Last generation Aciera F1 - Anyone ever seen one in the wild ?

Or for sale anywhere on the planet ? Ironically, I have...brand new at EMO 1993....but none since. I keep waiting for a used one to pop up somewhere, but have yet to see a single one. Officially, it's the F1 "plus"...




Apparently the last gasp before they sold out to Indonesia. But Indonesia never offered these, only the F3.

I knew of one for sale a few monthes back.
Didn't see it in person, but a good friend of mine -who owns a "classic" F1 so knows what he's talking about- did visit the seller and reported the machine to be way less attractive than its forerunner.

It had to do with the overall construction and particularly the "universal" head arrangement where the head is held between two steel or cast iron plates and can swivel from vertical to horizontal mode. Didn't seem very machine-toolesque to me.

Aciera F1 Plus

I happen to own both the "Classic" F1 and the last incarnation, the F1" Plus". I can't for the life of me understand why Aciera did not add a quill to the F1 Plus. The "Classic's" universal head arrangement is beautifully made and very user friendly. The addition of the universal vertical attachment allows for almost any angle configutation imagineable. The major drawback to the "Classic's" arrangement is one of rigidity. For light, small milling operations it is not an issue but try and do any significant stock removal and the rigidity issue becomes significant. Especially in cutting gears in one pass. I think the F1 "plus" is heads and tails more rigid in both the vertical and horizontal arrangements. Not even close!The spindle is almost twice the diameter on the "Plus". The vertical slide on the "Plus" is assisted by a pneumatic cylinder which is really nice and smooth as opposed to the spring compensated method on the "classic". All the table's, indexers, vises and attachments are interchangable between the two models. One of the most necessary attachment for the "plus" is the inclinable table to allow for the lack of articulation of its head. It is a trade off, rigidity vs cofiguration constraints. I am not sure which one would go if I needed to pick. Both are exceptional machines for close tolerance work. If anyone is interested, I can post pictures of the cabinet doors open so the tooling can be seen. I am actually off to Switzerland on Sunday to visit the machinery dealers, I am sure that I won't be able to purchase anything at their prices but I am looking forward to seeing them anyway. I'll take lots of pictures !

bladesmith5 said:

I happen to own both the "Classic" F1 and the last incarnation, the F1" Plus".

Click to expand...

Wow...our first confirmation of a + in the USA ! How did you come to own it ? Did someone buy it new here or did you import it used ? or ? The paint colors look almost Texmaco Perkasa...that wasn't made in Indonesia was it ?

Had not occurred to me the + has no moving quill...that is unfortunate indeed.

Aciera F1+

Milacron said:

Wow...our first confirmation of a + in the USA ! How did you come to own it ? Did someone buy it new here or did you import it used ? or ? The paint colors look almost Texmaco Perkasa...that wasn't made in Indonesia was it ?

Had not occurred to me the + has no moving quill...that is unfortunate indeed.

Click to expand...

Believe it or not, I purchased it on ebay a few years back with a "buy it now" price of 1750.00. I was not aware of actually what I was buying at the time, really poor 2 picture post! I bought it because I needed the swivel base attachment and Spindle for another machine I owned! The funny part is that when I contacted the seller and asked him about other accessories he said whatever you see comes with the machine. I inquired if any other parts were in the cabinet base. His response was " gee, not sure, it's pushed in a corner, hasn't worked for years, but will take a look. Low and behold, he calls me back and says, "yea, a bunch of parts that he can't identify". Luck would have it the " bunch of parts" included, tilt and swivel vise, plain indexer, dividing attachment with 3 plates for divider, full set of collets and arbors, inclineable table, overarm support, plain table, and a 3 jaw swiss chuck!
The story goes, large company bought it new around 1982, used it a few months then the motor quit and it sat since then. The variable speed drive was a jumble of wires and I could not trace the issue so I bypassed original electrics and hooked the motor to a modern VFD, worked perfect. They used coolant for the little time it was up and running, sulfer based and it ate up the original paint, so I matched it the best I could, very close, just maybe a shade darker then original. The Machine has a " LUTHY" badge and the tag says made in switzerland, so I believe the machine is swiss made. The fit and finish certainly speaks to that degree. A really lucky find, I love that it came mounted with a DRO, eyes are not what they used to be!

bladesmith5 said:

The story goes, large company bought it new around 1982, used it a few months then the motor quit and it sat since then.

Click to expand...

Wow...you are lucky I didn't see that eBay ad before you ! Even in Dogpatch, SC I would have clicked that BIN button in one of your New York Minutes !

