My new old Deckel FP1

[samthedog]

Well gents, I have been bitten by the tool-lust bug. I happened across an older FP1 with quite a bit of equipment and the price was right so I jumped at it. I have yet to get it home and start cleaning her up but so far I am pretty happy. A friend of mine mentioned that the machine was available through a nice gent I got to know through our Scandinavian scraping course. I got in contact with him and the rest is history.

Anyway, what is a thread without pictures?



It is a MT4 spindle so I am guessing it puts the age of the machine in the early 60's - which is fine as it is the same vintage as my Colchester Chipmaster. It also came with a cabinet of goodies like the horizontal head, arbors, tooling, dividing head tailstock and bunches of collets. I am fairly excited to see how much better life is with a DRO as none of my machines have one. Accuracy of the machine should be very good as I can still machining marks on all the dovetails.

I'll post pictures when I get her home and start the cleaning, electrical and repair process.

Paul.

 

[18w]

Paul that is a very nice looking machine. I really like a lot of the features that came on European mills. Wish they weren't so rare and expensive here in the U.S. I have lusted over Deckel and Abene mills for years and I have yet to see one in my part of the country.


Regards
Darrell

 

[samthedog]

Hello Darrell, the Abene was actually on my list of dream milling machines. It is a fantastic machine and people I know that own one wouldn't go back to anything else. If you want an Abene the easiest way would be to get to know someone in Sweden. They come up for sale regularly and to have one shipped to the USA shouldn't be too expensive. The mills themselves tend to hover between 3000 USD and 10000 usd, depending of course on wether the sale is private or through a dealer and also on the equipment that follows.

I have been on the lookiut for a Deckel FP1 or FP2 for a while since my current mill has a .75 HP motor and I was looking for a more powerful machine. The FP1 has a 2 HP motor so it should handle heavier cuts than my Jungner did. I am however stuck with a challenge that I need to track down MT4 tooling since I only have a limited amount that followed the machine.

I spoke to a friend I made through the scraping course and he has the same machine. I will be visiting him mid January to have a look and plan how to move forward. Here is a link to his machine and wondeerful workshop:

http://www.missiseipi.com/105794860

I have a bit of a pot luck assortment of odds an ends in the large tool chest that follows the machine to start me off:



Paul

 

[18w]

Paul, thanks for the pictures and the link. It looks like you have a great start on tooling. Having all those collets and arbors should allow you to use the mill right away. What are you looking for in the way of #4 tooling?
Your friends shop is absolutely amazing, beyond amazing actually. You mentioned meeting him at a scraping class in Sweden, Rich King's class perhaps?

Regards
Darrell

 

[samthedog]

Paul, thanks for the pictures and the link. It looks like you have a great start on tooling. Having all those collets and arbors should allow you to use the mill right away. What are you looking for in the way of #4 tooling?
Your friends shop is absolutely amazing, beyond amazing actually. You mentioned meeting him at a scraping class in Sweden, Rich King's class perhaps?

Regards
Darrell

Hello Darrell, the scraping course where we met was the one organized by Jan Sverre in Norway. There awere 9 of us that attended, 2 Australians, 2 Brits and 5 Norwegians. When it comes to machines I am one of the novices in the group and their workshops put mine to shame. I am slowly growing in my skills and quality of equipment. Some things I guess just can't be rushed.

As far as #4 tooling goes the main items I am looking for are a drill arbor, ER32 collet chuck and a universal boring head. I would also really like to get my hands on an FP1 slotting head. As luck would have it, one of my friend's contacts had a FP1 universal table which I was fortunate enough to buy from him today for $400 USD, This is a sought after accessory so I am feeling very blessed I happpened to come upon it.

So far everything seems to be just falling into place with this machine. I think this is the least hassle and stress I have had with a machine purchase so I am feeling really good about the whole purchase.

Paul.

 

[rcflier]

Hi Paul and once again congratulations on your purchase. It's looking better each time I look at the pictures.

From what I can see on another forum, your FP1 could be from 1964 or slightly newer.

So the usual hunt for Deckelstuff is now on - but in a laid back, relaxed way. As you need just a chuck for your ER 32 collets,
and then you're all ready. You have the need-to-have accessories and tooling. Now you can just hunt the would-like-to-have stuff for fun.

Cheers
Erik

 

[samthedog]

Thanks Erik, and thanks again for all the advice and encouragement in the purchasing process. I have already located a universal table for 2450 DKK and will be picking it up soon. I am really suprised that it was so new as I thought that it was a late 50's model. That would indicate that the head is a bearing model, not a bush model.

As I said, if you happen across a slotting head or a boring head with spacer, please let me know as soon as you do. I can't wait to get it home and set up. I am still not sure if I will get rid of the electrical cabinet. I like to keep things as original as possible )

Thanks again for the assistance.

Paul.

 

[rcflier]

Well Paul, I got the age wrong with a few years, it seems. I have edited my post. The posts with the serial numbers are quite confusing. But nothing to worry about.

Do keep the electrical cabinet as long as you can - like you write, it's original.

I'll contact you soonest if/when I find a slotting head or a boring head. Or any other desirable 4MT FP1 item.

Cheers
Erik

 

[samthedog]

Well Paul, I got the age wrong with a few years, it seems. I have edited my post. The posts with the serial numbers are quite confusing. But nothing to worry about.

Do keep the electrical cabinet as long as you can - like you write, it's original.

I'll contact you soonest if/when I find a slotting head or a boring head. Or any other desirable 4MT FP1 item.

Cheers
Erik

Thanks again Erik. I managed to find and purchse a universal table I was warned that the condition of the surface was not good. I guess opinions differ as I think it is pretty darn good compared to my current mill's table.



Paul.

 

[Chipper5783]

Awsome, thank you for posting. Good to see some activity in this part of the forum.

I have the equivalent offering from Maho (MH600) and love it. I also have not used a DRO fitted machine, but have recently purchased a DRO Pro kit and will post the installation of that DRO in this part of the forum.

Congrats on the "new" machine.