8" Pratt&Whitney metal shaper,

[C-Bag]

Makes sense they would make one, but I've never seen or heard of one:

8" Stroke Pratt & Whitney Metal Shaper | eBay

8" Stroke Pratt & Whitney Metal Shaper . Condition is Used. Very nice condition. Has a vise and toolholder. 110 volt. We can palletize and crate this machine for shipment. We also have a forklift to load. Buyer must pay shipping cost.

www.ebay.com

 

[Dabbler]

it looks like a good deal fro someone in driving distance! (wish I were closer)

 

[C-Bag]

Interesting machine and it being P&W I'm sure it's awesome. But this is a auction, and got several days. Who knows what it will go for. A bid this early often means it could get stupid.

 

[Toolmaker51]

Interesting machine and it being P&W I'm sure it's awesome. But this is a auction, and got several days. Who knows what it will go for. A bid this early often means it could get stupid.

I don't get the concept thumb-printing online auction days before closing. Just telegraphs someone else is after it too. Pushes cost up on every person.
Bid to win, bid last.

 

[C-Bag]

I don't get the concept thumb-printing online auction days before closing. Just telegraphs someone else is after it too. Pushes cost up on every person.
Bid to win, bid last.

Yup, it's why I usually turn off the auction and only look at buy it now. The only reason I saw this was it came up in one of those side ads and I saw the name. Ever seen a Pratt&Whitney shaper before?

 

[f350ca]

Interesting unit, but the drive has 2 jack shafts, 3 belts, and 6 fixed pulleys, no speed adjustment I can see.

Greg

 

[francist]

Found this in the Pratt & Whitney 1893 catalogue at vintagemachinery.org

-frank

 

[cjtoombs]

Based on it's construction, I knew it would be old. 1893 sounds about right. Neat machine that looks like it has been well cared for by it's current owner. I was following it before this was posted, mainly because I want to see what it goes for. I think it was at 330 this morning, but there will be a lot of bidding in the last 10 seconds of the auction, as all the autobids from outside services kick in. From a usefulness perspective, there are better shapers out there that could likely be had for a lower price. I prefer dovetail ways on the ram, the old square way shapers usually have plenty of wear in the vertical direction that is difficult to correct. From a collectibility perspective, this is certainly a nice machine, I expect the collectors to drive the price up on this one.

 

[C-Bag]

Thanks for posting that Frank. It explains the lack of different speeds and the cobbled together look of the motor drive. It was originally a line shaft drive. It is interesting that it's a square way as the only other I've seen is the Atlas.

 

[cjtoombs]

Thanks for posting that Frank. It explains the lack of different speeds and the cobbled together look of the motor drive. It was originally a line shaft drive. It is interesting that it's a square way as the only other I've seen is the Atlas.

Quite a lot of the older shapers, up to about 1910 had square ways on the ram. I owned a pre 1905 Steptoe and a ~1900 Whipp and both of them had square ram ways. They fell out of favor after that period, the only one that I know of after that was the Atlas (I think it debuted in about 1935). The Atlas isn't surprising, they had a penchant for square ways as can be seen from the lathes and mill. Conversion of the old lineshaft machines to motor drives is a bit of a pain, and they come in many flavors, from very poorly done to quite well done. There were transmissions made for the conversions but car transmissions were pressed into use as well. The Whipp I had had a 73 Plymouth 3 speed transmission on it.