ballen
Diamond
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2011
- Location
- Garbsen, Germany
A few days ago, I broke off the Z-axis position indictator from my 1964 Deckel FP2. It is equipped with glass scales, but I
still use the manual scales for rough positioning.
The problem is that if it is rotated out of the normal position, the Z indicator can "catch" on top of the Z-axis scale (visible in
the last three photos below). This happened once before, but I caught it in time and was able to bend the indicator back. This time it snapped off
completely. It seems to be cast.
I was able to hard-solder it back together, but it no longer fit because the dimensions are quite precise. So I milled the indicator notch
again.
To prevent this from ever happening again, I also made a modification to the design. I milled a 4.1mm wide, 1.3mm deep notch in the vertical rod, and
then replaced the 4mm brass clamping-pad rod with a longer version. This makes it possible to move the Z indicator up and down and clamp it
in place, but prevents rotation. So I won't break it a third time!
Cheers,
Bruce
still use the manual scales for rough positioning.
The problem is that if it is rotated out of the normal position, the Z indicator can "catch" on top of the Z-axis scale (visible in
the last three photos below). This happened once before, but I caught it in time and was able to bend the indicator back. This time it snapped off
completely. It seems to be cast.
I was able to hard-solder it back together, but it no longer fit because the dimensions are quite precise. So I milled the indicator notch
again.
To prevent this from ever happening again, I also made a modification to the design. I milled a 4.1mm wide, 1.3mm deep notch in the vertical rod, and
then replaced the 4mm brass clamping-pad rod with a longer version. This makes it possible to move the Z indicator up and down and clamp it
in place, but prevents rotation. So I won't break it a third time!
Cheers,
Bruce