Deckel Highspeed Head Teardown 

It was 6AM here in Canada, I had just made my first coffee and turned on the laptop to check the weather and there is Stefan to distract me from from actually doing my morning routine. I always enjoy disassembly/repair posts about machine tools, particularly such wonderfully designed and made tools such as the Deckel. Thanks Stefan.

Hereafter, this Deckel High Speed Head will be known as "Das Rattenscheißehaus"...

Really interesting project, I'm glad you showed in detail how the bearings work. The details in the books and example applications for some of these systems was a great addition. I'm looking forward to seeing your progress. It would be really interesting to hear you compare/contrast the two heads you have and what each is better suited to over the other. It would be really interesting to see you tackle the sharp internal corners, it's hard for me to wrap my head around how that works. I can't pretend it is the same, but I recently got a used 4 jaw chuck that had very limited use, but was pretty dirty. There is a lot of satisfaction to take apart a nice tool, clean it up, and reassemble it into something satisfyingly functional. I have more appreciation for how much work some of your restorations must have taken. I've seen well maintained engines with a lot of miles retain their cross hatching. I think they way they it holds a film of oil tremendously reduces wear. If this was a well cared for machine, I would have no trouble believing that it could have many hours of use, but held up very well as a result of being a machine of excellent quality receiving good maintenance. Thanks again for taking the time to share these projects. These really encourage folks like me to try something that might otherwise be intimidating.

Morning, Stefan. When you said "I think I'm burning some rat poop" that filled me with existential dread. Regarding bearings, I have a 1960's vintage surface grinder that I am the third owner of that is in pristine condition, I contacted a company to discuss buying a set of bearings and was quoted $450 each which is more than I paid for the entire machine! Taking care of what we have is definitely the better option if it's not broken!

Nicely done Stefan! Looking forward to seeing how the preload adjustment is accomplished on this spindle. I guess I better start cleaning my shop for next year :) ATB, Robin

Yes to the sharp internal corners video! I've been scratching my head how such features are made, short of a slotting head, shaper, broaching, or like you mentioned, wire EDM/5-axis.

This is very timely, I have an FP2 that I took apart, cleaned, relubed etc recently, but was afraid to take apart the actual spidle because of the bearing preload. So much looking forward to part 2 Stefan, thanks!

@21:00 Same setup as bicycle wheel bearings. Thought that was a neat way to do it the first time I took a wheel hub apart.

Nice work, and so many memes: 1. The smell of roasting rat poop - we like this in the morning, along with that bone to pick 2. Disassembly Rag - likely Scott Joplin would approve 3. Ball races - what's to say Looking forward to seeing it in operation

As usual, excellent episode. Also as usual, machines and things I can not get nor can I find. Which leads to have to seek out therapy and deal with issues of insecurity. Kepp up making my life horrible and I look forward to your next installment. Keep up the great work your Deckle episodes are wonderful.

Finally got round to watching this. Things I didn’t think I’d learn about: rat feng shui. I’d be interested in seeing more detail on the head mounting ring, I have a cross slide on an old lathe that has some chips out of the circular t-slot and this solution might be workable. Thanks Stefan!

I've got an FP4 in storage... waiting for my machine shop space to free up to get it going... can't wait! :D Needs a fair bit of clean-up. It was covered in motor oil to stop rust, and there are a few bits of surface rust at non-critical places... but it has the original tilt and roll rotary table with angular DRO!

Now thats a high quality piece of kit. Loving this content, very calming yet educational

In my opinion, this head is asking for a higher power motor coupled with a VFD. For the small parts you seem to do the high speed head could just stay on the whole time. With the VFD you would half or one third the number of belt speed changes. Thanks for sharing the internals of this spindal, always interesting for us machinery geeks.

I really enjoy these teardown videos. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks Stefan, that’s really interesting! 👍 I’m glad you explained the reasoning behind that bearing design, it makes sense now.

More goodies! I was planning to sleep, but that can wait when there's an unwatched Stefan Gotteswinter video out there.

