Aciera F5 Mill Tour

[@loen.design]

I received a long, and very useful comment about the F5 mill, but KZbin seems to have difficulty approving it. So, I'm copying it here! Lutz Geiger: I have restorated an Aciera F5, too. I know every screws first-name now :) I disassembled the whole machine, changed nearly every bearing (prophylactic, because i already ripped everything apart), cleaned every furthermost corners in there, repainted it and rescraped the axes. Some dumbass used the grease-pump instead of the oil-pump for a short period of time until a gear failed. Lucky machine, because it protected the other parts and axes from getting damaged. Over €1000 just for the Aciera-replacement-parts, no bearing or seal included. If you still haven't found a manual: Ask Mr Rösli in switzerland: www.roesli-maschinen.ch/ He sells not only manuals and parts-lists, but a lot of parts for Acieras, too. Have you noticed the surfaces at the measures, where also the limit-stops are? You can lay gauge-blocks there, mill "against" them and thereby cut extremely precise lengths with automatic feed-stop. Just stitch your blocks to the right measurement together and lay it on there. The power-feed of the table isn't hydraulic, only gears and shafts. But lots of them... Every power-feed is driven by that one and only motor in the feed-box at the bottom of the machine, the distribution, activation, rapids and auto-off is all mechanical stuff. You can slide the whole feed-box out to the front after some minor handling, there are kind of runners down there, very very cool construction. In that box you find the 2-stage-AND-variable-feed-gear and that rapid-feed-wet-clutch (very evenly controllable with that big handle or pedal). And you said "some interlocks"... The whole machine is one single interlock :D Additional to the ones you mentioned there are also mechanical interlocks between axis clamping-levers and feed-levers. and reversly. You can't clamp the slides with the feed engaged and vice versa. btw the moving of the table on it's axis left-right is accurate to within 1/100mm, so you don't have to zero Y or Z again. And it gives additional 400mm capacity to the 500mm of the main-guideway. The flat-belt can be changed without cutting and rejoining it, described in the manual. Oh, and don't swivel the fine-feed-thing on the cutting-head in that far, you have to adjust it to the right point to eliminate play and maintain easy turning. If you swivel it in too far, it's hard to turn and wears the gears. If made correctly the wheel can be turned with one single fingertip. Most important: The machine has a very (!) complex lubrication system, you can do very bad things to the machine when not lubricating it correctly (price for the extremely tight tolerances of every moving thing in there). I really recommend you to get a manual (english in there, too) and parts catalogue! Very interesting and detailed, btw. There are many oil-bath-gears, different oils to take care of, shot-blast-wheels, pipes and pumps for the oil to get from the main-frame to the inside of the Y-axis, the table has to be in the middle of the axis for filling the lubrication-reservoir with its roller-drum-applicator, the machine has to stand exactly horizontal for the oil-paths on (yes, ON) the feed-box to work as they are designed to and so on... But if you follow it's lubrication needs, as you said, very robust AND precise machine. No aftercut when moving the cutter out of the material, no bending axis or geometries, very very good machine. If you are an engineer and having fun on precision-things, this is the machine for you to disassemble and restorate. You will cry tears of joy every single day when you discover the next mechanical wonder of it... They even use bronce-wipers in the slots of the switching-shafts for the feeds to prevent chips from getting inside the machine! Every single part is designed the perfect way. No saving-measures from the purchase- or controlling-department, every single part is made as perfect as it can be. Also lots and lots of leverage, excenters, handles and stuff, always made as good as possible, every clamp has very short and precise activation, all over the machine only very extensive construction. An absolute dream of a machine. Metric wheels are with 0,02mm-division, and not that 0,5mm-from-line-to-line-division, but really widely spread and practically useable. I measured mine with some really expensive equipment, and i would not believe it, if i hadn't done it myself. Not without reason the guys from Aciera talk in µm in the machines protocol... ;) Maybe this is the reason such machines are sold (in perfectly restored condition) for way over €30k. One i know was sold for €56k without much accessory.

