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Deckel FP1Universal Precision Milling MachineHandbooks and Parts Lists are available for the FP1, FP2, FP3 and late models FP4M

FP1 Page 2 FP1 Page 3 Pre-WW Deckel FP0 & FP1 Deckel FP2Deckel Tool & Cutter Grinders

Founded in Germany during the early years of the 20th century, the Deckel Company'smachine-tool business grew out of their involvement with the camera industry. Theirspecialisation was leaf shutters, using the brand name "Compur", an item widely used by leadingmanufactures including Hasselblad inside their "Type C" lenses. Deckel also developed thewell-known and very successful bayonet lens mount for the Retina Reflex, VoigtlanderBessamatic and Ultramatic cameras - a design that held back, for a while, the invasion of themuch cheaper, yet just-as-well-made, Japanese single-lens reflex. By 1984, and with demand forleaf shutters confined to a shrinking market, Zeiss (who owned both Deckel and Alfred Gauthier,makers of Prontor shutters) merged the two firms. Production continued until around 2002 when,due to a final catastrophic fall in demand, a halt was called. From the earliest days of thecompany Deckel were involved in the manufacture of machine tools, but these seem to have been,from the lack of contemporary advertising literature or in contemporary machine-tool tradejournals, for use in their own factories.Introduced in the early 1930s - and the result of steady improvements to earlier much simpler,flat-belt drive versions, the first batch of 100 FP1 models appear to have been released at somepoint between 1932 and 1934 - a model that we might regard as a prototype batch. This firstversion and had its table feed driven by changewheels with a longitudinal table travel of 250 mm(later 300 mm) and the direction and engagement of the table power feed (left and right and up)operated not by the familiar Deckel "stickshift", but a little lever under the table for thelongitudinal direction - and by another on the left-hand side of the machine for the up travel; thefeed in the down direction was by handwheel only. However, the very earliest examples ofDeckels versatile design can be traced back to 1917 - with further, very similar modelsintroduced during the 1920s to become what is now referred to (but not by the factory) as the FP0. This first design had a slender main column carrying a T-slotted vertical table (on which couldbe mounted various pieces of dividing apparatus) with, at the top, a horizontal flat-belt drivespindle able to be moved fore and aft by a screw thread.By the end of WW2, in 1945, some 4100 examples of the FP1 had been manufactured and,although by the late 1930s Deckel had gained sufficient experience to manufacture otherspecialised machine tools for general distribution (spurred on by the German re-armamentprogramme) camera shutters remained a mainstay of their business. As late as 1953, on the 50thanniversary of the Company, the brochure was almost entirely devoted to camera-associatedproducts - and it was not until the late 1940s that production of machine tools expandedsignificantly. By the early 1950s, and with the introduction of new versions of the FP1, FP2 andother high quality milling machines and milling accessories, a new company was formed,separate from the shutter business, to take advantage the rapidly expanding post-WW2 industrialmarket. Results were impressive with, by 1965, some 50,000 examples of the FP1 having beenproduced, together with many thousands of other models. Other makers of the type were alsoactive including Thiel, with their superb Type 58 and other models, and Maho, who produced arange of machines bearing a startling similarity to the FP. However, Deckel appears to haveseized the lead and the FP Series (FP1, FP2 and FP3 and variants) became the most desirabletypes to install in toolrooms and small workshops.With its ingenious, adaptable and versatile design, the Deckel leant itself to solving a multitudeof machining problems, the secret of the type's success being its ability to mount a number ofdifferent heads - horizontal, standard vertical, high-speed vertical and slotting - in combinationwith a variety of tables - plain, plain-tilting and compound swivelling. All the heads could bedriven backwards and forwards across the top of the main column, by a handwheel workingthrough reduction gearing, to provide an in-out feed, whilst the tables all bolted to a flat, verticalT-slotted table equipped with power longitudinal and vertical feeds. By juggling the choice ofheads and tables, and utilising other accessories, a skilled technician was seldom defeated in hisattempts to produce the most complex of milled and drilled components - and all to a very highstandard of accuracy.Proof of the type's success is evident from the number of similar machines made in variouscountries including:Austria: Emco (Model F3)Belgium: S.A.B.C.A. (Model JRC-2)Czechoslovakia: TOS (Modesl FN22, 32 & 40 Optic)Spain: Metba (Models MB-0, MB-1, MB-2, MB-3 and MB-4)England: Alexander ("Master Toolmaker") and the Ajax "00", an import of uncertain origin.France (?): Perron MontierGermany: by several companies including: Macmon (Models M-100 & M-200 (though thesewere actually manufactured by Prvomajska); Maho (many models over several decades); Thiel(Models 58, 158 and 159); Hermle (Models UWF-700 and UWF-700-PH); Rumag (ModelsRW-416 and RW-416-VG); SHW (Schwabische Huttenwerke) Models UF1, UF2 and UF3; Hahn& Kolb with their pre-WW2 Variomat model and Wemas with their Type WMS.Italy: C.B.Ferrari (Models M1R & M2R); Bandini (Model FA-1/CB) and badged as Fragola(agents, with a version of the Spanish Meteba).Japan: Riken (models RTM2 and RTM3)Poland: Fabryka Obrabiarek Precyzyinych (as the "Polamco" Models FNC25, FND-25 andFND-32)Switzerland: Aciera (Models F1, F2, F3, F4 and F5); Schaublin (Model 13); Mikron (ModelsWF2/3S, WF3S, WF-3-DCM & WF-2/3-DCM); Christen (Types U-O and U-1) andHispano-Suiza S.A. (Model HSS-143)The former Yugoslavia: Prvomajska (in Zagreb with Models ALG-100 and ALG200); Sinn(Models MS2D & MS4D); Ruhla and "Comet" (Model X8130, imported to the UK in the 1970sby TI Comet).At least five Chinese versions have also been made, including one from the Beijing InstrumentMachine Tool Works. A number of the "clones" were indigenous designs that merely followedthe general Thiel/Maho/Deckel concept whilst others, like Bandini and Christen, borrowedheavily from Deckel and even had parts that were interchangeable. Should you come across any

