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Iron Tour 2015 - Lots of pics

TNB

Stainless
Joined
Aug 18, 2002
Location
France
Some of you may remember the gorgeous pictures Martin P posted a few years ago on this forum under title Deckel Pics II
A first tour project was then discussed with a few members here, that sadly didn't come to completion.

Nonetheless, our discussions inspired member Peterve to invite me to join him in Holland for a little "Iron Tour" of our own.
The idea was for me to fly to The Netherlands to meet him, and then drive south through Germany, Switzerland and France to visit fellows PM members Kees and Martin P, fascinating shops like Rüdiger Kramer's Ruemema, and dealers.

On the list were nice adresses like the very famous Franz Singer shop, FPS, Wallima, amongst others.

Humhumhum... what to do... did I really have the choice ?

During our trip, we've seen the very best and the worst of machine tools.

Fine machinery rebuilded with skills and care by craftmen in small shops like Franz Singer's one, but also rows of porch painted machines of the finest brands aligned in dehumanized gigantic warehouses.

We've seen real artists scraping Deckels with love and obviously doing a great job rebuilding old machines back to new condition, and we've seen the ways of a Schaublin 150 butchered with some leopard camouflage scheme scraping type....

We've seen how old quality machines like Deckels mills can have a second life after rebuilding, and we've seen how FPS build absolutely brand new machines from scratch (that is, new castings to begin with !).


We've seen the same quest for quality and detail in a shop litterally flooded with pieces of equipment, parts in wait for inspection, spare parts and machines bits all over the place, cardboxes of all sizes stacked up to the roof and shelves full ot accessories, and in a huge ultra-organized factory where one could use a bicycle to go from a place to another.


We've seen how different people can have different ways of doing things, but undoubtly with the same quality in sight and comparable results in the end.


We've seen dealers who care and obviously stand behind the machines they sell. The visit at Wallima was a moment of pure pleasure and Mr Draca senior an incredibly nice host. But we've seen other ones, where the main rebuilding tool may be the brush.

We've seen snow storms and sunshine, centuries old stone houses and and cutting edge factories and warehouses...

Meeting Martin and Kees was of course also extremely pleasant. It's nice beeing able to put faces on names of posters you've been reading for years litteraly...

I'm just back, and all the images of our "Iron Tour" just begin to settle down in my head. I tried to make as many pictures as possible but it is very difficult and always frustrating when living something so unique (it was for me) trying to enjoy it as much as possible, to back off behind a camera. Anyway, I did my best and we thought there would be some interest here for what we saw, so here are a few pics of our journey.

For me, all that began at the Marseille Provence airport for a nice flight to Holland where I met Peter.

It's always a bit of an experience to jump in for a week confined in a car with someone you never met before, but considering our schedule I was optimistic... time would fly.














































Want more ? :drool5:
 

TNB

Stainless
Joined
Aug 18, 2002
Location
France


Humhum.... :crazy:

Milacron - The white Deckels were at Harich. A german dealer who overhauls and sells used machines, but who will also handle the assembly of the Deckel SO and SOE single lip cutter grinders for Michael Deckel from next month on. The pic above was taken at their shop...
Nice machines, nice warehouse... And as you can see, nice everything in fact !
The work they do on the big Boeringer to recondition the tables was really great.



Our trip was not only about shops. It was also about Capuccinos !!! Man those dutch and german people drink liters of them really !!!
Typical schedule was : wake up at 7AM - breakfast at 7:30 first capuccino - Then one capuccino every half an hour untill 10/11:00 PM

Leaving Feucht, we came across that advertising wich I found kind of a funny way to keep a memory of my state of mind at this stage of our little journey...







The next day, we were supposed to visit a legendary shop...



As we were approaching Gerestried, my heart rate slowly increased.



You guess where we are ? Do I really have to label those pics ?















Where else on planet earth can you imagine such a Tsunami of Deckels really ?!











What puzzles me about our visit at Franz Singer's shop, is it seemed so unbelievably crowded, cramped with soooooo much stuff of every kind lying everywhere or stacked in piles up to the coffee room upstairs, that one could hardly believe it is a workspace...
In that regard, comparison with Martin's pics a few years ago clearly shows an aggravation. Seems like the square meters didn't keep up with fame.
Unbelievable is the word. Man... How they do is a mystery to me.

But looking at the row of machines beeing worked at the front of the shop, there was absolutely no doubt that the work beeing performed was top notch.
Care and quality are here. No question about it.
 

lucky7

Titanium
Joined
Sep 6, 2008
Location
Canada
I think I take the wrong kind of vacations....

