New levels of desperation

griff851

So, in days of old, to fit monster cams in single heads the boys use to “butterfly” cut the cam cap hole to get the cam lobes in. Great except the only thing holding the cam cap in place are the screws. This of coarse leads to some time and skill to line up the cam cap after shiming the head.
Well, having 2 Desmo heads butterfly cut and Desmo single heads becoming somewhat thin on the ground and expensive, I decided to return them to a functional state. Basically welding and then line boring. After machining up the alignment spigot (tolerances are in microns) can I just say next time you hear the term “line boring” be in awe of how much pissing around actually goes into the process. No bloody wonder it’s expensive! Luckily I have access to a sodding big lathe and a Bridge port mill. Next week is going to be entertaining.

griff851

Man you just have to love a Bridgeport! Tomorrow I bore. Funny thing was how much the supposed aligned cam cap flat was out. There was serious concern when I started cutting, then I re-did the alignment checks and they were fine. Speaking to a mate later on, he said they were always crap. You'd do up the screws and the cam would bind. Now I know why. 0.3mm out from inlet top to exh bottom. Thank god 851/888 don't have that crap going on.

griff851

Nothing happening on the forum... so here is something boring. Machining done on an Adcock and Shipley series 1 variable speed 2Hp Bridgeport with 90° attachment head. Seriously they are an incredible machine. It’s my mates. I want one so bad, but very hard to justify the price for the number of jobs you would do on one.

MarkT

Griff-- I was faced with the same lust- but had little space in the basement at the time-- so I broke down and bought a used Deckel FP2 to go along with my Monarch 10EE. Great vertical/horizontal small mill.

If you find a mill you love- squeeze hard and pull the trigger- you know you will use it for many years.

marvin

Bummer, looks like a lotta work. But I guess you should be thankful that it is a single!!

griff851

I've been searching the world, yep I think the Deckel FP1 with a DRO is what I want. Truely beautiful mill. Expensive but, and not very common here. May have to get one in from Europe. Luckily I know a machinist in Bavaria who does Audi work from his basement, looks like time to call in a favour.
Mark, why did you go for the FP2? Power or availability?

MarkT

griff851 wroteI've been searching the world, yep I think the Deckel FP1 with a DRO is what I want. Truely beautiful mill. Expensive but, and not very common here. May have to get one in from Europe. Luckily I know a machinist in Bavaria who does Audi work from his basement, looks like time to call in a favour. Mark, why did you go for the FP2? Power or availability?

It was just the right size-- small enough to fit in my basement -big enough to perform the size jobs I had in mind for it. I looked at an FP1-- it is pretty small. Both are great machines and there many great attachments for both of them. Not sure what I would have done without it and my Monarch these past 30 years.

griff851

Ok, so the big plan to get a Hurcus fell on its arse. Instead my little Portuguese mate snookered me. He called me into the shop saying he had something for me. So for the same price as the Hurcus I now have a Taiwanese Bridge port and tooling. The company apparently disappeared because of proprietary issues. 😄 Also picked up a Black and Decker/ Van Dorn valve grinding machine. Both machines in excellent condition mechanically.