Like to open by saying that this is a bit of a tale...took me several weeks to resolve the initial issue.
Trying to give the highlights here in the hopes that some of this might be of use to others.
If you are not of a sort to read through an extended post, my advice is to wait till it reaches conclusion and simply jump to the final bit and avid the drivel in between.
Further, the details here may be specific to the FP4NC's...There are detail differences to the smaller versions. (FP2NC,FP3NC)
"The Plot" ;
Number of weeks back, i returned to work after a weekend off...Turned on the control of my "non flip" FP4NC in preparation for the weeks work...lots of projects waiting.
Machine powered up fine..all seemed normal till it came time to move the slides around.....
To my dismay, moving the "Z" axis (vertical) was now uncomfortably noisy! Any movement made a LOUD rumbling sound...Rough and i could also feel the entire machine
vibrating with the move....Did not remember this condition when i shut the machine down the previous Friday...Somethings not right. The noise is bad enough that it makes me
believe that it is damaging something....Just have to solve this...it makes me quite uncomfortable!
Did a little testing. The noise was directly proportional to the speed of the slide movement. Move faster and the frequency of the noise went up...Sound was also somewhat different depending on
weather the slide was going up or down. Further the volume seemed to lessen as did the felt vibrations if the move was fast....
My first inclination was to jump toward the worst case...These machines have a tendency to have vertical way issues....My initial guess was that there was a failure of lube or it
swallowed some chips of swarf ...and there was some sort of stiction causing a judder in the movement.(stick slip). In hind sight that was not really the indication , as the
noise was consistent over the full length of the way surface, Looking back i think this would have been unlikely if the issue was with the sliding surfaces...
However, i spent several hours loosening the rear keeper plate gibs as well as backing out the side tapered gib for the vertical slides...Liberally applying way oil to all surfaces and testing
the movement...Result is that the noise was the same...no change.
OK so I feel a bit relieved...no issue with the gibs or ways....This is good, but i still have this noise.
A small voice in my head was telling me something that a "professional" Deckel guy had told me years back. "If you get a rumbling sound from the "Z" axis when moving its the thrust bearing on the screw...
Chapter One: "The Screw"
So seems like i need to do a major service on the elevating screw assembly and replace the thrust bearings...
I have been here before on my home FP3NC , and when i repaired the vertical ways some years back, so i had a pretty good idea of the steps required.
First off i removed both the side panels (hand wheels removed) I also removed the chip pan. This is not required, but it gives better access to the screw assembly and just makes the job easier.
Positioned the vertical slide (Z) almost all the way up, and set blocking under the slide , then used the MPG to lower the slide on to the block to take the load. This is critical....you must support the slide to
prevent it from falling down when the belt is removed from the axis servo. In normal use the servo holds the slide position through a magnetic brake that is released when power is applied....
![]()
While i am here, i also unbolted the hand wheel mount for the "Z" axis and pulled it out...freeing the servo from the hand wheel drive shaft....The interlock switch and cables have enough slack to allow
this as shown...
![]()
I removed the chip guard plate that fits on the "Z" slide and covers the upper way cover. (sorry no photo) Once this cover is removed it exposes a hole and rubber plug in the top surface of the
upper keeper plate gib.
Photo below shows the hole with plug removed. The hole allows access to a hidden Allen bolt below that secures the top of the screw to the vertical slide. This bolt is only removable by taking the
"X" slide off the machine.
The brass piece visible here is a formed sheet (springy) that helps apply better pressure to the way wiper . Pretty sure this is exclusive on the FP4NC's....
![]()
The "X" slide is positioned to line up the hole with the bolt below....
![]()
Once positioned correctly , an Allen wrench can be inserted and the bolt below can be loosened...Do not attempt to unscrew the bolt fully at this point (more on
this later). Simply unscrew the bolt several turns.
![]()
Stay tuned...lots more to follow....Reached my photo limit for this post....
Cheers Ross
Trying to give the highlights here in the hopes that some of this might be of use to others.
If you are not of a sort to read through an extended post, my advice is to wait till it reaches conclusion and simply jump to the final bit and avid the drivel in between.
Further, the details here may be specific to the FP4NC's...There are detail differences to the smaller versions. (FP2NC,FP3NC)
"The Plot" ;
Number of weeks back, i returned to work after a weekend off...Turned on the control of my "non flip" FP4NC in preparation for the weeks work...lots of projects waiting.
Machine powered up fine..all seemed normal till it came time to move the slides around.....
To my dismay, moving the "Z" axis (vertical) was now uncomfortably noisy! Any movement made a LOUD rumbling sound...Rough and i could also feel the entire machine
vibrating with the move....Did not remember this condition when i shut the machine down the previous Friday...Somethings not right. The noise is bad enough that it makes me
believe that it is damaging something....Just have to solve this...it makes me quite uncomfortable!
Did a little testing. The noise was directly proportional to the speed of the slide movement. Move faster and the frequency of the noise went up...Sound was also somewhat different depending on
weather the slide was going up or down. Further the volume seemed to lessen as did the felt vibrations if the move was fast....
My first inclination was to jump toward the worst case...These machines have a tendency to have vertical way issues....My initial guess was that there was a failure of lube or it
swallowed some chips of swarf ...and there was some sort of stiction causing a judder in the movement.(stick slip). In hind sight that was not really the indication , as the
noise was consistent over the full length of the way surface, Looking back i think this would have been unlikely if the issue was with the sliding surfaces...
However, i spent several hours loosening the rear keeper plate gibs as well as backing out the side tapered gib for the vertical slides...Liberally applying way oil to all surfaces and testing
the movement...Result is that the noise was the same...no change.
OK so I feel a bit relieved...no issue with the gibs or ways....This is good, but i still have this noise.
A small voice in my head was telling me something that a "professional" Deckel guy had told me years back. "If you get a rumbling sound from the "Z" axis when moving its the thrust bearing on the screw...
Chapter One: "The Screw"
So seems like i need to do a major service on the elevating screw assembly and replace the thrust bearings...
I have been here before on my home FP3NC , and when i repaired the vertical ways some years back, so i had a pretty good idea of the steps required.
First off i removed both the side panels (hand wheels removed) I also removed the chip pan. This is not required, but it gives better access to the screw assembly and just makes the job easier.
Positioned the vertical slide (Z) almost all the way up, and set blocking under the slide , then used the MPG to lower the slide on to the block to take the load. This is critical....you must support the slide to
prevent it from falling down when the belt is removed from the axis servo. In normal use the servo holds the slide position through a magnetic brake that is released when power is applied....
While i am here, i also unbolted the hand wheel mount for the "Z" axis and pulled it out...freeing the servo from the hand wheel drive shaft....The interlock switch and cables have enough slack to allow
this as shown...
I removed the chip guard plate that fits on the "Z" slide and covers the upper way cover. (sorry no photo) Once this cover is removed it exposes a hole and rubber plug in the top surface of the
upper keeper plate gib.
Photo below shows the hole with plug removed. The hole allows access to a hidden Allen bolt below that secures the top of the screw to the vertical slide. This bolt is only removable by taking the
"X" slide off the machine.
The brass piece visible here is a formed sheet (springy) that helps apply better pressure to the way wiper . Pretty sure this is exclusive on the FP4NC's....
The "X" slide is positioned to line up the hole with the bolt below....
Once positioned correctly , an Allen wrench can be inserted and the bolt below can be loosened...Do not attempt to unscrew the bolt fully at this point (more on
this later). Simply unscrew the bolt several turns.
Stay tuned...lots more to follow....Reached my photo limit for this post....
Cheers Ross