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of these makes and models all will provide "The Deckel Experience" - though you must bear inmind that spares are unlikely to be available and, being complex, finely-made mechanisms, theycan be difficult and expensive to repair.Continued below:

1932-1943. The original FP1. Note the very large micrometerdials and lack of a "Stickshift" table control lever

One of the earliest examples of the type, nowreferred to as the "F0" from the 1920s


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1935 and the first "stickshift" model is announced. The knob on the end of thelong power-feed direction and engagement lever can be seen between the twospeed-control handles on the right-hand face of the machine.


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Mk. 2 FP 1 as manufactured from the mid 1950s until the early 1960s - the spindle-speed andtable-feed rate changes became "all-lever" operated

Continued:Over the years the FP1 was to be built in four main versions, each easily distinguished from theothers: the prototype of 1932-34 with non-stickshift table controls; the Mk. 1 from the mid 1930suntil the late 1940s with lever-operation of spindle speeds (by the juxtaposition of two controls onthe right-hand face of the column) but changewheels (inside a case on the right-hand side of thecolumn) to vary the rate of table power feed; the Mk. 2 of the mid 1950s used levers to alter bothspeeds and feeds whilst the Mk. 3, introduced during the early 1960s, was fitted with moreconvenient and modern-looking dial controls.General LayoutConstructed in an ingenious way, the layout of the spindle-drive system was both compact andeffective: the top of the main column was machined as a slideway to carry a separate housing thatdoubled to mount a horizontal milling arbor and also act as a base for the various heads or ahorizontal milling overarm. The chrome-nickel alloy spindle was case hardened and ran in bearingsthat provided both excellent support and an easy means of adjustment. To solve the problem of howto drive the spindle when its housing was moved forwards and backwards (to provide lateral travelto the cutter), a long fixed gear was mounted parallel to and beneath it on the final-drive shaft andthe upper gear allowed to slide along it. A word of warning for users of the English-madeAlexander "Master Toolmaker" who might want to fit a Deckel head - the Alexander drive gear hasa 21-degree pressure angle whilst that of the Deckel is 14.5.Besides normal horizontal and vertical milling operations, all models were available with a rangeof accessories to cover slotting, jig boring, jig grinding, spiral milling and punch milling. In respectof these operations, an important part of the machine's versatility was dictated by the multi-angle,swivelling and tilting table; with just the plain table in place, the miller remained very desirable,but it was not possible to enjoy, in full, all the FP1's ingenious capabilities.Drive System for Head and TableCleverly arranged so that the table-feed rates were completely independent of spindle speeds, thedrive system on the Deckel began with a two-speed, 3-phase motor mounted at the back of themachine on an easily reached, completely open and height-adjustable cast-iron platform. The