Interesting point on the opposing slots ref spindle, good call on balance. Very interesting discussion, thanks for sharing. Regards John

Regarding the honing of the quill bore, as you want a very close fit ,the quill would be ground to Dimension + tolerance and then marked for actual size Then because honing allows for real time, in process measurement It's "easy" to acheive the desired clearance.

Those old mechanical methods to do complicated geometry are always interesting to see.

Hi - excellent detailed look inside your head. Sorry, I mean milling head. Looks like you scored a bery nice unit with hardly any wear. Good to get the rodent crap out of there, but overall you made out well. There was a squirrel nest in the head of my mill when I got it. Edit: Also very interesting to see the solutions to complex machining geometries available pre-cnc and 5 axis. Absolutely ingenious solutions.

Jewelry for real men! Even though I don’t have the resources or “ permission “ for such a quality item, every time you dissect a Deckel I realize why you are so high on them. It’s fascinating to see engineers who do things right, and serviceable. In this era of disposable everything it is refreshing to see extraordinary examples of “ old school “ thought. As you don’t know the actual service time of this specific item, it’s hard to judge whether in daily production use if it would be so pristine, but with suggested maintenance I’m sure that it would be similar due to the outstanding build quality. Thanks for the jewelry show and I am on hold for the next segment. 🤓

My Haighton mill has a simple plain bearing spindle similar in design. When I disassembled it, having spent a hour trying to find a pin spanner to fit the spindle nut, I had to settled for a 3.xmm drill bit ... As I put the drill backwards into the spindle nut hole, the weight of the drill undid the nut!

Excellent! My Tom Senior M1(1958) high speed vertical head needs the same treatment. The quill is worn in the casting also. I'm currently building an arsenal of ideas/info on how to tackle the refurbishment. It will probably get the quill lock you designed for your previous mill(import). Thanks again👌

Interesting dive into machine tool design. One thing I'd like to see in the future is how you will set spindle bearing preload.

I love videos like these. It’s always a treat to see a tear down of something that obviously had a lot of thought put into it. A complex machine for sure, but not complicated. Thanks, Stefan!

Neat cleanup and lot's of TLC :) I replaced my tiny lathe bearings recently (MUCH simpler) and the races were ground on the spindle and housing as well. Nice to see different manufacturers using the same trick...

Very nice dive into the Deckel spindle Stefan. Thank you for your insights. Well done sir👍

Good to see all this teardown in detail and learning what is inside.See you in part two.Thank you,Stefan-

I appreciate how complete your machine is. ❤

The hardest balls of steel has Stefan himself!

The sound effects for this one are great. I figured Stefan would be a great singer… I wanna sample all the yoink doing and eeeks I love it.

I was here for the birth of a tagline! Stefan Gotteswinter: It's Spindle Science!

I've not seen a spindle with bearings like that before. Thanks for taking along on the teardown! Hope all is well there. - TZ

I feel you're not the first person inside that head and whomever was in there before you, didn't tighten things the right way. When i took mine apart (almost a NOS part), everything came apart by hand and medium force. 29:43 there's a Danish post (i can't find it anymore, it was probably from the late 00's by reckoning) where a machinist ground that section off, same as with the sleeve and used a Japanese tapered bearing set. Hist unit was .... carnage. That's one word to describe it. I don't remember much beyond that, other than the fact that he had painted the unit (or it was painted before hand, but it's a clue for those looking for this forum post) in a burgundy color. edit: another thing that i remembered, he ground the bearings off in stages. I think he said something like, letting the metal rest between grinding sessions. Dunno... how effective that is. I've never heard of anything of this, but i'm pretty sure that's what he said (my Danish is bottom tier).

Looking forward to seeing this in use. 👍🏻 With all the accessories you're going to need another mill😉

Nice! 2 things Ive kicked myself for not buying at the time - high speed head for my Maho MH700 and a Wohlhaupter UPA2 Both items were quite affordable. Cheers👍

Thanks for the video. I decided recently to dsmantle my FP1 vertical head and horizontal spindle to carry out the clean and regrease on the basis of not knowing if it had ever been done. I was intrigued to see the 'integral' Deckel races for the needles and ball bearings! Thankfully, all are in excellent condition except for one slightly pitted flat thrust race that I got surface ground! Keeping watch on the horizontal spindle is worthwhile, as I noticed lubricating oil contaminates the Kluber grease! Kind regards!

