What's new
What's new

Introducing Aciera F4 sn 25588

shapeaholic

Stainless
Joined
Oct 14, 2003
Location
Kemptville Ontario, Canada
Here are some pictures of the Aciera I have been asking questions about lately.
I recieved it as a basket(s) of parts and have now reassembled it. I cannot run it yet as some repairs need to be done.
My plan is to work away at some of the small repairs, then disassemble it and do a complete overhaul, when I get my current project finished.

Peter
 

Attachments

  • IMG_1064.jpg
    IMG_1064.jpg
    94.2 KB · Views: 297
  • IMG_1071.jpg
    IMG_1071.jpg
    87.4 KB · Views: 353
  • IMG_1072.jpg
    IMG_1072.jpg
    86.6 KB · Views: 252
  • IMG_1080.jpg
    IMG_1080.jpg
    88.5 KB · Views: 249
  • IMG_1081.jpg
    IMG_1081.jpg
    84.7 KB · Views: 240
Last edited:
How did it become a basket of parts in the first place ? A rebuild project where previous owner lost interest ?
 
I do not yet know the full history, but...
A local plant (now gone to Mexico) had an F4 in the maintenance shop, where it was used by everyone. Plant closed and machine moved on.
Was acquired by a local enthusiast who broke down the machine to "fix it up".
I suspect the enthusiasm dwindled when the damage became apparant.
The machine was traded to a friend who traded it to me.
It is apparent that the machine has been either tipped over or dropped.
The vertical handwheel is in 6 pieces, the levers for the rapids are bent/broken, the rh crossfeed handle is bent. And the cover for the power feed transmission is also bent and cracked.
As can be seen by the pictures, the cross-slide ways are badly scored. This is the result of lubing the oil nipples with grease (manual says do not use grease) this also caused excessive wear on the cross feed screw and nut.

So... I'm still trying to decide if it is worth rebuilding or if I should sell it for parts.

Peter
 
Betting that Rich (rklopp) would have some valid perspective on the matter of "to rebuild or not"...
He has some seat time with these machines and likely could give some good advice on which way you might go...

From where i sit seems the slide issues could be dealt with...time and patience. Looks like a good platform to perfect your scraping....
Cheers Ross
 
I would come down on the side of parting the machine out, but that is based on my own circumstances where I don't have space or time to fix damage that bad. The slideway damage would require machining and application of Turcite lining. Do you have a big enough mill to do that machining? What is the nature of the bending and breakage of the feed transmission cover? The machine must have experienced a severe face-plant, because the feed transmission is tucked away deep inside the base and the only real protrusions are the two arms that support the rapid-traverse pedal.

Note that the market for parts may be pretty shallow in North America for an F4 that old. Only you can decide how much skill, time, money, and equipment you have to invest in a rebuild. Are you in it for the journey of fixing up a machine, or a journey of milling parts? If the latter, I'd move on from this machine.
 
Note that the market for parts may be pretty shallow in North America for an F4 that old. Only you can decide how much skill, time, money, and equipment you have to invest in a rebuild. Are you in it for the journey of fixing up a machine, or a journey of milling parts? If the latter, I'd move on from this machine.
Would make for a cool "statue" for his office :stirthepot: Below is a statue machine I fixed up decades ago... except being so simple it actually worked...

https://www.practicalmachinist.com/scrollsaw.jpg

(and no, that is not me pretending to operate it... I took the photo)
 
Note that the market for parts may be pretty shallow in North America for an F4 that old. Only you can decide how much skill, time, money, and equipment you have to invest in a rebuild. Are you in it for the journey of fixing up a machine, or a journey of milling parts? If the latter, I'd move on from this machine.

That is an issue for me. I think I'd do better refurbing the mill and putting it on the market. Any thoughts on what a nicely refurbed F4, of this vintage might be worth?

Peter
 
It'd be worth less than the minimum nano-wage you'd earn based on the hours seemingly involved.
Yep...only justifiable if it is "fun" and/or "educational" Problem there is it sometimes starts out as fun but eventually degrades into boring tedium... :nono:
 
Not really, I'm about out of space, but I went through a similar learning curve with my FP-1. Just thinking about it now, any used machine in my shop had issues. The benefit to Deckel is there are parts available for repair, not so sure about his machine.
 








 
Back
Top