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table-feed gearbox was mounted inside the column, below the spindle-drive gears, and had eightspeeds; used in conjunction with the two-speed motor this arrangement gave 16 rates of feed, thefastest of which, the makers suggested, was quick enough to use in place of a proper power "rapid-traverse". Whilst the rate of table feed was set by either pick-off gears or (later) two levers or adial, on all versions except the 100 prototypes the direction of movement was controlled by anunusual (for a machine tool) ball-handled rod, rather like a car gear-change lever - what theAmericans would refer to as a "stickshift". The lever controlled the movement of the main "verticaltable" through eight different directions - left, right, up, down and a further four combinationswhere, with both horizontal and vertical feeds engaged at once, the table would move diagonally atan angle of 45 degrees. The table feed screws were all precision ground, ran though large bronzenuts and were fitted with exceptionally clear, finely engraved satin-chrome finish micrometer dials.Built-in steel rulers were provided for each axis of movement which, in combination with holdersto accept dial-test indicators and gauge blocks, allowed high-precision measurements byco-ordinates to be made, independent of the feed screw readings. All table movements (around 300mm longitudinally and 340 mm vertically) were fitted with automatic tripping stops with the upperone, to limit the table's vertical rise, fitted with micrometer adjustment. On the earliest model, toprotect the table-drive mechanism against overloads, a shear pin was fitted hidden under a slipspring above the coolant pump. All gears, and their shafts, both spindle and table drive, werehardened and ground-finished. The "Y" movement was, of course made by the head, the travelbeing in the order of 150 mm.HeadsSeveral types of vertical head and cutter supports were available: an overarm and drop bracket tohold a horizontal milling arbor (supplied as part of the standard equipment); a Vertical SpindleHead, powered by the machine's own drive system; a High-Speed Vertical Spindle Head with itsown motor; an Angular Spindle Head driven from the main motor and designed to assist with themilling of hard-to-get-at sections; a Corner Milling Spindle with its own motor and a swivelling,belt-driven end tip intended for machining internal corners and edges - and a rare Precision BoringHead from the LKB Optical Coordinate Jig Boring Machine. A simple Slotting Head was alsolisted.Vertical HeadsUsually ordered with every machine as a standard accessory, the ordinary vertical head could beswivelled through 360º and was equipped with a (rather short) 2.375" (60 mm) travel quillcarrying a No. 4 Morse or 40 INT nose. The maximum clearance between spindle axis and innerface of the main column was 11 inches (280 mm). Unfortunately, the head had exactly the samerange of 16 speeds from 40 to 2000 rpm (or 95 to 1900 r.p.m) as the horizontal spindle - a rangethat (compounded by a very short lever and small knurled-edged handwheel to move the quill)limited its ability to use very small cutters. To get round the problem Deckel offered an alternativehead, the "High-speed", powered by a 0.75 h.p. 3-phase motor that gave six belt-driven speedsfrom a low of 1900 to a maximum of 6000 r.p.m. Fitted with a 40 INT nose the head could beswivelled 45 degrees either side of central and, because the unit was self-motorised and did notrequire connect to the horizontal spindle-mounted drive gear, the base was able to be made extralong to provide a useful 7.875 inches of extra travel and an additional 4" of clearance from cuttercentre to the column face. Unfortunately, instead of equipping the High-speed head with along-travel quill with fine-feed control, Deckel used the same annoyingly restricted unit from thestandard head - a design decision that operator charged with the delicate handling of small cuttersfound most frustrating.Continued below:


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Deckel FP1 Mk. 3 of the late 1950s and early 1960s with dial-change forspeeds and feeds and fitted with the standard vertical milling head.

Continued:Angular Spindle HeadAn interesting accessory, designed to machine into places that would otherwise have beenimpossible or very difficult to get into, the Angular Head was fitted as standard with a No. 1Morse taper socket into which a variety of special or standard cutters could be mounted. Thehead could be swivelled 360 degrees about both its longitudinal and vertical axis, so allowingthe tool to be set at any desired angle "in space" - not quite up to the ingenious flexibility of thesystem used on the (very much heavier) French-built multi-swivel Hure miller, but not far off.Corner Milling Spindle HeadAnother unit intended for use in workshops producing mould and die tooling where access tointernal corners and edges was difficult. The spindle carrier assembly could be rotated through360 degrees about its vertical axis, whilst the cutter-spindle proper could be twisted through anangle of 90 degrees. A single-lip cutter was usually used, ground specially to shape for the jobrequired. Driven from its own 0.55 kW motor, a round drive belt, with a pair of jockey pulleysto keep it in proper contact with its pulleys, passed down the length of the column and drove thespindle head directly. Because only very small cutters, required to run at very high speeds, wereemployed, just two speeds of 4000 and 6000 rpm were provided.Precision Boring Head.Lifted from an accessory range intended for the Deckel LKB Optical Jig Borer, and offered onall sizes of FP millers, the unit for the FP1 required the use of an intermediate gearbox. Thehead, as might be expected, was intended for very close-tolerance boring work, especially onproper jib-boring operations in conjunction with Deckel's own optical or standard measuringsystems. The spindle ran in specially made, high-precision ball bearings and had 21 speeds and6 rates of feed. Coarse setting of the head was made by hand against a graduated scale, whilstfine adjustment was through worm gearing against gauge blocks and dial-indicator readings. Thehead could be tilted through 90 degrees in both directions.Slotting Head


