rimcanyon
Diamond
- Joined
- Sep 28, 2002
- Location
- Salinas, CA USA
I spent the day today pulling the Deckel FP2 table apart, separating the X/Zsaddle with all the gearing from the X axis table. It is quite ingenious, and seems to be quite over designed. It has 4 gibs for X axis and 3 for Z. Mostly the ways are box ways (there is one internal box way which uses a tapered gib and one internal dovetail way that uses a tapered gib, but the rest of the gibs bolt on and run up against the back side of the box ways.
There are two box ways for X, two for Z, and one dovetail way for X.
There was a lot of cleaning involved to prepare for scraping, since the last thing I want is contaminants on the surface plate. Its amazing how much swarf can collect inside the casting of an fp2...
This is a big project. Each part is too heavy to lift, so I organized a work area that consists of surface plate (on a cart with wheels), workbench (same height), hoist and scraping tools and straightedges. My preliminary checks show that the saddle’s Z axis way has about ½ a thousandth wear in the ZX plane, which is better than I expected. The X axis has more, but I haven’t measured it yet, need to get the back side done first so I can sit the saddle on the surface plate to check the front against the back.
The small surface plate is to check the surface where the gibs attach. That will be the reference surface for the rest of the saddle.
While I have the table/saddle apart I will be looking at installing a DRO. The hole for the X axis table lock would make a perfect place to install a Newall slide.
The day was not without its fair share of Deckel problems to solve. Getting the Z axis trip lever off was one such. After removing the threaded taper pins, the shaft could be driven in almost enough to allow the trip lever to come out, but not quite. After playing with the shift mechanism a bit, I found that if the Z axis drive gear was shifted down and engaged, the Z axis trip lever shaft could be driven in another 1/8" so would just clear the trip lever. barely.
Getting the shift lever off was another. The ball is held in the socket with a 14mm locknut, and limited access and visibility. After trying every 14mm and 9/16" wrench I own, a crows foot was the right tool.
-Dave
There are two box ways for X, two for Z, and one dovetail way for X.
There was a lot of cleaning involved to prepare for scraping, since the last thing I want is contaminants on the surface plate. Its amazing how much swarf can collect inside the casting of an fp2...
This is a big project. Each part is too heavy to lift, so I organized a work area that consists of surface plate (on a cart with wheels), workbench (same height), hoist and scraping tools and straightedges. My preliminary checks show that the saddle’s Z axis way has about ½ a thousandth wear in the ZX plane, which is better than I expected. The X axis has more, but I haven’t measured it yet, need to get the back side done first so I can sit the saddle on the surface plate to check the front against the back.
The small surface plate is to check the surface where the gibs attach. That will be the reference surface for the rest of the saddle.
While I have the table/saddle apart I will be looking at installing a DRO. The hole for the X axis table lock would make a perfect place to install a Newall slide.
The day was not without its fair share of Deckel problems to solve. Getting the Z axis trip lever off was one such. After removing the threaded taper pins, the shaft could be driven in almost enough to allow the trip lever to come out, but not quite. After playing with the shift mechanism a bit, I found that if the Z axis drive gear was shifted down and engaged, the Z axis trip lever shaft could be driven in another 1/8" so would just clear the trip lever. barely.
Getting the shift lever off was another. The ball is held in the socket with a 14mm locknut, and limited access and visibility. After trying every 14mm and 9/16" wrench I own, a crows foot was the right tool.
-Dave