DECKEL FP2 MILLING MACHINE DREAM
THIS ARTICLE KINDLY WRITTEN BY ERIK WERNER HANSEN OF DENMARK SHOWS AN INSIGHT INTO THE MIND OF A COLLECTOR AND GIVES VERY HELPFUL ADVICE ABOUT DECKEL HISTORY AND HINTS ON HOW TO FIND A DECKEL MILLING MACHINE.
BELOW IS A PHOTO OF MY DREAM MILLING MACHINE, THE DECKEL FP2 THE DAY I COLLECTED IT FROM GERMANY.
A SHORT HISTORY OF THE DECKEL MILLING MACHINE.
Deckel mills go back to the early 1900’s, where the “Friedrich Deckel” company made shutters for cameras. They made some small mills to make male and female tools for punches to punch out parts of sheet metal. Eventually they started fabricating and selling those mills naming them “FP”, which in German means sort of “punch mill”, a designation they have kept since on all sizes of mill. I don’t know much about the very early machines, but they soon had a very flexible design and the “Deckel System” of machine and accessories were rather quickly on the market. The T-slotted vertical table move in x- and z-axis and accepts a number of tables. You can even mount the workpiece directly. The y-axis is via the sliding ram on top of the machine. A number of heads can be mounted on the ram, which also has a horizontal spindle, which can be used directly for boring or with an overarm for horizontal milling. This design has been used on all FP mills since. A friend used to own an FP1 from 1938 and it was beautiful – not worn at all. It had pick-off gears for feeds (later models had a gearbox for feeds). In the (early?) 1950’s the FP2 was introduced, an improved machine, but easily recognized as a larger sibling. While all FP1’s up until then had 4MT in both horizontal spindle and vertical heads, the FP2 had 40 taper, called SK40, using the same sawtooth (invented for use in cannons, I believe) thread pull stud as the FP1. Eventually the FP1 got the SK40 taper as well. The FP1 had x-y-z ranges of 300, 150 and 350 mm, while the early FP2 (until 1967) had 500, 200 and 400 mm. When the FP3 came out, the x-axis range of the FP2 was altered to 400 mm. There probably had to be some differences between the FP2 and FP3 besides a longer, sturdier y-axis (the ram on top). Some accessories are shared across the Deckels, like the index head and index (380mm round) table. Important: The FP1 long drive gear has a 14½ deg. Pressure angle while the FP2 and up has a 20 deg. Pressure angle. So the driven heads are specific for use on either an FP1 or they can be used on any other (2, 3 or 4).
Deckel mills go back to the early 1900’s, where the “Friedrich Deckel” company made shutters for cameras. They made some small mills to make male and female tools for punches to punch out parts of sheet metal. Eventually they started fabricating and selling those mills naming them “FP”, which in German means sort of “punch mill”, a designation they have kept since on all sizes of mill. I don’t know much about the very early machines, but they soon had a very flexible design and the “Deckel System” of machine and accessories were rather quickly on the market. The T-slotted vertical table move in x- and z-axis and accepts a number of tables. You can even mount the workpiece directly. The y-axis is via the sliding ram on top of the machine. A number of heads can be mounted on the ram, which also has a horizontal spindle, which can be used directly for boring or with an overarm for horizontal milling. This design has been used on all FP mills since. A friend used to own an FP1 from 1938 and it was beautiful – not worn at all. It had pick-off gears for feeds (later models had a gearbox for feeds). In the (early?) 1950’s the FP2 was introduced, an improved machine, but easily recognized as a larger sibling. While all FP1’s up until then had 4MT in both horizontal spindle and vertical heads, the FP2 had 40 taper, called SK40, using the same sawtooth (invented for use in cannons, I believe) thread pull stud as the FP1. Eventually the FP1 got the SK40 taper as well. The FP1 had x-y-z ranges of 300, 150 and 350 mm, while the early FP2 (until 1967) had 500, 200 and 400 mm. When the FP3 came out, the x-axis range of the FP2 was altered to 400 mm. There probably had to be some differences between the FP2 and FP3 besides a longer, sturdier y-axis (the ram on top). Some accessories are shared across the Deckels, like the index head and index (380mm round) table. Important: The FP1 long drive gear has a 14½ deg. Pressure angle while the FP2 and up has a 20 deg. Pressure angle. So the driven heads are specific for use on either an FP1 or they can be used on any other (2, 3 or 4).
ABOVE, A SIDE VIEW OF THE FP2, ALSO SHOWING THE TILTING TABLE ON THE FLOOR
HOW I BOUGHT MY FP2
I started out with a Harrison horizontal mill with the standard vertical head – a very nice machine, but very limited. Fixed table and the head had no quill. Through a friend I got to know a local tool nut who has a Deckel FP1. And I was sold on one very quickly. With a selection of tables and heads it can do anything!
So off with the Harrison and I tried to find an FP1 on German eBay. I thought the FP2 was too large. But all FP1’s eluded my grasp and suddenly I had the winning bid on an FP2 – in Cologne (Köln). When the auction ended I was at work. I had sneaked away to plan the teams schedules and days off on PC. I was overbid very late and just managed to get a bid in at the last moment – and then I won! 5 seconds later my boss stood just behind me – I had to pretend nothing had happened, while I was completely stoked! I paid €4510 for the machine with long reach head, fixed table and swiveling angular table. When I went from Bornholm in Denmark to Cologne to pay and see what I’d bought, I was very excited – was the machine okay or had I bought a lemon? Fortunately not – it was a nice machine in very fine condition, even cosmetically.