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Table feed direction-control lever. Note the largetable-feed micrometer dials.Table feed direction on the FP1 was set by an unusual (fora machine tool) ball-ended rod, rather like a cargear-change lever; this controlled the movement of themain "vertical table" through eight different directions -left, right, up, down and a further four combinations where,with both horizontal and vertical feeds engaged at once, the table would move diagonally at an angle of 45 degrees.The feed gearbox was mounted inside the column, belowthe spindle drive gears and had eight speeds; used inconjunction with the two-speed motor this gave 16 rates offeed, the fastest of which, the makers suggest, was quickenough to used in place of a power "rapid-traverse". Allthe gears were made from hardened steel and slid onhardened and ground steel shafts.Table movements were around 300 mm longitudinally and340 mm vertically with the "Y" (in-and-out) movementmade by the head - the travel being in the order of 150 mm.


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Stops were provided for automatic trippingon all table movements. The upper stop, tolimit the table's vertical rise, was fittedwith a micrometer adjustment.

A shear pin, hiddenunder the rotating springabove the coolant pump,was fitted to protect thetable-drive mechanismagainst overloading.

FP1 with an overarm for Horizontal MillingSeveral types of vertical head and supports were available to mount on the top of the DeckelFP1: a standard overarm and drop bracket to hold a horizontal milling arbor; a standardVertical Spindle Head, powered by the machine's own drive system with the same 16 speeds asthe horizontal spindle from 40 to 2000 rpm; a High-Speed Vertical Spindle Head with its ownmotor and a speed range from 1900 to 6000 rpm; an Angular Spindle Head driven from the mainmotor and designed to assist with the milling of hard-to-get-at sections; a Corner MillingSpindle with its own motor and swivelling belt-driven end tip intended for machining internalcorners and edges and a rare Precision Boring Head, fitted by means of an intermediate drivegearbox, and originally developed for the LKB Optical Coordinate Jig Boring Machine. Asimple Slotting Head was also available;For the Standard and Angular Spindle heads the drive was picked up from a long gear on the


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The Angular Spindle Head was aninteresting accessory, designed to machine into places that wouldotherwise be impossible or verydifficult to get at with conventionaltooling. The head carried a No. 1Morse taper socket into which avariety of special or standardcutters could be mounted. Becausethe head was able to be swivelled360 degrees about its longitudinalaxis, and was mounted on a 360degree swivel vertical axis, thecutting tool could be set at anydesired angle "in space" - not quiteup to the ingenious flexibility of the(much more heavily built) Frenchmulti-swivel Hure system, but notfar off.

Corner Milling Spindle Head. This unit was designed for the accurate machining of internal corners andedges in places where access was difficult. Generally a single-lip cutter was employed, ground to theshape required for the job. The unit was driven from its own 0.55 kW motor through a round belt runningover 2-step pulleys that gave speeds of 4000 and 6000 rpm. The belt passed down the length of thecolumn and drove the spindle head directly with a pair of jockey pulleys keeping it in proper contact (inthe picture the belt can just be seen emerging from the column housing). The spindle carrier assembly could be rotated through 360 degrees about its vertical axis (thegraduations can been seen around the housing) whilst the cutter spindle proper could be twisted throughan angle of 90 degrees.


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Precision Boring Head. This accessory was lifted from the LKB Optical Jig Boring machine and offered on allthe FP millers - but for use on the FP1 an intermediate gearbox was required. As might be expected the head wasintended for very close tolerance boring work especially when employed for proper jib-boring operations inconjunction with Deckel's own optical or standard measuring systems. The spindle ran in specially-madehigh-precision ball bearings and had 21 speeds and 6 rates of feed. Coarse settings of the head were made byhand against a graduated scale whilst fine adjustments were through a worm gearing against gauge blocks anddial indicator readings. The head could be tilted through 90 degrees in both directions.


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E-MAIL [email protected] Home Machine Tool Archive Machine Tools For Sale & Wanted

Machine Tool Manuals Machine Tool Catalogues Belts

Deckel FP1Universal Precision Milling MachineHandbooks and Parts Lists are available for the FP1, FP2, FP3 and late models FP4M

FP1 Page 2 FP1 Page 3 Pre-WW Deckel FP0 & FP1 Deckel FP2Deckel Tool & Cutter Grinders


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