FEHLMANN DRILLING AND MILLING MACHINE
Fehlmann AG is a family-owned Swiss company founded in 1929 in Söngen by Willi Fehlmann, whose early work as a self-employed engineer, like many of his colleagues, involved providing repair services and spare parts to local metalworking shops. By 1936, his company's first machines—a metal saw, a vise, and two sizes of column-type boring machines—were in production. But it wasn't until 1954 (and the completion of Fehlmann's son, Willi Jr., as a professional engineer) that work began on the design of what would make the company so famous—a high-precision benchtop combination milling and boring machine. By 1958, the "milling and boring machine" was ready for market and, designated the TB13C, was an immediate success with an added bonus:
By 1968, the company developed the P18, a slightly heavier and more versatile version of the original, with a quill stroke of 110 mm and a drilling capacity of 18 mm in steel. A two-speed motor was installed, driving a variable-speed mechanical drive (V-pulleys opened and closed synchronously), providing a speed range from 132 to 45,000 rpm at a power frequency of 50 Hz. A choice of three beautifully designed coordinate tables was available: 280 x 210 mm, 350 x 260 mm, and 450 x 260 mm, along with a range of accessories, including a fine-feed quill with a micrometer stop, indexing heads, and a sine and rotary table. Eventually, the range of tables available for purchase separately for use on other machines included some nine different sizes, ranging from 140 x 330 mm, used on the smallest Fehlmann boring machine ever built, the P10, to the substantial KSV420, which, as its name suggests, measured 420 x 910 mm. By 1970, the P18 was further enhanced with the company's SF32 tool change system, which allowed milling cutters to be changed with astonishing speed—a claimed figure of less than three seconds. Two years later, the company's growth was such that it relocated to its current location in Seen, in the canton of Aargau, where a new factory was built and around 35 employees were hired.