FP1 Quill Lever

This is a picture of the quill lever that I just made for my FP1. It really makes a big difference. No more looking for the wrench, no more repositioning the hard way, and no more wishing I had a real lever.
Since I didn’t want to alter the original geared shaft I made a new one as well. The gear portion is 1.0 Module 20* PA and 14 teeth. All the rest is pretty much straight forward reverse engineering and a little creative borrowing of other handle concepts.




Rick

Wow!

Sean

well i think i know what this weekends project will be

great job rick!

nathan

How about making the handle indexing section a little thicker walled where it would slip over the 12mm square and setscrewing that section right onto the existing shaft? That would eliminate the need for replacing that part and make it a true "bolt on" installation.

Nice work. by the way....

Brian,
I had given the bolt on concept some thought before starting the project. As a test, I had used a standard setscrewed round collar that was slightly modified to fit on the square nut. With a lever added to it the part functioned very well. I just didn't like the idea of broaching a 12 mm square hole and doing any more damage to the original shaft due to setscrews. Also, the square nut seemed to be just a little too stubby to use as an anchor for my twisted taste. On the other hand, making a square hole and protecting the shaft from setscrew damage would likely be a lot easier than cutting 1.0 mod gear teeth on a new shaft. Fortunately for me, the gear part was no problem and I had plenty of shaft material.

Rick

Rick;
Nice job.
Just a word of caution here..(not trying to deminish rick's work , it is a good design and nicely done).
Deckel never intended the regular milling head to be used as a drilling quill. For ocasional use it is fine , but be aware tht there is no provision to liubricate the quill sliding in the head, unlike the Precision boring head. Most Bridgeport and their clones have and oil cup that wicks oil to the quill to provide lube between the sliding elements, Deckel makes no such provision. The best an operator can do is extend the quill fully and smear some way lube on the surface. Trouble with that is the when the quill is retracted most of the oil is stripped by the edge of the head casting and little ever gets inside where it is needed.
A convient quill handle is very nice.(Deckel made a quick positioning handle for the boring head so they knew how to do this. They did not provide one on the milling head for a reason) Given a nice and easy to operate handle, some care not to be tempted to overuse the quill should be exercised. If you are doing any amount of drilling on your machines, i would urge you to use the precision boring head , or feed on the knee. IMHO
Don't get me wrong here, i use the quills on all my Deckels, but i try to limit the amount and use the knee or boring head when possible.

Cheers Ross

Ross,

Point well taken. I'm sure that overusing the quill will not be a problem here at The Old Machinery Retirement Home . I wish I had a boring attachment but I don't think I'd be happy changing it for the small amount of drilling that I actually do. But I do wonder what was on Herr Deckel's mind when he decided to not lube the quill. Why a return spring on a quill that was meant not to be used much? Why a knurled spring case that also works as a rudimentary quill feed? There are graduations on the quill. Are they for depth setting of drills and small mills? I believe the FP1 was intended for tool and die makers who typically don't drill a lot of holes. Could that be part of the reason?

Thanks,

Rick

I hate to differ wih Ross's opinion there, but there is most certainly a place to lubricate the quill. The Deckel manual states you induce oil to the keyway where the spindle protrudes from the top of the bearings. Oil squirted here goes down the quill and then gets thrown off the bevel gear and coats the junction of the quill in the head casting. Granted, there isn't a cup, at least not on mine, some do have them.... but you are supposed to oil daily, so adequate lubrication is "available" and there is no reason at all to not use the quill in drilling operations. Granted it works best as a "sensitive" quill and for lighter drilling.... larger/deeper holes you'll want to power feed the Z axis..... but it's perfectly well designed and functional as a drilling spindle.

I agree with Brian. I definitely can't see no reason to limit the use of the quill on regular milling head.

Ross said "They did not provide one on the milling head for a reason", but IMHO it's probably not because they didn't want the quill to be used often.

I can't imagine Deckel engineers scratching their heads thinking :
"Hey ! Now that we've designed that head with a quill, how could we make it just boring enough to use to prevent the customers to play with it ?
Hum...
- Hey ! I have an idea : let's provide those heads with a badly-designed-awkward-to- use-lever... That way, we can be sure those machinists won't wear out our quills !
- Good idea dude ! Let's have another beer before we get back to the drawing board. " (doesn't sound very realistic does it ?)

The lubrication procedure through the keyway seems enough to me (if done regularly of course).

The Deckel manual states you induce oil to the keyway where the spindle protrudes from the top of the bearings.

Click to expand...

I guess it depends on which manual you are using. My FP2 manual circa 10-76 only shows grease being applied to the spindle bearings every 5000 hours of aperation. The lubrication schedule has nothing about dripping oil down the key way...

As to Tien's comments, yes i think it was an effort by the engineers at Deckel to limit the use of the quill. Still think it was primarily designed as a positioning feature....They could have easily made the drive for the quill a hex just like the boring head...they already had the handle in the system for the boring head, would have been simple, but they didn't and i don't believe that was an accident. So much design and evolution on these machines and they never changed the feed shaft to the vertical quill? Do you really believe that they missed this detail?

