New machine day (FP3NC)

[eKretz]

Got my new (old) milling machine stuffed into the garage. Gotta get the control cabinet on wheels and hook up all the wires yet. Already fixed a problem with the MPG - it was smooth for most of its rotation and notchy for the rest. Reluctor wheel or whatever it's called was running out. Trued it and it's all good now.

 

[rklopp]

Nice!! How's the right side face of the left Z way? That's the one that is notorious for galling, and was galled on my old FP2NC flip-head. Your machine looks very clean.

 

[Freedommachine]

Very clean indeed. Do those old controls hold up well over time? Or is it a retrofit project? I like the horizontal and vertical table option, that would come in very handy at times.

 

[awander]

Very nice-I'm officially jealous!

 

[AlfaGTA]

Congratulations, welcome to the "club'
Looks good in the garage....You are going to love that machine....
Cheers Ross

 

[eKretz]

Nice!! How's the right side face of the left Z way? That's the one that is notorious for galling, and was galled on my old FP2NC flip-head. Your machine looks very clean.

This is the worst I've found anywhere on all the ways at full extensions in either direction, and it's more a darkened stain than anything. The picture makes it look worse than it is for sure. Can't feel it with my fingernail. Ross told me to look out for that. Planning on changing wipers and possibly pulling the gib and doing a better inspection down inside that one just to be safe. The rest look pretty much brand new to my eye.



The story I was told was that it was a toolroom/prototyping machine for a German medical device manufacturing company, who had owned it since new. That's somewhat borne out by the notes I've found in the books. In German.

The control is old, but from what I understand, really very good for onesie-twosie type stuff, which is most of what I do.

 

[ballen]

Congrats, looks like a sweet machine, welcome to the Deckel club!

PS: I like the Z bellows. Ross will disagree, but you run grinders in your shop, IMO you are better off with all the bellows in place.

 

[eKretz]

I kind of wondered why they didn't have them there, actually.

 

[AlfaGTA]

Have never seen an FP-NC that had Z bellows.
Does not appear in the parts book.
Might be something an individual could make up , but don’t believe that the factory thought was needed …………never had any issues on my work FP4NC bought in 93’, still running without Z bellows or problems.
Cheers Ross

 

[mattthemuppet]

Oooh, very nice!

 

[thanvg]

Have never seen an FP-NC that had Z bellows.
Does not appear in the parts book.
Might be something an individual could make up , but don’t believe that the factory thought was needed …………never had any issues on my work FP4NC bought in 93’, still running without Z bellows or problems.
Cheers Ross

Off topic but I really can't understand why they wouldn't have bellows.
Both on manuals and CNC mills things can go flying, coolant goes everywhere...
Weird I think

Br,
Thanos

 

[rimcanyon]

Very nice looking machine! Congratulations are in order.

Regarding the galling on Rich's machine, it is completely invisible when the Z slide is down. You have to raise the Z slide to the top and look from below to see it.

 

[ballen]

FP2 NC Z bellows:
https://www.ebay.de/itm/122828099238

FP4 NC Z bellows
https://www.ebay.de/itm/123134220767

 

[eKretz]

Very nice looking machine! Congratulations are in order.

Regarding the galling on Rich's machine, it is completely invisible when the Z slide is down. You have to raise the Z slide to the top and look from below to see it.

Yep, I've run it all the way up and looked underneath also, no sign of anything but a little extra shine.

 

[eKretz]

So I've been talking to Ross and Rich a little about a voltage issue I was having. The machine would come on and the control would sometimes power up, sometimes not. I could get it to work if I did the K10 jumper X120 connector reset, and the table feeds and jog, etc. would work, but the spindle wouldn't fire up. Started checking voltages in the control cabinet and the primary side of the transformers were all off on two legs but normal on the 3rd. Could not figure out why. Chased my tail all day. Swapped the three phase leads around at the main transformer terminals to no avail. Tried looking through the orange book schematics to see if there was anything I might be missing. Finally, started tracing wires back through the cabinet. Found it! Apparently when the seller was disconnecting wires from the terminal block to separate the control cabinet from the machine proper, one of the 3 phase leads on the other side came loose. It looked like it was in but it wasn't. Reconnected that and now everything seems to be working. Spindle fires up and shifts gears just dandy. Starts up at 6300 no problem. Still gotta sort a couple issues but I think those remaining are likely just circuit board battery issues. Also going to put in a buck transformer, my voltage is high even on the "minus" taps.

Thank you to Ross, Rich, Mud, Steve M and a couple others for lending an ear and some advice or info. Much appreciated fellas.

 

[???]

Well done.

I fired up the Victor lathe I bought today. Reverse by mistake so I slapped it into forward. No spindle and a strange humming. Checked everything no solution. Then I remembered that I was a tight arse and instead of fitting D curve breakers I fitted C curve, checked phases and one was down. Cycled breaker and everything was working.

Note to self, don't be a tight arse.

 

[DrHook]

Got my new (old) milling machine stuffed into the garage. Gotta get the control cabinet on wheels and hook up all the wires yet. Already fixed a problem with the MPG - it was smooth for most of its rotation and notchy for the rest. Reluctor wheel or whatever it's called was running out. Trued it and it's all good now.

View attachment 436789

View attachment 436787

Got my new (old) milling machine stuffed into the garage. Gotta get the control cabinet on wheels and hook up all the wires yet. Already fixed a problem with the MPG - it was smooth for most of its rotation and notchy for the rest. Reluctor wheel or whatever it's called was running out. Trued it and it's all good now.

View attachment 436789

View attachment 436787

View attachment 436788

It appears as though you can get one more in there.....

 

[eKretz]

I have a couple other machines waiting. Hopefully two more!

 

[eKretz]

Got the wheels on the control cabinet and got it nestled in with the cabinet and up and running decent. I replaced the under console battery, and let the RPC idle all day yesterday with the cabinet powered up, hoping it would charge the second battery in the console, but doesn't look like it has had much effect. I'll likely be replacing that one today. Still having to reinitialize on startup every time. The spindle motor fan is off because it was loose and rode up toward the motor. Going to put a dimple in the key where it tightens down to hold it in place better with the setscrew.

 

[eKretz]

New battery in the console connected to the memory board seems to have everything up to snuff finally. The machine is booting up the console properly now every time it's turned on. I used Ross's approach and soldered in a plugged wire harness to the board so I can remove and charge the battery easily, as I'm sure the measly output charge from the original board connections will not do much of anything. So that I don't have to worry about this frequently, I just used a spare 2000mAh 18650 lithium cell I had laying around. I expect that it may last a year or more between charges.