Deckel Cutter Grinders

1. Overview

There were/are two independent but somehow related Deckel firms. I do not fully understand the history of the two or any relationships in their origins.

For information on the older of these companies, Friedrich Deckel, of Munich, see the Deckel notebook in the CircuitousRoot Pantographs Notebooks (because my primary interest in Friedrich Deckel machines is in their pantographs). This firm no longer exists as an independent company, and while it seems to have manufactured Deckel brand cutter grinders originally, their manufacture passed at a relatively early point to the other firm.

The other firm, which does still exist, is Feinmechanik Michael Deckel GmbH & Co. KG, Weilheim, Germany. Their website is: http://www.michael-deckel.de/ They still manufactures the Deckel S0, S0E, and S11speed tool and cutter grinders (as well as an array of very modern CNC cutter grinding machines). I remain confused about the origins and early manufacture of the Deckel cutter grinders, because literature for them published under the name of Friedrich Deckel exists which seems to postdate the 1950 founding of Michael Deckel (one example dates from 1969). See the notes for the S0/S0E, below, for references to some very useful published remarks by Arno Martens concerning the early history of these machines.

2. Deckel GS

The "Deckel NC Milling Machine Site" (a hobby site devoted primarily to restoring NC-vintage (post-manual, pre-CNC) Deckel machines) has, in its "Older Deckel History" page at http://www.dialog5.com/olderdeckelhistory.htm, a photograph of a Deckel GS cutter grinder. It indicates that this machine was the predecessor of the S0, and indeed it looks similar.

3. Deckel S0 and S0E

(The '0' in "S0" / "S0E" is a zero. The 'S' stands for "Schleif," indicating that the machine is for grinding. See the the "Terminology" section of the Deckel Pantograph Notebook for an explanation, kindly supplied by Arno Martens, of Deckel machine terminology.) )

The Deckel S0 and S0E cutter grinders kinematically resemble the Gorton 265, Alexander 2CG, or New Hermes CG-4. I believe that the Gorton 265 was the earliest of these machines, dating form the 1930s. Deckel describes them today as "single-lip cutter grinders," and that perhaps is their most common use. Like the Gorton 265 and other related machines, they would also be well adapted for cutting the pyramidal tools typical of typographical matrix engraving (my own particular interest).

The Feinmechanik Michael Deckel website dates the introduction of the S0 Single-Lip Cutter Grinding Machine to 1956 and the S0E Single-Lip Cutter Grinding Machine to 1964. Their website has no mention of the Friedrich Deckel firm.

In a posting to the PracticalMachinist forum on 2004-09-08 , Arno Martens (who was a distributor for these machines) notes that: "The S0 used to be built at Deckel in Munich." He goes on to say that for tax reasons their production was moved to a subsidiary in Liechtenstein (label: "Ets. (Friedrich)Deckel, Vaduz"). Then (he notes) they were subcontracted to the firm of Eckert & Co. in Weilheim. Arno concludes with the observation that "Eventually, Michael Deckel (3rd generation) left the Munich company bought the Weilheim plant." My thanks to Arno for publishing this interesting (and very difficult to find) information.

4. Deckel S1, S11, & S11speed

The Deckel S1 and its successors the S11 and S11speed are unrelated to the S0. They are altogether extraordinary machines, and probably the most complex and sophisticated manual tool grinding machines ever. Especially as developed into the S11, it would be difficult to imagine anything they couldn't do. (In a posting to the PracticalMachinist forum on 2004-09-08 , Arno Martens (who was a distributor for these machines) notes that "the reason why they called it S-11 and not S-2 is because it has 11 axes of movement."

5. Deckel S12M

I know almost nothing about this machine. It would appear to be a NC (not CNC) tool grinding machine in the style of the original Norton grinders of the 1890s (more familiar, perhaps, to American machinists in the Cincinnati No. 2 tool and cutter grinders of the mid-20th century). It is unrelated kinematically to either the S0/S0E or the S1/S11/S11speed.

A photograph of this machine is online on the "Deckel NC Milling Machine Site" in the "Official Factory Machine Photos" section: http://www.dialog5.com/officialmachinephotos.htm

6. Deckel CNC Cutter Grinders

Feinmechanick Michael Deckel makes a range of CNC cutter and insert ginding machines. My own interest is in manual machines, so I won't cover any of them here. For information on them, see their website: http://www.michael-deckel.de/