Thread: Nose to table clearance woes.

A double-ended spindle - great idea!
How does the spindle get driven?

Jordan

Like this Jordan. The arbor shown on the left is mounted in the horizontal spindle.

Originally Posted by Anorak Bob

.... The Morse No. 4 taper nose as found on Greg Q's FP1 also accommodates 1" collets. (Lucky b...)

I don't know...I guess the P20's are hard to find? The MT4 collets with the handy (not!) Deckel drawbar thread are around €20-€40 a pop, and they are Chinese copies of the unavailable originals. And only available from two sellers in Germany.

Still, having them is handy indeed. Deckel also supplied a spindle adapter to take their (also expensive, though more common) U2 Deckel collets as used in their little grinders and pantograph machines.

Funny about headroom on the Euro machines...even as you go up in size the headroom only gets marginally more generous. The 50% larger FP-2 only gets 2" more Z travel.

Some ideas...

First of all, if you can choke down the tool envy, have a look at this guy's shop tour video. At 3:30 he shows his FP-1, and the modifications he made to the universal table which would be really handy.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65y7G_sstno]YouTube - My home shop[/ame]

The other thing I have is something C-47 sent me, photos of someone's adapter plate which lowers the universal table by a couple of valuable inches.

Greg,

I was just looking at an illustration of the 4M collet in one of the Deckel Technical Bulletins.

How about a 4 to 3 Morse reduction sleeve with the tanged end removed to provide drawbar access and use cheapish 3 Morse collets with a male / male threaded draw stud Loctited into the collet. The catch would be if the sleeve remained in the spindle which is what happens in my little Hercus mill. I simply knock it out with an alumimium drift.

From memory, I don't think that it is that simple on an FPI.

Bob

Well, I did buy three MT4 collets on a "beg-for-mercy" deal from RC-Maschines in Luxembourg. I'm hoping that I won't need any more than that. If I do, Franz Singer, the Deckel guy in Germany, has generic MT4 collets, and he also sells M16:S20 X 2 male/male adapters.

I thought about using MT3 but was trying to avoid stacking any more Chinese gismos more than I have to. For all I know my vertical spindle needs work anyway. Thankfully it is bushed instead of the later needle bearing type, repair of which is unlikely in the field, and impossible on a budget.

Greg

That's a lot of gear to make a few camera and microscope parts! The bloke certainly has some treasures. I don't know how he gets on when he uses his table saw in the midst of it all.

I suppose we could use our mills with just a vise most of the time. Could be a pain when you want to use a rotary table or div. head though.

I'll go and have a look at the 13 to see just how easy it would be to lower the table with an adapter plate as per Alan's photo.

"was trying to avoid stacking any more Chinese gismos more than I have to"

Ah Ha! The dreaded Zyto Syndrome

LOL, yeah, that's exactly what I was thinking of.

I was just revisiting the RC-Machines site...they sell (for too much money) a tiny slotted angle table that bolts on in place of the standard table. It looks like it is ideal for mounting a vise all by itself. Makes me think that a bloke could weld up an angle adapter for a vise. You could mill in square right on the machine, drill the holes and be done in time for tea and medals.

Greg

Some very nice ornaments in that video Greg, not a chip in site.
Did anyone else notice the white coat at 9:08 minutes?

Dave

Funny you should mention that! I did notice it, and thought to myself "white coat,eh? hmmmm. wonder where you get those?"

And I did notice that it is more showroom than workshop. As AB mentioned, using the table saw in there would be neat trick.

My, what sharp eyes you have there Dave.

" Ornaments" is an apt description. I don't know how any one could keep that many machines in the condition shown in the video and be using them. I've have 7 machines and that's hard enough.

I would say the coat is hanging their because it just come back from the dry cleaners, and maybe his house cleaner has the job of keeping the dust off. lol
Seriously though
It is truly a dream shop and I bet it has taken him years to gather them all and get them in that shape. It just shows how far this tool addiction goes.

When I first saw that video I thought it was from "old car guy's" thread from the garage journal.
Their are some shop pictures around post 263, but the whole thread is worth a look at what money can do.
OldCarGuy’s New Toy Shop - The Garage Journal Board
I find my machines end up as benches, then I have to clean them off to use them.

Dave

I would say the coat is hanging their because it just come back from the dry cleaners

Cut it out Dave ! I nearly myself reading that. I'm still laughing