Thread: I shrunk my Deckel FP1 ...

And here are the patterns:
fp.jpg

The parts we casted were given to the admins and mods. One model was cast in bronze (1.5 kg weight!) and handed over to the one where we had the party.

And why don't the pictures show right in the posting? I'm confused.


Nick

You have way too much patience Nick. Very nice work on the castings...as usual

Phil

HI,

That is great! How do people learn these skills and where do you get the time to practice?

Ben.

Originally Posted by Steamwhisperer

You have way too much patience Nick. Very nice work on the castings...as usual

Phil

X2 here. Thanks for posting Nick, I must say that I really enjoy your posts, and admire the skills you display. Keep up the great work,
Rob

Those castings are of a higher quality than many so called professional work ..... we can only hope to emulate your work Nick !

Wow that's really impressive Nick. Perhaps one day my work will be the same caliber as yours thanks for posting.

Perhaps when I am your age ...

Now that's an insult!
All that isn't difficult. It is just a black art.

Making the moulds isn't difficult. At that party, only one of those who made moulds had a little experience. The others were complete noobs. I showed one mould and then they had to dive in. All were very good. Very few had to be repaired (I did that), but still, the castings were good. But me to, I make rejects.
Only part that made problems was the column. Some had a too big gate and were casted too fast. They sagged near the center. I didn't pay attention to that detail when the noobs made the molds. But we had enough good ones.

Milling the patterns isn't too complicated. Sometimes, they have to be milled in several layers. The pattern of the table was made in 3 layers.
After that, they need finishing. That takes some time and one or two test pours.

Designing the patterns can be a challenge. But that is an old trade, and everything had already been invented. Buy a book about pattern making and read it.
The only tricky thing is getting a feel for what works and what not. For example the two levers at the column. They look tiny, but they are no problem, there is enough mass behind them, so they always work. There is an other detail, where I had my doubts. Right above the levers, you see that cylindrical shaped part. And left of it is that bar. There is a small gap between them. I feared, that the sand will break there when pulling the pattern. It never did. And I feared, that the molten metal will wash it away, but it didn't. One more thing to add to the list named "that works".
What they always teach you is to have a draft. Patterns that small don't need one. Only takes a calm hand when pulling them.

The pouring itself isn't complicated. You just need to know the temperature and maybe adjust it.

Well, that's it. Anyone can pour these parts.


Nick

That is beautiful work, Nick. I like the detail under the fixed table, and on the vertical head. I have the same machine. Do you find the change gears for the feeds limiting? (My FP1 is undergoing a long restoration right now, and I have been considering powering the feed shaft with a DC motor)

Greg

Originally Posted by MuellerNick

Now that's an insult! Nick

G'day Nick. I know you were joking. But Andre is only 17. Ray and Josh would have told you about the scraping thing we did down here. That mad bastard had his father drive him down 900 km to attend.

By my reasoning, he's the only 17 year old, down here that knows what scraping is. Little own wanting to take it up. He's a strange fish.

Phil.

That mad bastard had his father drive him down 900 km to attend.

Good boy! And good father!

Do you find the change gears for the feeds limiting?

It is not as terrible as one might think. I rarely changed gears. One speed fits all[tm]

Now, I no longer use my FP1. I wanted to sell here, but now I found a stupid excuse to keep here. So I can make the model.


Nick

Originally Posted by MuellerNick

Now, I no longer use my FP1. I wanted to sell here, but now I found a stupid excuse to keep here.

What did you find that you liked better?

What did you find that you liked better?

My Maho MH 700 C. A CNC mill (retrofitted with LinuxCNC) and 700 mm travel in X. Initially, I thought I'll keep the Deckel for second ops or quick jobs. But I never used her since the Maho works.
Strangely enough, I keep using my manual lathe for ... taataa! ... second ops and quick jobs. <puzzledlookingsmiley>


Nick

Originally Posted by MuellerNick

And why don't the pictures show right in the posting? I'm confused.
Nick

Hi Nick,

Those castings came out very nicely!

Did you actually do the casting during the meeting?

That would have been a real eye-opener for the CNC corner guys... Good stuff



The forum is in the middle of a software upgrade, so image url's aren't being parsed properly for some reason, funny that they are correct in the edit window?
Anyway, you can manually wrap the url in [img][/img] tags..

Regards
Ray

Did you actually do the casting during the meeting?

Yes, the were casted there. But I brought some spares with me, just in case ...
You should have seen their eyes, when I took over (someone else made basic explanations about patterns etc.).
I only showed the base and asked that that is for. It took a few seconds and I got the right answer. That put a smile and disbelieve in their eyes. When I showed the roughly painted castings and arranged them how they would be assembled (had no time to do that) there were even more WOWs.

One of the mods bought a plastic model of the FP1 from Japan about a year ago. Because of some mishap, he bought two and sold one to me. Both kits are collecting dust since then. I was so sure that when he sees the castings, that he will be set on fire. For sure he was! He can't wait 'till the weekend when he has time to finish his kit.

That alone was worth the time spent.

Thanks for the tip with the img-tags.

Nick