[@trevoradams8675]

This is awesome. I just got a very clean Aciera F5 for a good price. I'm excited to get into it.

[@c2meechai]

Very good machine in a good hand,jealous looking ,from a retired mechanic,Thailand .

[@AtelierDBurgoyne]

Hi Rich, Thank you for taking the time to share your experience. Wonderful video. So much info packed in this and and not even talking about the great ending when I was laughing so hard! You will have helped a lot of new Aciera owners. The larger models F4 and F5 have unique controls and locking features. If th is came from the NRC, surely the original in English should have been provided with the machine? If it wasn't, it must still be somewhere on a shelf in the machine shop there! Would love to come and visit your shop :) Best wishes for the holidays and happy new year! Daniel

[@loen.design]

We’d love to have you visit, of course!! Just need to get past this whole pandemic thingy. Thanks for your kind words!

[@ROBRENZ]

Nice mill and the ending was hilarious! ATB, Robin

[@JayQuerido]

Cool stuff! I'm honestly finding these videos therapeutic -- especially during this pandemic! Keep 'em coming. (and thanks for noticing -- I left it a little longer on top this time 🤣... lookin dapper yourself!)

[@loen.design]

OMG Jay! You watched to the end!!! And thanks dude.

[@jorgemercatali9319]

Beautifull machine and very good video

[@gordon6029]

I would love one of those!!

[@kevinrblodgett]

Fantastic ending Loving this content and editing/production, keep up the good work, guys

[@lauriemackieloen208]

Very cool Rich. Thanks!

Ah Rich... Thanks for the dose of Rich'ness. It's been a while and it feels good!

[@loen.design]

Merci mon Chou! I hope you’re doing ok!

[@shs1415]

Draw bar. The term you kept looking for is draw bar. And rapid feed. And…oh fuck it. Never mind.

[@megangrossman4566]

Great story telling, and thanks for the Dad joke! Keep up the great work!

[@tkeay37]

Absolutely love the zoo joke. I am going to use it! Great vid.

[@pauldevey8628]

That is a great mill. Love these features! Did it come with collets? Very stout looking.

[@loen.design]

It is! A lot of power. Very stable. It came with some tooling. CAT40 tooling isn’t that expensive, and collet sets are pretty easy to get as well.

[@rklopp1]

I have this machine's cousin, and F5 of seemingly identical vintage. I like it, but it is noisy due to worn spur gears. By the way, there are no hydraulics. What you are calling hydraulics is the power feed gearbox, which is powered by a motor separate from the spindle motor. I also have an F4, which shares a lot of features with the F5, but the Y travel is shorter and unpowered. My F4 is a quieter and has less wear than the F5.

[@loen.design]

Thanks! We are certainly figuring out more about it every day. We are really liking the F5 and find it very solid and a joy to use. Thanks for your info - we did know it’s a second motor - just haven’t traced where it goes. Your comment is helpful.

[@rklopp1]

@@loen.design You can find out more about these machines on PracticalMachinist.com and there is a Groups.io forum about Old Swiss Machines for Metalworking.

[@TheMuzShop]

Awesome Machine Thanks for sharing. How did you know I got a haircut?😂

[@loen.design]

Thanks Mike! Of course you got your holiday haircut! Happy Festivus!

[@TheMuzShop]

@@loen.design Enjoy the Holidays too my friend....

[@timetodopatriotstuff2315]

I like your hair cut to it's about like mine lol nice little machine I've never heard of them before but ten times better than the same size machine coming out of "CHINA" now days take good care of her Sr.😊

[@weichen7739]

I have a little one ACIERA F4

[@loen.design]

That's a great machine!

[@lion-e-nl]

Beautiful machine, a bit more common where I live (The Netherlands) I am looking for the F4 model. To bad its imperial, makes it kind of useless ;-)

[@pauldevey8628]

Apparently I embarrassed my son by out-staring and talking back to a strange youtube man.

[@loen.design]

I like what you've done with your hair, Paul!

[@pjofurey6239]

Bridgeports are steam engines compared to the acieras.

[@davidc538]

great video but your wrap up is awful lol