well known, a high-precision, bench-mounted  combined milling and drilling machine. By 1958 the "mill-drill" was ready for market and, listed as the TB13C, was an immediate success with the added bonus that, because the co-ordinate table so well made and accurate, it proved saleable as a separate component and was soon to be found widely empoloyed not only in engineering applications under drills (and on the tables of heavy millers for very precise work) but also attached to such things as electric-discharge machines.
By 1968 the company had developed the Model P18, a somewhat heavier and more versatile version of the original that, from 1970, was equipped with a useful tool-changing system that allowed the cutter to be replaced with remarkable rapidity. Two years later the company's growth was such that a move was made to its present location in Seon, where a new factory was constructed and employment provided for around 35 staff.
During the early 1970s, with the benefits of NC control becoming obvious, Fehlamann introduced their "Picomax" range, in essence the same mill-drill as before but fitted with a suitably-adapted control system, the new machine being shown for the first time at the 1975 Paris EMO Exhibition..
By 1992, with an increasing demand for what was now a unique and versatile product, the production area was doubled in size and the workforce grew to around 110. High speed cutting (HSC) and 5-axis control were the next developments to excite the machine-tool world and Fehlmann were able to enter this competitive field in 1994 with their Picomax 82-M, a machine whose cutter rotated so quickly that the spindle had to be water-cooled. With an ever-increasing demand for HSC technology Feldhmann built a new assembly hall in 1998 and, by 2004 had increased its number of employees to 160.
Although the manual mill-drill machines are still made the company now has a more complete range that includes CNC milling centres, HSC milling machines and specialised products such as parts-handling equipment for computer-controlled machine tools. 
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With superb fit and finish, the Fehlmann mill-drill upholds that long-standing Swiss tradition of making only the finest-quality machine tools - and not being frightened to charge accordingly - the current models starting at a figure in excess of Sf50,000 (around £33,000).
Whilst everybody is familiar with the concept of a mill-drill, the Taiwanese having produced many hundreds of thousands of cheap examples for the amateur and small professional workshop and garage market, the standard Fehlmann is of an unusual configuration. It combines the mechanical features and quality of a table-top jig borer, yet is perfectly adapted (with all the correct speeds) for ordinary milling, drilling and tapping. Numerous detailed touches abound to make the operator's job easier with built-in, integrated electrical controls and a stand having a selection of properly proportioned drawers and rubber-covered platforms at either side of the machine base to allow the storage of  work in in progress and tooling. Some models also had a separate and very convenient swing-out tool and work holder on the machine's left-hand side.
Power rise and fall is fitted to the column with (on some version) an ingenious, multi-position rotating adjustable stop. Equipped with Fehlmann's own very efficient and easy-to-use quick-release tooling, users report that the spindle has a movement of "absolute perfection" with a perfectly balanced, zero-backlash action that beats even a Moore jib borer for sensitivity of feel and control of the cutting tool. Although the table might be considered rather short of longitudinal travel, it is superbly constructed with its Heidenhain digital read-out scales integrated into the structure - not just bolted on. Convenient pushbuttons are fitted at the end of each handwheel: push in for power feed, push again to stop the  feed.
With a powerful, wide-range, variable-speed drive (conveniently altered by a control lever sliding in a slot arranged at an angle across the front face of the head) combined with it's other well-thought-out controls the Fehlmann Mill/drill must considered one of the most desirable machine to have in any workshop - from toolroom to maintenance.

On the left-hand side of the head can be seen the multi-position adjustable and rotating down-feed stop - a unit not, unfortunately, fitted to all examples