Thanks for pics Tien!

Any more pics and info is greatly appreciated!

Lucky7
 

TNB

Stainless
Joined
Aug 18, 2002
Location
France
Yep Peter, a good team !

IMG_7701.jpg


A casting waiting next to the washing machine...





The Heichle & Knoedler planner. Singer does a really great job in planning. The small stripes of tape on the table protect some epoxy filling to repair the deep marks. I asked Herr Franz in my bad german why he did not use cast iron plugs instead of that filler. He explained it is the sole practical solution when the holes to be repaired are located on the edge of the T-slots. Makes sense.
Surface on the finished tables is really smooth. Please note the poster on the wall.





The small parts grinding corner... Once again, an incredible stacking of parts, vices, accessories... But take a look at the details and everything's dead perfect.



The painting room... Not my favorite in general.



People and benches... Hard not to be invasive but man... I would have liked to take at least 4 times more pictures than I did !



Love to see those benches. There's life in it.







The boss....







"Lemme see... Where did I put that FP3 ram ? Hummm... I was there, and then after I was there... Hummmm... "

 

TNB

Stainless
Joined
Aug 18, 2002
Location
France
Benches benches benches...











Motor anyone ?





At the end of my visit of Franz Singer's shop, the feeling that I keep is admiration. Admiration for real craftmen who obviously do a great job overhauling Deckels, with skills, care and a sense of detail that clearly showed on the machines beeing finished at the front of the show. I don't know how they do, but they do it well.











 

TNB

Stainless
Joined
Aug 18, 2002
Location
France
It was a still a cantine, but judging from the piles of Heidenhain counters everywhere, that was not to last for long yet.

I think I'll slow the pace down for today Todd... It was only a one week trip you know, so we have to keep some suspense if we want the pleasure to share those pictures to last a bit (not to mention writing and posting requires some serious work !).

But be sure of one thing : the best is yet to come :)
 

CBlair

Diamond
Joined
Sep 23, 2002
Location
Lawrenceville GA USA
Strange that there were not any Deckel machines that looked like they were being used to repair the Deckel machines? :) I am sure there was one still working there someplace.

Charles
 

wrench

Titanium
Joined
Jul 9, 2002
Location
Sunnyvale, CA
Very cool. I echo the same thoughts about it being a complete chaotic mess but obviously staffed by stunningly skilled workers. I guess my shop has one of those two; guess which one!!!! :D
 

TNB

Stainless
Joined
Aug 18, 2002
Location
France
Strange that there were not any Deckel machines that looked like they were being used to repair the Deckel machines? :) I am sure there was one still working there someplace.

You are right. There was that FP3LV :





But generally speaking, a shop that works on machines is not a machining shop.
I'd say the machines you are the most likely to see in such a shop are a big planner or a surface grinder.
 
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Milacron

Super Moderator
Joined
Dec 15, 2000
Location
SC, USA
T, you might want to start new threads for the remaining photos as the more photos you have on one thread the longer it takes to download and display the whole deal. In other words, those of us just "checking in" for the latest photos have to wait a long time for the one's we've already seen to download first, thus would be better to spread them out over multiple threads...such as Iron Tour part 1, Iron Tour part 2, etc.
 

AlfaGTA

Diamond
Joined
Dec 13, 2002
Location
Benicia California USA
Impressive!.. Thanks "T" fro posting this.

Not sure how i feel about stacking large lathes like cord wood!
I get that the tail stock end has blocking directly over the base..but on the headstock end, unless the machine was
leveled, with the full length of the head stock bearing the load on the floor evenly..think it would make things go out of straight....

Of course i can't say for sure because i have zero experience with "lathe stacking" and its long term effects.
Here in California....Stacking large heavy objects that aren't bolted down is a real bad idea....

Cheers Ross
 

TNB

Stainless
Joined
Aug 18, 2002
Location
France
T, you might want to start new threads for the remaining photos as the more photos you have on one thread the longer it takes to download and display the whole deal. In other words, those of us just "checking in" for the latest photos have to wait a long time for the one's we've already seen to download first, thus would be better to spread them out over multiple threads...such as Iron Tour part 1, Iron Tour part 2, etc.

Yeah I noticed that...
What about encouraging a few posts untill we get to "page 2" ?
The result would be the same without having to split the thread !
Come on ! I'm ready ;)
 








 
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