Why Deckel?

[tigertwo]

First I would like to say hi, I have been reading this board for a little while and this is my first posting/question. I am really impressed with the professionalism displayed by this group. I read many other boards and this one is really great.

Here goes with my first question:

I own an old Seriers 1 Bridgeport mill early '70's I've been doing a little reading about these Deckels and there seems to be a solid following for them. My question is (and I don't want to offend anyone) but what the main draw of these machines.

My needs are rather simply hobby, tinkering type stuff, that I could do mostly on my bport for milling needs, but I'm a little curious about these Deckels. I'm always looking for an excuse or reason to consider purchasing another machine, I'm located in the midwest USA.

Thanks

Jack

 

[rklopp]

In my hobby work, I find I use the mill as much if not more for hole locating and drilling, boring, and tapping than for milling. For this, a Bridgeport, with its long travel quill, is much better than a Deckel. I have an Aciera F2, which can be thought of as a baby Deckel, and it stinks for drilling, boring, and tapping because of the lack of headroom. The normal Deckel vertical mode only has a rudimentary quill feed. The Aciera F2 has no quill.

 

[tigertwo]

Thanks for the quick reply, I have a Moore #1 Jig borer that I use for my precission drilling and boring needs.

Jack

 

[Sean S]

Look Here:
http://www.practicalmachinist.com/ubb/Forum6/HTML/000011.html

Also, Deckels can be equipped with some very neat attachments and can get into configuations that would be a huge pain on a standard knee mill.

Sean

 

[Abeneman]

Tigerman:
I think the attraction of the Deckel and similiar machines is the flexibility and rigidity of the machine for it's size. I have a VHF-3 Abene, it is horizontal / vertical machine however, while it is very accurate, it's table is not as versatile as a Deckel, Maho, of Aceria