So off with the Harrison and I tried to find an FP1 on German eBay. I thought the FP2 was too large. But all FP1’s eluded my grasp and suddenly I had the winning bid on an FP2 – in Cologne (Köln). When the auction ended I was at work. I had sneaked away to plan the teams schedules and days off on PC. I was overbid very late and just managed to get a bid in at the last moment – and then I won! 5 seconds later my boss stood just behind me – I had to pretend nothing had happened, while I was completely stoked! I paid €4510 for the machine with long reach head, fixed table and swiveling angular table. When I went from Bornholm in Denmark to Cologne to pay and see what I’d bought, I was very excited – was the machine okay or had I bought a lemon? Fortunately not – it was a nice machine in very fine condition, even cosmetically.
The seller had separated the available accessories for it, and I managed to buy those – fortunately I had brought more money, as the slotting head and index head were original to that machine (same serial number). I filled up my car with heads, tables and other stuff.
ABOVE, MY CAR GROANING UNDER THE WEIGHT OF THE ACCESSORIES
I paid almost €400 to have the bare machine brought to my door. Then I built my small, wooden workshop around it!
The reason I had bid on an FP2 instead of biding my time was I had read the FP2 had a foot print not much larger than the FP1. Don’t believe it – foot print is not all! It weighs 1200 kg with head and table instead of the 700 kg of the FP1. And it’s more massive with much longer reach and needs more space around it. So it takes up a lot of available space in my small 12 square meter workshop.
The reason I had bid on an FP2 instead of biding my time was I had read the FP2 had a foot print not much larger than the FP1. Don’t believe it – foot print is not all! It weighs 1200 kg with head and table instead of the 700 kg of the FP1. And it’s more massive with much longer reach and needs more space around it. So it takes up a lot of available space in my small 12 square meter workshop.
ABOVE, THE WORKSHOP SPECIALLY BUILT FOR THE FP2
Dream Mill or Not? On a well known machinist forum a very knowledgeable and experienced man has stated, the FP2 is the best manual mill for a hobbyist – in his opinion. And mine too. But of course opinions vary with needs. My older version (1966) has xyz travels of 500mm, 200mm and 400mm, respectively. And the long reach head can slide 300mm, so it’s actually 500mm in Y as well. And if you really need it, the table can slide some in the x-axis too. Plus I have a block to raise the head up if needed. I’d say that’s an impressive work envelope for a moderately sized tool mill. It also has automatic feed and rapid traverse in all three axes.
Having a collector’s gene in me, I have managed to find as many of the accessories as I wanted to. Most on German eBay. Which has since then become more expensive, since many dealers use eBay as their showcase – with dealer’s prices. A machine like mine is priced at around three times what I paid – at a dealer. So whenever a private seller has a Deckel mill to sell, they look at the current price level and may end up pricing their machine and accessories accordingly. But over the years it has been a very popular mill, so there is a lot of “Deckelstuff” on the market. With other mills you may not be that lucky.
THE DECKEL TOOLING SYSTEM
let’s have a look at what tables and heads exists in the Deckel tool system!
Remember, there are FP1 driven heads and FP2,3,4 driven heads.
Standard vertical head.
Long reach vertical head (also doubles as overarm for hor. milling. 40 – 2000 RPM. FP2 only).
High Speed head with its own motor (up to 6000 RPM).
Fine boring head (125 – 6300 RPM with coarse handfeed, fine handfeed by handwheel and automatic).
Slotting head.
Grinding head (with a very expensive set of motors etc. And easily destroyed, if you don’t know how).
Fixed, reversable (box-like) table (the old ones were larger than the newer).
Large table (often seen with long reach head. They fit well together).
Swivelling angular table.
Newer kind of swivelling table.
Swivelling and indexing table.
Index head with a number of accessories.
Index (round) table 380mm.
Spiral milling attachment (the attachment itself is the same, but axle and gearbox are different on the FP1).
Overarm with support for horizontal milling (different for all models).
So within its work envelope it is very versatile and can be setup for nearly any job.
Throughout the tooling used is 40 taper, rather easy to find on the market. The drawplug is 20x2mm sawtooth thread. CAT40 and NMBT40 tools can be retrofitted with a drawthread.
Remember, there are FP1 driven heads and FP2,3,4 driven heads.
Standard vertical head.
Long reach vertical head (also doubles as overarm for hor. milling. 40 – 2000 RPM. FP2 only).
High Speed head with its own motor (up to 6000 RPM).
Fine boring head (125 – 6300 RPM with coarse handfeed, fine handfeed by handwheel and automatic).
Slotting head.
Grinding head (with a very expensive set of motors etc. And easily destroyed, if you don’t know how).
Fixed, reversable (box-like) table (the old ones were larger than the newer).
Large table (often seen with long reach head. They fit well together).
Swivelling angular table.
Newer kind of swivelling table.
Swivelling and indexing table.
Index head with a number of accessories.
Index (round) table 380mm.
Spiral milling attachment (the attachment itself is the same, but axle and gearbox are different on the FP1).
Overarm with support for horizontal milling (different for all models).
So within its work envelope it is very versatile and can be setup for nearly any job.
Throughout the tooling used is 40 taper, rather easy to find on the market. The drawplug is 20x2mm sawtooth thread. CAT40 and NMBT40 tools can be retrofitted with a drawthread.
IN PROGRESS