Aciera F4

This is my first post so apologies if I am making any mistakes or I am asking silly questions.

I have purchased a 'round head' Aciera F4 and I am in the middle of cleaning it currently.

I wondered if anyone could help me with the following questions.

1. I have taken the table off to clean behind there but I wondered if there are any other components I should remove and check or clean before powering it up.

2. Two of my rulers are stuck in their slideways, does anyone know how I can get these to move. I have tried a ton of WD40 and tapping it with a copper plate but no luck so far.

3. I would like to drain the oils in the machine and replace them. Does anyone know what oils I should be using and where.

4. The machine has a number of grease nipples on it but I assume these are actually oilers, is there a specific type of oiler can I should be using for this.

5. The automatic stops for the travel seem to be stiff in their bores. Is there any recommendation for dealing with these and can i take them apart o service them or is that a bad idea.

Thanks in advance to anyone able to help.

Beresford Romeo said:

This is my first post so apologies if I am making any mistakes or I am asking silly questions.


5. The automatic stops for the travel seem to be stiff in their bores. Is there any recommendation for dealing with these and can i take them apart o service them or is that a bad idea.

Thanks in advance to anyone able to help.

Click to expand...

Please ignore this question. I realise now that this is related to the engagement of the feed lever.

1. I have taken the table off to clean behind there but I wondered if there are any other components I should remove and check or clean before powering it up.

I assume you mean the part I call the "apron," that is, the part of the X axis with slideways, and not the accessory fixed or angular table that hangs on it. I have never taken the aprons off my machines, but I have taken off the end castings, taken out the leadscrews, and removed the chip shield plates. I then slid the aprons as far left and right as I could and cleaned and inspect the slideways. The ways on my machines are in good condition, so I have not felt the need to pull it all apart. Given that your machine is older, you may want to pull the apron all the way off. You'll need a hoist or sturdy bench of the appropriate height in order to support the apron as it slides off.

2. Two of my rulers are stuck in their slideways, does anyone know how I can get these to move. I have tried a ton of WD40 and tapping it with a copper plate but no luck so far.

On my machines, the rulers are either not stuck or missing. The F4 has a DRO, so I don't care that the scales are missing. Your approach of oil and tapping with a soft hammer makes sense to me. Try a better penetrating oil, maybe "Kroil." Of couse you want to make sure the lock screws are out.

3. I would like to drain the oils in the machine and replace them. Does anyone know what oils I should be using and where.

The main gearbox, vertical head, and X feed clutch take ISO 150 gear or AW hydraulic oil. The feed transmission takes ISO 68. If the feed clutch slips when feeding vertically up, especially after releasing the rapid traverse pedal, you need to take the transmission out, take the cover off, and clean the clutch. Fortunately, the transmission is a "works in a drawer" arrangement, and not too hard to extract. It is a nice piece of Swiss engineering.

4. The machine has a number of grease nipples on it but I assume these are actually oilers, is there a specific type of oiler can I should be using for this.

Yes, these are all for way oil except the nipple for filling the X axis apron clutch housing. I use Vactra #4 way lube shot from a modified grease gun. I modified the gun by taking out the plunger and sealing the hole in the end to form a reservoir. I also sealed the threads where the body screws into the pump head.

5. The automatic stops for the travel seem to be stiff in their bores. Is there any recommendation for dealing with these and can i take them apart o service them or is that a bad idea.

I don't think taking things apart is a bad idea, as long as you know what you are doing. I myself would definitely take the vertical spindle apart and clean and grease the bearings. My machines take Kluber Isoflex NBU-15 or Super Tel. I would do the same to the horizontal spindle if you suspect it is one of the grease-lubricated versions. My F5 has a grease-lubricated horizontal spindle, but the F4 relies on pumped and splashed oil.

Beresford Romeo said:

Please ignore this question. I realise now that this is related to the engagement of the feed lever.

Click to expand...

Presume you have twigged, then to manuals being available, online sources, both for-fee, and for-free? Google, etc....

Google should also find you the several PM threads on this critter and its siblings as well.

Hi rklopp

Many thanks for your reply, it is very much appreciated.

I hope it is OK to ask a couple more questions.

6. I have attached an image I hope of the Z axis way cover which had some sort of fibrous material in there by way of a way wiper. I wondered if you know what this material may have been (in case I can remake it) or where I could get another one.

7. I have also attached an image of what look like maybe detent pins or some such thing. I think there are 3 of these on the machine and one of them is loose. Could help me to confirm the purpose of these. I assume it is to index the head and column but I could be wrong.

8. I have attached a photo of the vertical head. I don't know in relation to question 3 if this is the grease or oil type so any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

hi thermite

many thanks for your reply.

I did a lot of googling and read a lot about these machines even before I purchase it so I am hoping that I only ask questions for which the answers are not already available or there is some ambiguity. Having said that I am sure something really stupid will get through and I will embarrass myself. I found some good manuals on the anglo swiss website but none in English. If you know of any for the early Acieras in English. I will keep looking though.

thanks again.

