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NEW (To me) Deckel FP2 arrives before BREXIT

Jersey John

Stainless
Joined
May 29, 2015
Location
Beccles / Suffolk, United Kingdom
Hi folk

I've been looking for a metric Deckel FP2 for some time to replace my older imperial one. Metric ones are extremely rare to find here in England and sadly I was the under bidder on a very young/late machine that popped up on eBay a few weeks previous.

So I started seriously searching Europe and found several candidates within my budget (Non with DRO's :()

I also was aware of possible importation hassel that could accompany the looming BREXIT deadline at the end of October and so did not want to leave a European purchase too long.

Now here's the machine ... Overall very good machanically and now cosmetically (70-80 hours of cleaning and checking). Vertually no tooling with it but that was not an issue as I've got a lot from my imperial machine.

Now here's a few of pictures.

IMG_2738s.jpg
DSC02025s.jpg
DSC02028s.jpg

... Oh and some large bills from Franz Singer too :D

John :typing::cheers:
 
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Congrats - it looks beautiful! What serial/year is it?
Looks like the electrical cabinet is a retrofit, is that your doing or did it come that way?

I wish mine hadn't been abused with an ugly coat of baby blue paint :/.
 
Hi .. Its a 1973.

The machine / electrics had a refit in 1986 by a German machine refurbisher.

It is a lovely machine but its had a DRO at sometime and because of that had the "Z" axis metric scale and datum block missing. Also the "Y" scale datum block was missing along with various stops.

It also had the "Y" axis rear most halfmoon casting missing which was bl**dy expensive to replace and the bellows were missing on all three axis ... again a fair expense!

John :typing:
 
John, that's a cream-puff machine. Looks in great shape and nicely cleaned, apart from the bottom of the Y-axis T-slot :D. Cheers, Bruce
 
Well still cleaning and checking my newly purchased FP2.

I knew some bits needed replacing but made a discovery this week that was a little sad.

As Deckel owners may well know, there is a facility on the "Long Reach" Head to rotate the vertical head out of the way when using the head as a support for a horizontal arbors ... and to have the head set in a "True" vertical position quickly by a spring loaded plunger at the rear of the head.

When my machine arrived I noticed the spring loaded plunger was not fully seated in the casting. Now I've found out why ... the Vertical Head is a "Standard" one, not the matching one for the Long Reach Head and therefore does not have two locating holes for the plunger to engage in.

See pictures below, first shows the plunger shoulder (black) not flush to the casting. The second shows the vertical head with two red dots where locating holes should be but arn't :(

As it happens the head is absolutely spot on vertically when the zero on the shoulder dial is level with the datum mark :)

FS009B.jpg

FS009A.jpg

I'm not sure the overseas dealer I bought from was aware of this either :willy_nilly:

John :typing:
 
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I would not worry about it as long as the quill aligns parallel with Z and the spindle trams well. My Acieras have taper pins for aligning the vertical heads. Most of the time I tram them in manually closer than I can get with the pins. Same goes for the swivel table that has 3 pins for each of the A, B & C axes.


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I would not worry about it as long as the quill aligns parallel with Z and the spindle trams well. My Acieras have taper pins for aligning the vertical heads. Most of the time I tram them in manually closer than I can get with the pins. Same goes for the swivel table that has 3 pins for each of the A, B & C axes.

Not overly worried about the taper pin but slightly cheesed off at the head not matching the arm ...

It raises questions as to why the original was replaced :toetap:

John :cheers:
 
It raises questions as to why the original was replaced :toetap:

Also means that you should check that the bevel gears are meshing correctly. The triangular plate on the ram side lets you tweak the fit. If you are not experienced at this, Peter and others here have posted some good instructions about how to do it, using bluing on the gears and checking the contact pattern.
 
Also means that you should check that the bevel gears are meshing correctly. The triangular plate on the ram side lets you tweak the fit. If you are not experienced at this, Peter and others here have posted some good instructions about how to do it, using bluing on the gears and checking the contact pattern.

Thanks Bruce ... I'll look at that!

Do I take it you're home, remember you comments on "Rolling Jaws" may well be interested! :D

John :cheers:
 
I'll take a look for the jaws and get back to you.

I suggest that you ask the seller to provide you with the two (presumably) hardened and ground inserts that are needed to locate the spring-loaded pin. That seems like fair compensation and shouldn't cost them an arm and a leg. Then at some point you can carefully mark the vertical head casting, bore the two holes that are needed, and press in those inserts.
 
Hi there,

as many have reported here (and I am one of them), the round T slots in the vertical head, at least the long reach component suffer when 'over enthusiastic' users tighten the 4 bolts like crazy. Most cases they are repairable. I guess, in your machine's case, they might have broken the T slots beyond reasonable repair and opted to replace the front head casting.
If the registers fit and the gears mesh, don't worry about the pin. After all, I don't know anyone that actually trusts these pins....

(your machine looks lovely, enjoy!)

BR,
Thanos
 
I'll take a look for the jaws and get back to you.

I suggest that you ask the seller to provide you with the two (presumably) hardened and ground inserts that are needed to locate the spring-loaded pin. That seems like fair compensation and shouldn't cost them an arm and a leg. Then at some point you can carefully mark the vertical head casting, bore the two holes that are needed, and press in those inserts.

Hi Bruce - Fair comment although I think I know what the answer will be :skep:

Going to drop a line to Igor but in reality I know its not an issue, it just would have been good for completeness.

ATB John :typing:
 
Hi there,

as many have reported here (and I am one of them), the round T slots in the vertical head, at least the long reach component suffer when 'over enthusiastic' users tighten the 4 bolts like crazy. Most cases they are repairable. I guess, in your machine's case, they might have broken the T slots beyond reasonable repair and opted to replace the front head casting.
If the registers fit and the gears mesh, don't worry about the pin. After all, I don't know anyone that actually trusts these pins....

(your machine looks lovely, enjoy!)

BR,
Thanos

Hi Thanos - Thanks for your comments and very true too!

The round T slots in mine were also also damaged in places but with some careful sanding and a bit of scraping they are now fine. The four T nuts were fairly gouged too. I did try dressing them in the lathe but in the end simply (at great expense - to some anyway ;) ) purchased four new ones and the head is now re-fitted and silky smooth.

BR

John :typing::cheers:
 
Sadly it has not stopped there! After spending more time examining the machine and cleaning it you can image how angry I now am to find that there is grease in the oil galleries :mad5:

On my initial enquiries about this machine I specificially asked the machine company were the oil galleries filled with oil and no grease, I was assured there was no grease ... I further backed this question up in writing and had a written confirmation that there was no grease in the oil galleries.

Sadly I've now more work than I need and as the machine company is in another country (Netherlands) I fear there is little hope of getting compensation!

For those in Europe take care buying from SEI Machines (Netherlands)

John :typing:
 








 
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