1982 is interesting as I had the impression the + didn't come out until a bit later than that. I saw the "white" versions brand new at the EMO show either in Paris 1991 or Hannover 1993...can't remember now....I barely knew what I was looking at back then...all new concept to me...I don't think I even knew that Deckel made milling machines back then as I had only seen the pantographs over here.

bladesmith5 said:

I am actually off to Switzerland on Sunday to visit the machinery dealers, I am sure that I won't be able to purchase anything at their prices but I am looking forward to seeing them anyway. I'll take lots of pictures !

Click to expand...

Going to visit Prodex 2012?

Prodex 2012 - Willkommen - Internationale Fachmesse für Werkzeugmaschinen,Werkzeuge und Fertigungsmesstechnik

Actually a knife show in Milan with a side trip to Switzerland! I was not aware of this exhibition, Maybe I'll find my way there! Thanks for the heads up!

Milacron said:

Wow...you are lucky I didn't see that eBay ad before you ! Even in Dogpatch, SC I would have clicked that BIN button in one of your New York Minutes !

1982 is interesting as I had the impression the + didn't come out until a bit later than that. I saw the "white" versions brand new at the EMO show either in Paris 1991 or Hannover 1993...can't remember now....I barely knew what I was looking at back then...all new concept to me...I don't think I even knew that Deckel made milling machines back then as I had only seen the pantographs over here.

Click to expand...

Hey Don, you got me thinking and you are indeed correct about the date of manufacture. I just got home and checked the nameplates and the " F1 classic's" date is 1984 and the date of the " F1 Plus" is 1992, good call, thanks

Only seen one, it was on German Ebay back in 2006 or 2007. Had a BIN about 5000 Euros, white color, was mint and like new with some accessories.

Milacron said:

Wow...you are lucky I didn't see that eBay ad before you ! Even in Dogpatch, SC I would have clicked that BIN button in one of your New York Minutes !

Click to expand...

For the only final generation F1 to ever surface here, and incredibly super rare even in Europe, he sure hit the lottery considering the price and condition.

bladesmirth5 should get an award for "great score" . Surprised he scored on Ebay, seeing as how all the PM vultures and tool resellers like Machinery Values, Mike Kandu etc... are on the bay.

Spud said:

For the only final generation F1 to ever surface here, and incredibly super rare even in Europe, he sure hit the lottery considering the price and condition.

Click to expand...

I would change that to "price and accessories" since the condition must have been a bit iffy if he had to repaint it.

Milacron said:

Had not occurred to me the + has no moving quill...that is unfortunate indeed.

Click to expand...

I thought that the classic F1 also did not have a moving quill, until seeing bladesmiths classic F1 with what I just now learned is the drilling head; must be very rare as I have never seen one before and no mention on Tony's site or Anglo-Swiss.

This British clockmaker made a limited run of quill feed heads for the F1; below link does show bladesmith's drilling head.
www.j-m-w.co.uk/HJ Published ArticleNEW.pdf

Aciera F1

Hi,

There is a ACIERA F1 on ebay right now for sale. Here is the ebay no. 121728994890

Cheers
Martin

Milacron said:

Or for sale anywhere on the planet ? Ironically, I have...brand new at EMO 1993....but none since. I keep waiting for a used one to pop up somewhere, but have yet to see a single one. Officially, it's the F1 "plus"...

Apparently the last gasp before they sold out to Indonesia. But Indonesia never offered these, only the F3.

Click to expand...

Hi Martin,

Suppo32 said:

There is a ACIERA F1 on ebay right now for sale. Here is the ebay no. 121728994890

Click to expand...

Yeah, I saw that too, here's a link, it's in San Diego, CA, USA. Looks very clean, but seems pricey at 6500 USD.

Cheers, Bruce

ballen said:

Hi Martin,



Yeah, I saw that too, here's a link, it's in San Diego, CA, USA. Looks very clean, but seems pricey at 6500 USD.

Cheers, Bruce

Click to expand...

I sold my F1 last year for $2200 irc . It had the swivel table , overarm for horiz milling, vertical head , arbors and collets.

The seller on Ebay with that F1 has had many other nice machines for auction but prices are high , but who knows maybee she comes down in price a lot??

Spud said:

The seller on Ebay with that F1 has had many other nice machines for auction but prices are high

Click to expand...

You're right, seems to specialize in watchmaker-scale machines, look at this one, ebay 121727701751, (part of) a Leitz Jig Borer.

Cute stuff....Very nice models of "real" machines....

Cheers Ross