Beresford Romeo said:

...found some good manuals on the anglo swiss website but none in English.

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Not a problem. Get the German-language ones. Or Spanish, Italian, or French.

As written for "world market", not spoken, the first will be in DE-German, not CH-German. Either of which have about 75% common root with English and use near-as-dammit the same alphabet and "latin" letter-characters. Chinese, Thai, Korean, or Arabic are, of course, harder.



More importantly, it is numbers and technical terms you seek, so you won't NEED to be able to understand split-verbs, inanimate obects having gender, etc. so as to be able to read "Dr. Faustus" nor "Vom Krieg" in German.

Dimensionally, a millimeter is just a number, a lube spec is universal, photos and line-drawings even more so.

That, plus translate.google.com added to memory - or a notebook of yer own works well-enough you'll soon have all you need.

ha ha,

Well thanks to you I had a look around again and found that the manual I thought was in French was in fact in German and English as well. I didn't use my eyes very well there.

Aciera F4 manual 23.9MB.pdf - Google Drive

thanks again.

Beresford Romeo said:

ha ha,

Well thanks to you I had a look around again and found that the manual I thought was in French was in fact in German and English as well. I didn't use my eyes very well there.

Aciera F4 manual 23.9MB.pdf - Google Drive

thanks again.

Click to expand...

Þú ert velkominn.

6. I have attached an image I hope of the Z axis way cover which had some sort of fibrous material in there by way of a way wiper. I wondered if you know what this material may have been (in case I can remake it) or where I could get another one.
View attachment 259472

The material should be firm felt like this. I made a close-fitting aluminum sheet template matched to the dovetail, and I use that to guide cutting the felt.

7. I have also attached an image of what look like maybe detent pins or some such thing. I think there are 3 of these on the machine and one of them is loose. Could help me to confirm the purpose of these. I assume it is to index the head and column but I could be wrong.
View attachment 259471

Those are taper pins to precisely locate the column on the base. You use the nut to jack the pin out when you want to remove it. I doubt you would want to remove that one unless you need to separate the column from the base. That would be a rather big task, that I would only contemplate if I was re-scraping the column ways. There are other tapers pins, like for locking the swivel joint of the vertical head, or, in the case of the F5, for locating the vertical head mounting plate to the front of the ram. The angular table has three such pins, one for each axis of rotation. Make sure the pin and hole are very clean when you tap the pins into place, and check the alignment of the head or whatever afterwards. The taper pin alignment on my F4 head tilt is a little off, so I leave that pin loose.

8. I have attached a photo of the vertical head. I don't know in relation to question 3 if this is the grease or oil type so any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
View attachment 259473

That is an earlier machine than mine (middle-generation square-heads). However, am fairly certain that nipple is for gear oil, not grease. My machines have sight-glasses for the oil level, and a plug on top or on the side to add oil, and no nipple. The greased bearings are within the quill assembly, Those are lubricated during assembly, and there is no nipple for later re-greasing.

Many thanks again for your kind help rklopp.

I hope it is ok to ask you a supplementary question to point 5 above.

5. The automatic stops for the travel seem to be stiff in their bores. Is there any recommendation for dealing with these and can i take them apart o service them or is that a bad idea.

All of the automatic stops trip their relative feed levers bar one. The upper of the two z axis stops does not. I have tried pushing down on it pretty hard with my thumb and even when applying far more pressure than the others it only moves the lever a short way and then feels like it is solid. Likewise if I put mu thumb on the stop and pull the lever I can feel the mechanism acting on my thumb but only at the end of the lever's stroke. The lower Z axis stop plunger feels very much like both the X axis ones, that is to say you can feel a definite cause and effect between the lever and the plunger throughout the stroke.

Sadly I can find no useful reference to these in the only manual I can find so far. This is the one linked to in the conversation with thermite above. This manual is incomplete and refers to the machine you have perhaps as all the diagrams are of a squarer machine.



My question is,

a. should the upper of the Z axis plungers behave any differently for any obvious reasons. I can't think of any reason it should but I could be missing something obvious like needing to overcome the weight of the carriage.

b. i have attached a picture of the Z axis plungers, there is a screw perpendicular to the the plungers (like the axis), do you know what these are for?



Thanks again for your help.

My machines look similar to yours in the area of the Z-axis feed trips. The main differences are that my machines have socket head cap screws where yours has slotted screws, and my machines do not have an oil nipple there. I assume the screws hold the plungers via pins turned on the end of the screws engaging slots in the sides of the plungers, but I have never had them apart.* It's a case of "if it ain't broke don't fix it." Sounds like yours is broke, because the plungers should all behave similarly. Don't be afraid to take out the screws and pull the plungers. My guess is that yours over-traveled hard into the stop, perhaps during a rapid move with the pedal. Maybe you'll have to fix up the screw and plunger. I doubt it would be difficult to make new ones if you have a lathe and mill.

