Woo Hoo. New tools for the shop!

[Any Cal.]

Went and looked at a shaper that came up on Craigslist today. It turned out that it was an acquaintance selling it, and we got to visit a bit. I offered him quite a bit less because it has an issue with the front foot, and he told me I could have it for that if I took the power hacksaw too...

Here is my first try on some A36, will be learning to sharpen bits better later tonight. Will be using this to build a base for a steady rest for my lathe, and probably for a keyway cutter later. Hope to learn how to cut dovetails with it since I don't have a mill yet.


123997

123999

[paul h]

Congrats! Wonderful tools that do some specialized tasks quite easily, and it's especially nice to have a tool that uses easily sharpened relatively inexpensive HSS sq tools vs. expensive difficult to sharpen and mills.

[bangerjim]

Great find! Those old horizontal "push cut" shapers are nice to have for surfacing and other such tasks. Always wanted one for the machine shop, but do not have any room! I do all my surfacing with 3" multi cutter indexable carbide face milling cutters on the vertical mills.

Enjoy your new tool!!!!!!

banger

[smokeywolf]

Used to fire up the 20" G & E shaper in the MGM Studio Machine Shop every 2 or 3 months. They can remove material very efficiently and are very good at blanking out or squaring up pieces that are destined for the mill. Their usefulness is to a great degree, limited by your imagination.

smokeywolf

[seagiant]

Hi,
Even though I have a BP Mill I would love to have a nice shaper! Congrats!

[Any Cal.]

This one is a SB7. I paid $200 for it, a power hacksaw that needs the lift mechanism repaired, and he gave me a milling attachment for my lathe and a steady rest to modify for my lathe. Still have to give him something for the milling attachment, as they are worth too much to just take as a gift. Really nice gesture on his part.

I figured the shaper was less than any of the tools needed for a mill or otherwise to accomplish similar tasks. It is also far more rigid than my tiny little lathe.

Probably still end up with a mill, but thinking this may do some off the heavy lifting, and let me get away with a smaller mill???

[country gent]

Several pplusses to the shapers credit are almost all the heat goes into the chip, not the cutter or part. And an even bigger advantage is it puts less stress into the part than a mill does. Grind your HSS bit similar to a lathe tool and stone it sharp with a nice radious over the point. Keep the trailing edge close to flat 1*-2* raised is plenty just enough so it dosnt drag but close enough to smooth the ridges from feeding out. Always enjoyed running the shaper at work was a great machine with experience its a very accurate machine. One trick is to keep vise jaws parallel to travel of ram so if something goes bad part pushes out of vise, instead of weak link breaking. Make sure clapper box is free moving also.

[Bent Ramrod]

Even with "issues," $200 for a home shop size shaper is a virtuous bargain!

Somebody (best I can recall is Old Time Publications) has taken over Lindsay Publications' business in reprints of old machining textbooks. You should be able to get a copy of How To Run A Shaper from them, as well as other instruction books for shaper operations from them, if you need them.

[theperfessor]

I have a 7" South Bend shaper. A mill removes material far more efficiently in most cases, but there are some things you can do with a shaper that just can't be done with a mill. $200 is a real good price, I gave $1000 for mine and thought I got a pretty good deal.

[Any Cal.]

Downloaded SBs manual last night, got a couple old books at the library today.

I have a few plans to put it to work, it is ok to be slow if I can be doing something else. Need to build some fixturing to see if it will work out.

[leeggen]

Nice tools for the shop is as bad as moulds for casting boolits. It is an addiction, but you have to love it. Good find on the shaper. Now a nice surface grinder and oh yall to vetical mill and , and ect.
CD

[dragonrider]

I have been looking for a shaper for years, around here people that have them don't want to part with them.
You got a real bargain, enjoy it.

[texassako]

I have been looking for a shaper for years, around here people that have them don't want to part with them.
You got a real bargain, enjoy it.

Same here. Not many old iron home workshop tools in these parts. A few old lathes(usually overpriced) and the really big stuff at the equipment auctions.

[Any Cal.]

Sharpened up a bit closer to what the book shows, mucho better. Doesn't look ground, but beginning to look amazing for A36. Feels nice and smooth in all directions.


124052

[DCM]

Sweet

[Any Cal.]

Well, things just got better... I got the hacksaw today. It is a Robertson #5, not sure of the exact year- 1912 at the earliest, 1945 at the latest. The hydraulic lift was non-functional, all the parts related to it were in a can, and a random motor was provided for it. Everything's in really good shape, though I may have to update the blade lift and or the blade oiling pump if they don't work well, probably just groove the pistons for o-rings. Have to build an oil reservoir for the hydraulic blade lift to function. Hopefully it will be up and running in the next week or so.

124137

Here is the milling attachment on my lathe. Seems a lot more versatile than using my qctp to grab stuff less than 1/2" tall...:-)

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[skeettx]

ALSO if you will use the draw bar for the milling tool holder for your milling attachement
and use the RCBS bullet pulling collets, you will have a neat collet set for your lathe

http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/390983045838?item=390983045838&lgeo=1&vectorid=229466

Mike

[KCSO]

Just a little hint for cutting keyways. Turn the tool upside down and cut on the back stroke and they cut cleaner. These are a grand old tool and it's a shame the mill has about replaced them.

[fast ronnie]

As someone else said, the vertical cnc mill has just about written off the shaper and that is not a good thing. I have made a few parts with a shaper, and in certain cases, nothing comes close. Most machine shops no longer use them, but they are a real workhorse. Make a chip box for the front, as those chips come off really hot. They can curl around and clamp on to you when taking heavy cuts. They also make a big mess on the floor, though a fly cutter in a mill is probably worse.

[Dutchman]

You stole it for $200. I'd part with this one for $750. They are terribly fun to play with [smilie=s:


http://youtu.be/K8fRmlr8Opg?list=UUDAG6cayN5T7HEvGodOxoDQ

[country gent]

Our shaper was big enough a drum and piece of card board for a shield caught the chips. Those chips are sharp hot and annoying. The other issue is they ruin the soles on shoes pretty quick. If you dont dig them out of the soles then they tear up carpet and floors

[Any Cal.]

Dutchman, mine is just like that one. The reason it was cheap was because the front of the casting had been broken off and brazed or welded back on poorly. The long ground area for the little foot under the table is not square to the table, so you can't put the little foot down when feeding across the ram. I expect it to be a non-issue most of the time, but it ruins it for any resale down the road.

I have gotten the power hacksaw almost complete, but had to order a new motor for it. So far I have built an oil reservoir for the hydraulic blade lift, a connecting rod for the blade lift piston, bought a belt, motor, 2 blades, a cord, and oil for it, and still have to fab up another part or two... Looking forward to seeing it run. I have some good sized pieces of steel slated to become smaller pieces once it is going.