Pretty Neat hwats shown in the Bullentin! Always love the Deckel Content you serve us for Dinner

Thanks for the video. Very interesting. It's astounding that the speed range can be achieved with such a small belt drive. Danke für das Video. Sehr interessant. Erstaunlich, dass der Drehzahlbereich mit einem so kleinen Riementrieb bewerkstelligt wird.

Really cool engineering. Thanks for the video.

Very interesting and satisfying to watch, as usual with your vids. Good fortune for you!

Nice example of how to work with quality machines. I was a bit surprised by the integrated bearing races but they do save on overall spindle diameter. The high-speed head for the Schaublin 13 is just a little bit smaller :)

You’ve got some balls Stefan

I love old obsolete tool accessories!

It was fun watching your video! I am a layman when it comes to milling machines, but it was fun to see that your quill bearing assembly is almost identical to the setup in my Shimano MTB pedals (PD-MX80) they use 1/8” balls and a ~10mm diameter housing - about 20x smaller than that Quill!

I love your videos: they give me a standard to strive towards. As an amateur bodger with a Bridgeport, I can confirm that the Bridgeport head will tilt, swivel, rotate as you wish. It's not difficult to do and the weight of the head isn't really an issue. Tramming the thing to be perfectly true in three dimensions can be time-consuming, but isn't that the case for all traditional machines? Viel Spaß

Nice video. You could inspect the ball bearings under a microscope, or at least a magnifying glass, so see if they are dented sligthly, and if so, replace them. They are quite cheap.

Love the smell of burnt lock tight in the morning 😂

Thank you. Would be interesting to see cutting an internal corner. If you can find the time at some point. 👍🇳🇱

What a timely video! I have one of these heads, and need to tear it down... 😁

A right and proper "DOINK" at 15:30. Carry on.

I've got the high speed head for my Aciera F3, can't wait to watch this episode 👍

You can make a special section for your channel and do a collaboration w/ This Old Tony You can name it “Tin Hat Tony” and all the great uses for tinfoil hats after they are no longer needed for protecting your clean parts. *I would have suggested you give it a go but I couldn’t get the title to sound right. … I mean Tin Hat Tony just rolls off your tongue so effortlessly and picturing his “time machine” video editing gimmicks and him wearing a tinfoil cap 😂

Fantastically entertaining! PLEASE, someone ship Stefan a Gorton! 😂 Man, German engineering is spectacular, but it’s unfamiliar - vermin, dust, dried lubrication, and surface pitting I have experience with. I’d LOVE to clean my two Gorton high speed spindles, but I lack the documentation, skills, and confidence to do so!

Wow, very Nice Stefan!

good video stefan..thanks for your time

the leather glove was brilliant....

Nice, incredibel machine!

Great video, almost gave up when disassembling the spindle and faced the left-handed nut...

Thank you Stefan!

Great video! Have you considered replacing the motor? Motor technology has advanced a lot since the 50s. You could get something lighter, more powerful and variable speed for pretty cheap.

Hey Stefan, yet another great video! I would like you to do a tailstock/air hose hanger video, on your new lathe. A proper alignment and all of the uses for it. I know we don't see you use it much, and there's a million videos on it all ready, but I would consider your video going to the source. Thank you.

I like that you speak your German language some in you videos. Thank you.

My god, grinding ball bearing races onto a shaft, thats such a deckel thing to do. Insane 😅

Very interesting video Stefan! I am happy you finally gave the explanation why the spindle bearings are integrated, it is of space constraints, not to make the vertical head more bulky or bigger than necessary. I will look into my Aciera F3 if the design is similar. I do not have a quill though, som probably not. Have you looked into Aciera milling machines? They are nice as the Deckels are, but Deckel was probably a bigger brand, more accessories and so on...

Stefan, I love your videos and I appreciate that you record them in English even though it isn’t your native language. Thank you. At 27:00 you are showing us a poorly installed bearing and you use the word crooked. I have always heard that word pronounced Crook-Ed. The ed is pronounced like a man's name Ed (Edward). I only mention this because every machinist I've met strives for perfection, so please don’t infer this as an insult. Thanks again.