Upon studying the manual, it looks like the screws may secure a pair of bushings that capture a shoulder on each plunger that keeps them from sliding out of the casting. The bushings are seen in the manual image you posted along with the springs and plungers. In any event, take out a screw and the plunger should come out. Follow your nose and don't apply excessive force while taking things apart.

Thanks rklopp for confirming they should be the same. It may be that this is why the stops are missing on the Z axis.

I do have a lathe and another mill so I will do that, do you have a recommendation for any specific material if I need to.

Some good news, I managed to get the the X axis scale moving so small progress, the Z axis scale is still stuck so I will keep applying WD40 until it does move.

Thanks again.

As to material, check how hard the damage parts are by testing with a file. If not so hard, I would use a steel called ETD-150, which is a re-sulfurized prehardened 4140 or similar. 4140 pre-hard would be fine. AISI 1144 would be good, too. The other option would be to turn the parts out of oil-hardening drill rod and harden them.

Great thankyou.



This is the machine in question.I will let you know how things go.

I thought it looked like your machine has the original paint based on this and the other photos. If so, you might not have much mechanical wear. I love the finish on Aciera mills. It is like porcelain. The fit and finish is just spectacular, as one might expect from the Swiss.


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rklopp said:

My machines look similar to yours in the area of the Z-axis feed trips. The main differences are that my machines have socket head cap screws where yours has slotted screws, and my machines do not have an oil nipple there. I assume the screws hold the plungers via pins turned on the end of the screws engaging slots in the sides of the plungers, but I have never had them apart.* It's a case of "if it ain't broke don't fix it." Sounds like yours is broke, because the plungers should all behave similarly. Don't be afraid to take out the screws and pull the plungers. My guess is that yours over-traveled hard into the stop, perhaps during a rapid move with the pedal. Maybe you'll have to fix up the screw and plunger. I doubt it would be difficult to make new ones if you have a lathe and mill.

Upon studying the manual, it looks like the screws may secure a pair of bushings that capture a shoulder on each plunger that keeps them from sliding out of the casting. The bushings are seen in the manual image you posted along with the springs and plungers. In any event, take out a screw and the plunger should come out. Follow your nose and don't apply excessive force while taking things apart.

Click to expand...

I managed to get the screw undone (It would have been a lot easier if it was a socket cap). I was able to remove the plunger and there was a lot of chips under the head of it. I cleaned them out with a small magnet to avoid getting chips into the bore below. On re-assembly the mechanism worked as all the others do.

I can't thank you enough for your help there. It is always a daunting task to undo a screw when you have no certainty as to the purpose of it so your advice is greatly appreciated.

rklopp said:

I thought it looked like your machine has the original paint based on this and the other photos. If so, you might not have much mechanical wear. I love the finish on Aciera mills. It is like porcelain. The fit and finish is just spectacular, as one might expect from the Swiss.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Click to expand...

I have to agree with you there. It seems like a really well built machine. I don't have much to compare it as mills go except for a Warco Mill Drill that we have here which is probably an unfair comparison. That feeling that you get when you see a machine like that is what Robert M. Persig would perhaps refer to as the tangible but inexplicable nature of quality.

I have started to understand the machine more now and must admit that I was perplexed for a few days about how to fill the main gearbox with oil. I had not moved the y-axis far enough to see the secret oil cap at the top of the column.


I managed to get the oils order so hopefully I will be able to run when these arrive.

I have another question if that is ok.



9. I have reattached the table to the apron and I noticed that it does not fit fully in the groove on the top of the apron however the two scraped surfaces on the face perpendicular to the table are touching properly. It could be that this is perfectly normal but I wondered if you could confirm that this is so. I could not see through there when I first got the machine because that area was full of old oil and chips.


Thanks again for all your kind help.

"I have another question if that is ok.

View attachment 259573

9. I have reattached the table to the apron and I noticed that it does not fit fully in the groove on the top of the apron however the two scraped surfaces on the face perpendicular to the table are touching properly. It could be that this is perfectly normal but I wondered if you could confirm that this is so. I could not see through there when I first got the machine because that area was full of old oil and chips."

Questions are perfectly OK. If the two scraped surfaces perpendicular to the table are touching and the one face of the V is touching, then the system is kinematically fully constrained and not over-constrained. The proof of the pudding will be what you get when you sweep the table with an indicator in the spindle and check perpendicularity of the table surface to the Z-axis with a precision square. I think my machines are more toward over-constrained, in that both V faces and the perpendicular table surfaces are touching, but I have never actually checked. A Schaublin lathe bed is over-constrained, and must be tedious to scrape in for good contact all around, and, oh by the way, get the geometry right, too.

rklopp said:

" and, oh by the way, get the geometry right, too.

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hi rklopp

Would you mind expanding on this a little? Do you have some specific tests and remedies in mind? I was beginning to wonder what to do other than tramming the head in the normal way.

It was my intention to turn a cylinder square between centres in the lathe and use that to try to ascertain the perpendicularity of the z-axis and table. If you have any specific suggestion or setups I would be happy to try those out.