Trying to find a date for my fp1

I am trying to find the year of manufacture for my Deckel fp1. Serial #57835/28. It has a 40 taper horizontal spindle,and Y axis power feed via a joystick.
I hope I am not misquoting Milacron,but in another Deckel thread,he told an owner that his Deckel with dials and a 40 taper was a rare machine. So is mine.Mine MIGHT be from the 80's,since it has the power feed on the Y axis. I'm just not sure.

Any help appreciated.

gwilson said:

I am trying to find the year of manufacture for my Deckel fp1. Serial #57835/28. It has a 40 taper horizontal spindle,and Y axis power feed via a joystick.
I hope I am not misquoting Milacron,but in another Deckel thread,he told an owner that his Deckel with dials and a 40 taper was a rare machine. So is mine.Mine MIGHT be from the 80's,since it has the power feed on the Y axis. I'm just not sure.

Any help appreciated.

Click to expand...

Can you post pictures?

Sounds like you have the last generation of FP1, probably late 80's early 90's, yes it is a rare machine!
I'm unsure if Deckel was still making the FP1 past the 90's?

Kevin

What do you mean by joystick ?? Never had one with a electrical joystick
Does it have one or 2 motors at the back
A picture would be best to determen what generation
But if it is all original a FP1 with 3 axes powerfeed and rapids it must be from the 80ies
Peter

By "joy stick",I meant there is a vertical rod near the rear of the right hand end of the table. Flick it in different directions to make switches in the direction of the table's feed. There is a black ball handle on the top of this joy stick about 1 1/2" in diameter.

There is a single original motor on the back of the mill,and a free standing electrical cabinet.

This machine was from a school. The shear pin was broken off,and the power feeds did not work when I got it. I got a manual from Tony Griffiths,and located the shear pin. Way down at the bottom of the cabinet. After I made another one from soft steel,the power feeds work perfectly. The machine must not have ever been used much. The table's tightness is the same from end to end of the movement range. I think the teacher couldn't figure out how to fix it.

My knees are so bad right now,I can hardly get around. Hopefully by the end of Summer they will both be re lined.I thought I'd ask the doctor if he meant brake lining material. But,warn him that Volvo brakes always squeak.At least the older volvos did!!

I VERY MUCH appreciate your responses!!!

You have powerfeeds on the X and Z then Not on the Y Y is the head back and forward
X is the table left right and Z is table up and down And no rapids
With a 40 taper and dials its from the 60ies 70ies
There is a list somewhere witch can relate YOM to serial#
Cant find it right here

Peter

Here are some pictures of my Deckel. It has been repainted with a brush,but so carefully that it s hard to tell unless you are very close.Those cuts on the table are pretty shallow,less than 1/32" deep,but where it ends it gradually deepens to 1/16" I bet that is where some kid got tangled up with the power feed and sheared off the shear pin. Since there was no manual with the machine,I think the teacher got too lazy to fix it.But,in reality,it was a simple fix if you have the manual.

I'd suggest repainting the tilting table and just leaving it on the machine. It has no damage to the top surface. The paint is chipped underneath,but no cracks or other damage to the metal. I was thinking about mailing the fixed table to someone who has a planer to get an authentic planed surface.

If you have a vise on the plain table,the cuts are not noticable.

I only have the one index plate that is on that attachment.

I admit that I am not very familiar with the dating and variations of this machine.

gwilson said:

Here are some pictures of my Deckel. It has been repainted with a brush,but so carefully that it s hard to tell unless you are very close.Those cuts on the table are pretty shallow,less than 1/32" deep,but where it ends it gradually deepens to 1/16" I bet that is where some kid got tangled up with the power feed and sheared off the shear pin. Since there was no manual with the machine,I think the teacher got too lazy to fix it.But,in reality,it was a simple fix if you have the manual.

I'd suggest repainting the tilting table and just leaving it on the machine. It has no damage to the top surface. The paint is chipped underneath,but no cracks or other damage to the metal. I was thinking about mailing the fixed table to someone who has a planer to get an authentic planed surface.

If you have a vise on the plain table,the cuts are not noticable.

I only have the one index plate that is on that attachment.

I admit that I am not very familiar with the dating and variations of this machine.

Click to expand...

The newest it is likely to be is 1976. Y axis power feed on FP1 didn't exist until about 1982 or so.

Milacron,there is no DRO. Did you see the pictures I posted? I haven't run this machine in many years. I'm just so used to my Bridgeport clone(which has been a perfectly good,accurate mill I bought in 1986,made in Taiwan,for which I have numerous attachments:Power feeds(Real Servo units,on x and y feeds), Bridgeport slotting head,Volstro slotter(slips over the spindle),right angle attachment and the extras to do horizontal milling,,Quillmaster with the little extention,Kurt vise,a Volstro circular milling attachment I got new in box,and have used just a few times, and a hydraulic tracing attachment still like new by Mimick. I haven't bothered to trade it on a real Bridgeport when they have become available via the local used machine dealer) I also have a good high speed(12000 RPM M head that I can mount on the rear end of the ram if needed.

And,I have a Harrison horizontal mill which I'm quite happy with. It is in great shape,and with universal table. Gear head and cuts quite powerfully.Makes my right angle / horizontal milling attachment for the Bridgy redundant. But acquired this Harrison machine at a later date.

These are my go to mills.

The tracing attachment was a lucky aquisition. When I was talking to the Mimick factory,the man told me where there was an old guy who bought it to try running a business of re milling alloy wheels! If course,the mimik has only 1 1/2" of vertical travel. He sold me the $10,000.00 unit at a good price.



I'll try to go out to the shop and re check the power feeds. I am having a lot of trouble getting around with worn out knees right now.

O.K.,I am sorry!! The Deckel has power feed in the horizontal axis and the VERTICAL axis. My memory is not what it used to be.Vertical axis doesn't make a lot of sense to me.
The power feeds are controlled by the "joy stick". You can get them to run forward or backwards,or BOTH TOGETHER. I just ran the machine to remind myself.

I am so used to my other mills,I just haven't used the Deckel.It is not in the handiest place in the shop. I have too much stuff!

I have checked the table travel for wear,and the machine is tight from side to side,not loose in the middle and tight at the ends.

Hi George.

I had a Harrison horizontal mill with the "normal" vertical head.
Quite a cute, little mill. I liked it a lot. But before I got to really use it,
I saw a Deckel FP1. And I could see all the possibilities in the Deckel.
So Harrison out, Deckel in - eventually. It wasn't easy to find a nice Deckel.

Your FP1 is the kind, I was looking for! I had no hope of finding one of the newer, square ones.
But I'm not complaining at all - because I found an FP2 instead.

Cheers
Erik

gw, I don't know of any online machine tool dating sites, but maybe there is one....ironmatch.com or such ?

Milacron,I think your date of 1972 is close enough. The machine is in very fine mechanical shape. My friend Jon years ago bought a 1950's HLV Hardinge lathe. When he called the factory,they said "Oh,that's back when we were making much better machines. My HLVH is a 1964,and does very nice work,fine surfacing,etc..

I wonder if Deckel was making machines better back in the 70's,if you can find one that isn't worn out? A 70's machine in good shape might be pretty desirable. The gears in mine have mirror smooth surfaces.

Though I am not a Deckel expert,I have been machining for over 50 years,and I do know how to check a machine for wear.

Glad you got what you wanted,Erik! I don't think it would be too cheap,shipping a Deckel all the way to Northern Europe. Besides,some Viking raiders might have grabbed it en route!