'that's a lot of balls...'

First time I’ve seen actual chips/debris on/around machinery. I am not alone…………

that carpenter hinge on a front lid definitely need to be replaced. it puts a curse on whole assembly.

Thanks Stefan, helps a lot!

Heij Stefan, about the mouse poop: I found a piano on the curb and took it in. After a few minutes it was clear there was a mom mouse in there, giving birth in a really artistic like nest. There must have been a stack of cardboard boxes next to it because mommy mouse chew cardboard into nice stripes 4-6mm wide and about 10cm long. I have to admit, I found the consistency of the stripes very interesting. Mommy mouse made a web of them into the mechanics that strike the strings- as a tinkerer I found that very interesting as I cleaned it out. Their bathroom was under the keys and moths ate the felt but the damage of the mouses was (thankfully) not too severe. They must have moved out after the little ones were grown- I´ve cleaned out many mouse houses in the past so I think I can tell how long the nest was used. You do a nice job, Grüße aus Göttingen!

Stefan, I hope you didn't lose the two small shims that were in the lock ring on the nose of the spindle. You can see them drop under the spindle when you removed the clamp... Cheers from downunder... 🙂

Keep up the great videos buddy!! Hell yeah, I needed this today ❤

"It's spindle science.." love it.

I once heard that in Germany, Engineers are regarded, socially as an Englishman might regard a Doctor (engineers have the prefix in front of your family name, like Dr Whatever and such) Is this true? I've often thought we really ought to give more appreciation to engineers, without whom this modern world of ours couldn't exist. Much respect, great vid. Thanks 👍

I just watched your video on the slotting head again and you explained the this to me already. Thank you for another great video. I would like to get a Deckel FP mill someday but they are hard to find in the USA. One thing about the Deckel FP mills I hear often is that they do not run in reverse. Is it possible to make one run in both directions? I guess power tapping is when it would be best to have it. With the high speed head having its own motor it might be possible with a vfd.

Looking forward to seeing this when I've got some time on my own. 👍🏻 It'll be great to see how you use it and how it affects the finish you get straight off the tool. Did you say .55kw

Stefan Gotteswinter is by design, "Sub-worthy" Thank you for the video. I got my gearhead itch scratched (no charge for the visual). Cheers from So.Ca.USA 3rd House On the Left (but call before stopping by:)

Please do a video of your main spindle. I took mine apart years ago, and was too intimidated to do a rebuild. I believe it involves replacement of bearing elements with different sizes.

"Not a clean room", but it *is* a 'clean-enough room'. :)

Mr. Rathbone walked into the spindle housing and got killed when the machine started.

7:15 i just tape mine. I've a bunch of pieces in a big plastic bag, kinda like a shim kit. A bit of paper tape and they're sturdy as.

lovely intro Stefan!

A German person just taught this American a new use of the English word "Banana" - I never knew that it could be a verb!

Thanks mate very interesting.

You say Deckel, I think Dunkel. 🍺

It seems a very odd spindle design to me. I am accustomed to seeing designs in which the spindle bearings are considered a consumable and may be replaced at relatively low expense. In the Deckel, the entire spindle appears to be the consumable.

I always thought that the Deckel, although a lovely machine, was a bit of a disappointment when it comes to using the quill for drilling and boring. What would it have taken to add a power feed to the head? It's the reason why I have a Thiel 159, which was available with this feature, even though it's not the commonest of attachments!

New video, time for a coffee ☕ break 😁

Nice safety crocks

27:00 In English " Crooked" is ponounced " crook-ed".

Had a dead mouse skeleton in my Bridgeport mill ram!

"balls and the ball cage" Lol

38:46 what is the large round thing shown attached to the front of a deckel? An accessory, or something being machined?

Nice video! So what is the recommended lubricant you will use, and how much of it? (I have the exact same head and I guess >5000h of use from its previous life). Thank you again for sharing!

3D print some blanking plates for the arm?

Do you know why would they opt to use a hone to finish the spindle housing instead of a jig grinder like a Hauser or a Moore machine?

Very cool

Great!