Thread: New owner - introducing myself to the group...

Howdy all,
My name is David Cox and I'm a brand spankin' new FP1 owner.
I got it yesterday and it's in the garage, sadly not under power yet (I'm without 3 phase).

I'm just starting to poke around here more seriously as I'm an owner now.

It came with the vertical head, horizontal head, spiral attachment, vice, transformer but I'll have to look into a phase converter.

I'm making the switch from import junk to something real and I really had no idea what a HUGE difference this would be. I'm frankly still stunned. The seller let me take it for a test spin with some advice before we took it and it was eye-opening to say the least.

Any advice for a complete FP1 newbie that may help my learning curve?

Thanks in advance!

Dave

Welcome Dave. Which generation FP1 did you get ? (MT4 spindle or no. 40 ? Levers for gear changes or round dials ?)

Levers for change gears, I seem to remember the manual saying MT4. I didn't think about the spindle too much because I also got a full set of collets.

I had the previous owner run through all the speeds and it sounded really good. The power drives were also without issue.

After I got it home I wondered if the backlash increased in transport, but I haven't done any real measurements yet.

I'm guessing from my serial number the mill was early 50's (29248) any way to get closer?

Found it in another thread 1952... Anybody have some advice on backlash in X for that vintage year?
Looking at .058 or so.

How uniform is backlash along the travel? Check it at the extreme ends and in the middle. If similar, it's probably the nut, which is easier to replace than the screw. In any event, though .058 is a lot, you can work with it. No heavy climb cuts allowed!

Making a new nut is a easy solution. It took my backlash down to less than .010. We have similar machines (#29826). One other thing to look at is the thrust nuts on the controls side of the mill.

Thanks for you replies, I may be wrong on the backlash I'm very new to machining. After using a dial caliper on a stand rather than by eye, I get .031, .029, .026, .028 from left to right.

I'm waiting on spanner wrenches to do the thrust nut adjustment. Any hints? I'm guessing I snug the one closest to the hand wheel without binding it up, then lock with the second.

At this point making a new nut may be a bit beyond my ability.

If the screw is standard is there a tap for making the nut? Or is this a boring job? Again, I'm green as can be in machining.

Well I think the amount of backlash you have is within reason. If you feel you have to do something about it you can always buy a nut from Franz Singer who sells on eBay (German).

Originally Posted by Bitfodder

Thanks for you replies, I may be wrong on the backlash I'm very new to machining. After using a dial caliper on a stand rather than by eye, I get .031, .029, .026, .028 from left to right.

"dial caliper on a stand" and "left to right" makes no sense, so now I'm wondering if you are even measuring it correctly in the first place. If you turn the handwheel either direction, stop and reverse it, how much aprox play is there between stopping and direction change before the table actually starts to move ? On a mill this old, don't worry about thousandths... I mean just in fraction of one revolution of the handwheel ? 1/2 turn slack ? 1/3 turn ? Less ? More ?

Hmm, I guess I'm being very vague. I put a magnetized stand with a Dial caliper attached on the work table. The caliper is measuring movement in the x axis by making contact with the spindle. I move the hand wheel in one direction to make the indicator read zero. At that point I zero the hand wheel scale. I next move the hand wheel in the opposite direction until the dial moves. I look at the wheel and record the reading. I then repeated this at different spots on the work table, from extreme left edge to extreme right edge. It's less than a third of a turn, about a quarter.

Thanks for the info, 1potatoe.

Originally Posted by Bitfodder

Hmm, I guess I'm being very vague. I put a magnetized stand with a Dial caliper attached on the work table.

This is a dial caliper

Wow, I'm not being vague, I'm being dense. I really am having trouble putting together a complete thought with the correct terminology.

I meant to say dial indicator.

I apologize for the complete lack of familiarity with the tools/instruments, I will make a better effort in the future when requesting help.

Sorry

No apology needed.....Everyone on here started somewhere.
Not many of us were smart enough to start out with a Deckel....
Keep asking questions..it will get easier.

Cheers Ross

Thanks Ross!