Atlas shaper cabinet stand?

[Aaron_W]

I just picked up an Atlas 7B, but it is just the shaper, no stand. My plan is to fabricate something similar to the Atlas cabinet, but with more functional storage.

Am I safe in assuming the tooling storage needs for a small shaper like this are fairly minimal? I'm thinking tool bits, maybe a couple of holders, and beyond that just some wrenches, crank handle, maybe a screw driver and an oil can?

 

[C-Bag]

Congrats on the new shaper, welcome to the club.

My solution was a three drawer file cabinet with two "letter drawers" with the bottom file drawer. Heavy duty and as time goes on can hold the various things for the shaper and I know it will be full soon. One of the first things I did was take off the rotating base for the vise and put it in a drawer. I've made different back stop/jigs for holding different projects. I also have a deep pan under mine because if it's not dripping oil it isn't lubed properly and I don't want that on the floor. The longer I have mine the more stuff I make for it like I want to make a two piece vise and a jig for cutting gears like JB from Oz made. My shaper came with a modified teletype stand so I've not gotten around to building a new stand that incorporates the 3drawer cab yet, too many other projects and like right now I'm using the shaper to make a base plate for a ball turner for my lathe. I find my 7b indispensable.

 

[frugalguido]

I used some legs from an old rivet press, made a frame that mounts the shaper and the legs. Also made a stainless steel tray for under the shaper with a hole in it so that the oil can drain to a cookie sheet underneath. I really should post the complete build of the 7B with lots of mods. I am currently working on a chip tray/shield that mounts on the front of the table.

 

[cjtoombs]

A 3/8" hold down kit, rotary table and indexing centers are other items you may acquire with time to think about storage for. My shop is very crowded, so I put as much storage as I can wherever I can even if it's not directly for the machine sitting on top of it. Enjoy.

 

[Aaron_W]

Glad to hear you find it so useful, shapers are dismissed by many as obsolete, and little shapers in particular get tagged as cute but pointless. I have no experience with them, but they are neat little machines and the price was right. I really don't know what I'll do with mine, but they seem to have a few niches to fill. I like machinery, and learning how to use it. Finding the jobs that they can do, even if another machine can do it, or potentially even do it better. I have a small horizontal mill as well which can do many but not all the jobs of a shaper. Where a real machinist often looks at efficiency for me it is mostly about the process of making something. A slower way that uses more of the toys is a plus for me, because I'm not trying to feed myself with my shop, just feeding my brain by trying different things.

Unfortunately mine didn't come with the correct vise, it came with a 3" screwless vise which seems like it will work for now, and should also be a useful addition to use with my mills. My horizontal mill came with a 4" low profile Palmgren vise which looks very similar to the Atlas shaper vise, so it may get shared. It is also missing all the loose bits, no tool holders, wrenches, crank handle etc. My guess is this came out of an estate and as so often happens these were probably in a box that went somewhere else.


It needs some cleaning up, and a few small repairs but it runs with no scary noises. I could probably turn out some parts as it is. Serial number is in the mid 13,000 range so I'm guessing it was near the end of production, late 50s / early 60s as I've not seen any listed with a serial of 14,000 or higher and from what I've read Atlas ended shaper production in 1961.

I didn't even think about jigs and such for work holding but that certainly makes sense. There is a post here on the site with plans for a shaper vise, so another project.
I know I could easily find an existing commercial stand that works, but I've got a welder and currently have access to sheet metal tools, so I thought something styled after the Atlas stand would look good, but having a small shop I need to be efficient with space and the factory cabinet did not seem to give much thought to storage.

The drain line from the drip pan makes sense. My horizontal mill has one, although that is for coolant used rather than the machine dripping with oil.

I have small horizontal and vertical mills so I do have a lot of tooling that cross pollinates, like rotary tables, a dividing head etc but they already have homes so I don't need to find a spot on the stand for them.

 

[C-Bag]

I LOVE the fact once I get the run set up and there's not going to be any surprises I can just let it go and and do something else and just check on it every once in a while. I don't have another aching like that as I have no CNC. I don't have any big machines as I've got a 9x20 lathe and RF30 mill/drill so the 7b is right in those two machines envelope and does what neither does as well. Mainly turning rusty stuff to nice flat surfaces that are close to a ground finishes for very cheap as far as tooling. If you get a chance watch the Rudy Kouhoupt shaper video. He has a shaper that was restored by him and made all the tooling for. One being a two piece vise. One of the main restrictions with the 7b travel in z axis. So the flatter vise the more accurate and more z headroom you have. I had a 1/4" thick plate that was rusty on one side that I wanted to turn into a sled for my vert bandsaw. So I made two stops and used a toe clamp and was able to surface the whole plate. I've made a bunch of other things for the shaper as the project comes up.

 

[Aaron_W]

I've seen the Rudy Kouhoupt videos available, but they run $40-50. He has a shaper video and a horizontal mill video that look interesting, but I wasn't sure if they were worth the money. I did find a combined reprint of the Southbend how to run a shaper and how to run a drill press book on Ebay for $6.95.


Size of the machines I'm sure plays a big part in perception, for somebody running a 14x40"lathe and a Bridgeport (or bigger), a 7" shaper is kind of puny. My "big" machines are a 10x24 lathe, 6x24 vertical mill, and a 5x20 horizontal mill so like you the 7B is in the same general work envelope as my other machines.

 

[C-Bag]

Rudy's vid used to be on YouTube in its entirety but was partly taken down I know he's been gone for a while and the vids were made quite a while ago. Most of the other vids I've seen on YouTube are nowhere as good. It's not one of those things I'd get out now but it was really great when I first got my shaper to give the idea of all the adjustments. I was really lucky to find my 7b locally in an estate sale. It was complete with vise, tool holder, universal wrench and only missing the motor belt guard. Which is crucial if you want the clutch to work properly with the motor running as it gives the motor belt drag when the clutch is engaged. I was able to find an old cast iron version in perfect shape on eBay for $125 after months of watching.

 

[Aaron_W]

I thought about making some guards, but your comment about them being required to make the clutch work has me wondering. As I understand it the guards were optional so that is odd that the clutch won't work without them.

When I first turn it on the ram doesn't move if the clutch isn't engaged, but once running, disengaging the clutch does not stop the ram. I just thought it was a matter of adjusting the belts.

Yeah, I've found intros to the videos on youtube, but that is it, more a 5 minute ad. Too bad they aren't on Amazon Prime or similar where there was a cheaper pay per view / rental option, just not sure they are worth the $45.

I've got a couple of books that cover shaper operation, and know a couple of people who have shapers so I've got a place to start. I learned a lot about what a the horizontal mill can do watching Keith Rucker's Vintage Machinery videos, but it looks like the only shaper videos he has are on restoring a vintage planer using other machines not operating it.

 

[C-Bag]

I personally get kinda creeped out around unguarded belts that are in my face. I wasn't worried about the motor belt because it's on the other side during operation. I thought about making a partial guard that would cause the same drag but I'm glad I found the proper guard. I'm pretty sure Atlas didn't care if you bought the shaper with the guard and of course you would never know it was key to the clutch working properly.

It is way too bad you can't do a pay per view for the Rudy K. vid. There were couple of guys here who had DL'd it but I've not seen them around. Since you have some friends with shapers you are good to go. I wasn't but was lucky to be able to see the first half of the vid a couple of times. It's a good basic primer on the Atlas which while the concepts are similar every shaper adjusts different and the Atlas manual was not helpful to me.

BTW I thought of one more things that would be useful to keep with the shaper like a tube of "Tacky Red" grease for the bull gear and to charge to grease cups with.