Assuming the ways and lead-screws are not too badly worn, that milling-machine looks as if it could be a very good and useful, but power-hungry, machine. It seems to have been cared for.

In some respects the motor's condition is less important because that can be replaced relatively easily (though not cheaply) with a modern 3-ph motor and VFD.

The extension of the "top part" beyond the table is to allow it to support the horizontal-milling arbor without encroaching on the table area. There should be with this machine, that arbor and its supporting drop-bracket, which would to have dovetails to fit those on the underside of the ram.

What I have just noticed further, is that the head is in two parts: the ram is carried on a lower part that itself can be moved back and forth. I am guessing this is allied to using the machine with….

…. that separate table. As I believe it is, to fit on the knee so its working surface is vertical, rather like a super-sized angle-plate. Looking at the other photos, it does seem the table on there at present is carried on a separate slide so can be swapped.

Looking back again, there seems no in-out travel for the table itself. Instead the head is moved. I am not sure how that affects milling round an outline like a rectangle, but I've a suspicion the machine's primary use is as a horizontal mill, where all the cutting is longitudinal.

I mentioned "the" motor. It might have more than one – the spindles, obviously, but others for power feed and table rise-&-fall.

.

You'd need an overhead hoist or other handling equipment, perhaps a dedicated trolley, to swap the tables safely.

I looked carefully but could not see a maker's name on it, but I think Deckel and Aciera are two makes with this interchangeable table system.. Try to identify it then see what Tony Griffith's lathes.co site has to say about it.

You know it's a Deckel right? Highly prized machine if it can be restored.

Not a Deckel but a Theil 158 **LINK**

same layout as the Deckel just a tad bigger, Stefan gotteswinter on YouTube has a Deckel and demonstrates it’s versatility, in my opinion I would prefer that over a new mill any day of the week.
Although I would be taking a keen interest in the accessories and most importantly spindle tooling that’s included. If I remember correctly the Theil has a proprietary design so finding tooling that fits off the shelf is a pain.

I hope that helps

William

For hobby use these old style mills lack spindle speed for small cutters.

I've owned a Thiel 158, it was an excellent machine for the use I needed it for, to cut fairly chunky gears on, and indeed was an really well built and versatile machine. I bought it very cheaply as it had been standing for years, inside but not in ideal conditions, and although in good order there were a few problems to be overcome. The machine was bought for the specific purpose of doing some heavy milling and gear cutting for a traction engine project, which it did very well. It was then sold on to a friend who still uses it for traction engine building.

I'm not trying to discourage, but these and the clones ( which I think this is) which follow the basic design quite closely, are a fairly complex machine, I had to replace all the oil seals in the feed and main gearboxes, which entailed a lot of dismantling and was very time consuming. The original main motor contains an automatic cone brake as used in small cranes, and will not run on a standard phase converter without a pilot motor. If you are looking for a fairly long term project then after some hard work you would have a superb heavy duty milling machine, power feed in all directions. I'm used to working on machine tools and found it a surprisingly long job and I was not fully resoring it just making it leak free ( every seal on the machine had turned rock hard with age) and suitable for the work in hand.

Not as I say trying to discourage, just pointing out that this is quite a major undertaking to do properly, it's a heavy thing, do you want a mill or a major project?. As someone stated above the condition is a bit of a gamble so I would not pay too much for it if you decide to go for it. Mine was a few hundred quid so not a major risk financially, but there was a fair amount of time had to be invested in it. There was a chap making replacement spindles for the vertical heads to convert to 40 int from the I think 5mt original ( might be 4 mt, can't remember!) mine had already been done. If you do buy it you can always PM me as there are some traps for the unwary that I can vaguely still remember!

Dave

Been racking my brain to remember the make of the motor with inbuilt brake, it's a Demag and has a cone clutch on the end of the motor. The motor shaft is given some end float and is sprung loaded and when the motor is energised the rotor moves in towards the motor and away from the brake housing. the reverse happens when the power is switched off stopping the spindle very rapidly. Great feature that caused some consternation at first thinking the motor was siezed!

Dave

Sonic, there looks to be several very expensive accessories with the machine, so maybe worth a gamble if the price is right. If the motor is in the base it may be relatively easy to change it for an up to date motor and then fit a VFD.

Chris Gunn

Thanks for posting the link, very interesting finding out how things stand in other countries, seems that type of mill is more common there than in the UK. Very versatile style of machine, I hope you get on well with it, the accessories would as Chris says be very expensive and desirable for a Thiel here. If you rebuild it some posts on here would be of great interest. The motor , in a Thiel anyway, is in the base, belt driven to the main gearbox and is flange mounted, so would be easy to change for a modern one with inverter if you wanted to go down that route. The Thiel motor is 2.2HP 1500 RPM, I did at one time think of changing it for an inverter driven one, but with a pilot motor on a static converter the machine ran fine. The pilot motor was fitted at the recommendation of transwave the makers of my static converter, evidently the starting load to detach the brake cone was too much without the pilot. The instant braking was a great feature. I have got some rather scrappy information on the Thiel including a wiring diagram if it's any help I can scan it to you, just send your email address. The price seems a bit of a bargain with the accessories so don't blame you for buying it.

Dave