Even the later machines that have the hex drive for the quill feed have it restricted on the vertical head feed. On the later machines the horizontal quill feed is via hex socket in the end of the shaft. This hex is followed by a deeper straight round hole. There is a special handle that fits into this deeper hole and engages the hex. The handle has ball detents that allow pulling the handle out and repositioning, them pushing back in to engage the hex. The vertical spindle shaft is missing this deeper hole, so the handle can not be used on the vertical quill...again a effort to limit the handle use on the vertical quill....not an accident. Believe the horizontal quill is fed liberally with splash oil when the machine is in operation, so Deckel had no quams about that quill being used in constant service......Unlike the vertical.
Cheers Ross

Again i will also admit that i use my quills for drilling all the tine, but i do try to limit it.

Ross

Even if you're right ( who knows ?), do you think the quill needs that much oil ?

Regarding the lack of a lever, possibly the designers first priority was adaptability of the machine. Or the ability to position the work and tool in as broad a range of configurations as possible. Having a permanently attached handle could at times be a detriment to this philosophy. So a wimpy plastic handled lever with a square hole and a setscrew could make sense. Just my two cents. Vee vill likely never know.

Rick

I also tend to think engineers sometimes don't change things.... hey, it's there, it works, I'm used to the stupid handle, why change it....

Ross, in my owners manual it specifically shows oiling points, the keyway being one, and then there is a set screw that says "oil" next to that on top of the bearing keeper/collar. You are supposed to remove the setscrew and induce oil into the hole to lubricate the upper double ball bearing stack.

Here is a blueprint from the manuals showing the assembly of the head. I was wrong about the oil throwing off the bevel gear, although any oil put in for the upper bearings will do that... it's actually the oil that runs down the keyway and gets thrown off by the slinger mounted atop the inner quill that puts the oil onto the quill/head casting surface.

Nice work Rick! The only thing I might change is the knob on the quill lever to a smoother type knob. What type of gear cutter do you buy for that task (20 PA, 14 T)?
Thank-you for sharing this excellent project with us for improvement of our mills!
Steve

Steve,

Glad you liked it. I was a little hesitant to post the pictures with that knob. It was the only one that I had on hand. I will order a better one from McMaster next time I need more than just the knob. The gear spec is 1.0 Module, 20* Pressure Angle. You need to know the 14 teeth because gear cutters come in ranges for different numbers of teeth. For 14 teeth you need a Number 7 cutter. Problem is I just searched MSC, J&L, and Wholesale tool which I thought would be the best sources and none show any metric or Module cutters at all. Ash Gear in Detroit most likely would have them but they won't be cheap even used. I made my shaft pinion with a gear hobbing machine using the spec'd hob.

Rick

[ 06-23-2006, 11:22 AM: Message edited by: rjibosh ]

Rick:
Another source for small items like knobs and handles is Reid Supply. Nice folks and no minimum orders. They have a nice little catalogue as well:
800-253-0421
www.reidsupply.com

The usual disclaimer...not affiliated blaw blaw ...
Cheers Ross

Ross,

Thanks for the tip on Reid.

Rick

I wonder if there could be other reasons why they kept the quill handle as it was...like safety?

The idea that it falls out if you turn the head horizontal?

The concept that being a dual purpose head (milling too), that you are not tempted to leave it in during milling and perhaps plunge something other than a drill dangerously into the work?

How about the idea that the same tool also operates the drawbar, and on some machines, just about every other adjustment? Tying in the boring head handle looses that functionality and makes for a setup where you are no longer in the habit of removing the handle completely from the machine (and therefore the drawbar).

Maybe they just wanted to sell more boring heads?

Maybe the longer boring head handle can swing freely on the boring head, but has interference issues on the vertical/horizontal head or is long enough to extend past the spindle of the vertical head in use?

Hmmm. I would agree that it is probably not a "missed" item from the engineers, but as a built in limitation to "discourage" the user from drilling with the quill seems sooooo odd compared to the rest of the line.

Sean

I find that when I'm running the mill, I use the knurled knob that is the o.d. of the spring housing for drilling, kind of like a "sensitive" drilling head. If I have holes large enough to require the force of the handle, I resort to power feed in the Z axis. Personally I think this "design" gives you the best of both worlds, the ability to romp big ass holes.... and very deep/long ones I might add with 12"+ of Z.... and have a sensitive quill that I could easily drill a .020"-.030" diameter hole without snapping the drill bits non-stop.

When I used to run a regular B-port style mill we always had to have some sort of sensitive type attachment to do any small hole drilling. I'm not so sure Deckel did any of this as an after thought.... suspect it was intended to be done/used this way.

Well, after inspecting my late FP3, Ross has another clue on his side...
My horizontal quill has the boring head style lever (but smaller) with the round pin, while the vertical head the standard hex.

Hmmmmmm.......

Sean