Wohlhaupter head

[mgbrv8]

A friend of mine has a Wohlhaupter boring head he wants to sell me. I was wondering if anyone here has one and can tell me there experience with them. I want it for vertical grooving. It dose not have a manual. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Dave

 

[gbritnell]

Dave,
We had a beautiful one complete with all the bars etc. in our shop. I'm sure they're all built the same. Around the perimeter on the head there is a row of buttons. I think the one we had each button was a .003 increment of advancement. You would push in the required buttons, set up you boring bar or tooling, insert the bar that keep it from turning and start the mill spindle up. For each revolution the tool would advance by the amount of buttons selected. When it got to the stop it would kick out the feed.
In the day they were quite the tool. With CNC they are becoming like the dinosaurs.
gbritnell

 

[doc1955]

I have used several in the passed IMHO you can not find a better boring head with all the capabilities they have.
You can face with them as stated and you can also cut tapers with them they are beautiful pieces of equipment!

 

[mhh]

A few months ago I visited the Wohlhaupter factory in Frickenhausen and I was very impressed with the German handwork, Something that testifies to the quality of Wohlhaupter is that they quite often decide to repair a damaged tool rather than make a new one! On the factory I saw a boring tool that they just got in for renovation and it was from the early fifties, and still in use! The way they make their tools is with great precision and care, every boring head that leaves the factory is... what should I call it? Single fitted! More or less like you do with high quality weapons, every single part is made to fit the next on the tool. One bad thing with this is that there is no replacement part you can order for it and you either repair it for yourself or send it back to Wohlhaupter so they can repair and renovate.
Amazing craftsmanship and really good tools!

 

[mgbrv8]

Wow I bet that was a great experience. I am going to see if we can strike a deal.

dave

 

[rkepler]

The Wohlhaupter heads are very nice, a friend had a UPA1 he had been given that was giving him some chatter. I loaned him a decent Criteron 202 head and he offered to swap for it. I ended up replacing the Criteron with a decent used one from eBay for very little, so I think I got the better in the trade. The shanks on the UPS heads are integral with the head, don't count on changing it without buying a new one. On mine the shank had been turned down from an MT to straight shank.

Unfortunately I didn't get all the tooling - missing an odd length wrench and the tool for pulling out the lock pin as well as one tool shank adaptor and a holder. I can make the all of them but haven't gotten around to it (still remember passing up a complete Wohlhaupter UPA 1 box with tooling and no head. Figures that I'd end up with a head and no tooling.)

 

[pete]

I could be wrong but it's my understanding that Wohlhaupter no longer make the boring and faceing heads but they do rebuild any heads they have manufactered. I've yet to see one in person but have read that they are the best you can buy. Major $$$$ when they did build them. The non changeable shanks put me off so I ended up buying a Narex. I'd still love to have a Wohlhaupter tho. Last time I checked their web site had user manuals, Exploded views ect. They do make a boring head with a built in digital readout for the slide movement. Nope I have no idea of the price but I'm Damn sure I can't afford one.

Pete

 

[mhh]

I could be wrong but it's my understanding that Wohlhaupter no longer make the boring and faceing heads but they do rebuild any heads they have manufactered. I've yet to see one in person but have read that they are the best you can buy. Major $$$$ when they did build them. The non changeable shanks put me off so I ended up buying a Narex. I'd still love to have a Wohlhaupter tho. Last time I checked their web site had user manuals, Exploded views ect. They do make a boring head with a built in digital readout for the slide movement. Nope I have no idea of the price but I'm Damn sure I can't afford one.

Pete

They still make their boring and facing UPA heads. Not UPA1 and UPA2 but still UPA3-6 Really nice tools! ;D They actually still scrape the ways on the UPA's.
Their digibore line is amazing! I believe that the entire line is selfbalancing and you really avoid a lot of mistakes with the digital readout! ;D

 

[pete]

Mhh,
LOL, Sounds like we have the same tastes in high end tooling. Yeah that digital boring head is quite the piece of equipment.

Pete