Brought home a Boxford Mk2 yesterday!

ghostdncr

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I went on a twelve-hour road trip yesterday to pick up a Boxford Mk2 yesterday. Nothing fancy, just a standard Mk2 with the fixed table and manual downfeed, but it is equipped with a nice swivel vise setup. Drove up to just south of Akron, Ohio to a little welding shop out in the middle of nowhere with cash in hand. This one had all the hallmarks frequently heard about the Boxford's, in that it had been purchased "several years ago" at a tech school auction and the seller described it as having no visible damage or wear aside from a missing knob on one of the handles (drive release handle).

I headed out in the middle of the night and arrived at the shop around 8:30am. I struggled with road construction and delays around/through several major cities and near the end went about fifteen miles down a hilly, snaky road I would've never guessed existing in northern Ohio, followed by 3-1/2 miles on rough gravel, and culminating in .8 miles of what would be best described as a Jeep/goat path through the woods. Sure enough, there was a welding shop back there! I was a little worried about getting back out in one piece with a top heavy, 500lb. shaper riding in the bed, though.

After introductions and pleasantries, the owner immediately apologized for his error in description, correcting his "several years ago" remark to say he got to thinking about it and he had bought the machine approximately 22 years ago. Said it had sat right there in the corner ever since. I found that to be intriguing news, with the possibility of its being a low-hours machine growing in my mind. He had dribbled some oil here and there and everthing seemed to work smoothly, so money changed hands, the little shaper was loaded, and back down the goat path I went.

Arriving home many hours later, the sky was threatening rain and I needed to get the machine into my basement. It took about an hour, but I disassembled the machine and carried it down one subassembly at a time. The steel cabinet was by far the most challenging piece, but I got it all down there. Due to the rain, I neglected to take a single photo before disassembly, but I'll post some of the cleanup and reassembly in coming days. Looking over my pile of parts late last night, I can't help but guess this machine hasn't been ran 10 hours since new. There is almost zero wear on any of the mechanisms that I could detect with the naked eye and so-so lighting. Mostly accumulated filth, welding soot, light surface corrosion on exposed metal surfaces, and the like.

Here's a link with some good pics until I can get around to uploading the real deal: http://www.lathes.co.uk/boxfordshaper/
 
Interesting find. How did you hear about it? Thanks!
 
Interesting find. How did you hear about it? Thanks!

I was fairly certain the Boxford would be a good fit for me and had been looking for one for quite awhile. Found a few that were far out of driving range, a couple of junkers that were way overpriced, the usual stuff we contend with when seeking out used machinery. There's a website I use pretty regularly http://www.searchcraigslist.org/ that searches craigslist ads nationwide, and it really came through for me in this case. I called the contact number, and now there's a Mk2 partially disassembled in my basement!

The Mk2 is fitted with a Baldor Type 56 1/2hp 1725rpm 3-phase motor. A very common frame/footprint, etc. My problem is that I don't have 3-phase power and no plans to acquire it at this location. Should I temporarily convert over to a single phase motor or start exploring 3-phase converters to best get this little devil back to making chips? Of all the industrial skill sets, the electrical arts are by far my weakest. With this in mind, I'd love to hear anyone's suggestions. I read somewhere that a 3-phase motor will help produce a better finish with a shaper, but can't recall the why of that statement.
 
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I was fairly certain the Boxford would be a good fit for me and had been looking for one for quite awhile. Found a few that were far out of driving range, a couple of junkers that were way overpriced, the usual stuff we contend with when seeking out used machinery. There's a website I use pretty regularly http://www.searchcraigslist.org/ that searches craigslist ads nationwide, and it really came through for me in this case. I called the contact number, and now there's a Mk2 partially disassembled in my basement!

The Mk2 is fitted with a Baldor Type 56 1/2hp 1725rpm 3-phase motor. A very common frame/footprint, etc. My problem is that I don't have 3-phase power and no plans to acquire it at this location. Should I temporarily convert over to a single phase motor or start exploring 3-phase converters to best get this little devil back to making chips? Of all the industrial skill sets, the electrical arts are by far my weakest. With this in mind, I'd love to hear anyone's suggestions. I read somewhere that a 3-phase motor will help produce a better finish with a shaper, but can't recall the why of that statement.
I love your new Shaper it is a great find
I also just bought me a 7" Southbend shaper
I drove from Shreveport, Louisiana to New Jersey
To pick up a Clausing 8520 mill & Clausing 8540
Mill . It was 1350 miles one way .On the way up there I told my friend that went
With me . Would it be nice if he had a Shaper we could buy . Guess what he did have one and we bought it .
I will put some pictures on here if I can ever
Get my 10 year old Grandaughter to show me how .
LOL
 
I will put some pictures on here if I can ever
Get my 10 year old Grandaughter to show me how .
LOL

That's a great story! I hope your grandaughter will help out because I'd love to see the photos.

Speaking of photos, I had a little time to start actually messing with the Boxford this morning. I was mostly curious if this machine would be ready to go into service after a thorough teardown and cleaning or if it would need substantially more work. I cleaned the ram ways/gib up top and then the feed plate and pulley to generally assess both the ways and the external surfaces, of which these items should give a fair impression of similar components. While it wasn't easy work, my progress would indicate I'm going to need help with that 3-phase issue MUCH sooner than I was anticipating!

I found no wear to speak of anywhere in the ram ways. There were two small burnished spots on the gib down toward one end but aside from that and some minor corrosion spotting, the ways look great. In the pic below you can see that twenty-plus year old layer of filth I mention earlier. A dull carbide scraper blade made short work of it, though. Good thing, because neither WD40 or kerosene would touch it. Finished off with a fine stainless toothbrush and those are good to go.

30Wsoot.jpg



I would almost bet the machine was covered in heavy oil before the previous owner stored it. That combined with years of welding soot and general airborne fines so common in such an environment are what made this layer. It has a consistency not unlike dried clay, but seems to have formed a jacket that offered some protection from the elements. The pulley and feed plate cleaned up nicely, as well.

Before:

PulleyBefore.jpg


After:

PulleyAfter.jpg
 
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That's a great story! I hope your grandaughter will help out because I'd love to see the photos.

Speaking of photos, I had a little time to start actually messing with the Boxford this morning. I was mostly curious if this machine would be ready to go into service after a thorough teardown and cleaning or if it would need substantially more work. I cleaned the ram ways/gib up top and then the feed plate and pulley to generally assess both the ways and the external surfaces, of which these items should give a fair impression of similar components. While it wasn't easy work, my progress would indicate I'm going to need help with that 3-phase issue MUCH sooner than I was anticipating!

I found no wear to speak of anywhere in the ram ways. There were two small burnished spots on the gib down toward one end but aside from that and some minor corrosion spotting, the ways look great. In the pic below you can see that twenty-plus year old layer of filth I mention earlier. A dull carbide scraper blade made short work of it, though. Good thing, because neither WD40 or kerosene would touch it. Finished off with a fine stainless toothbrush and those are good to go.

View attachment 229627


I would almost bet the machine was covered in heavy oil before the previous owner stored it. That combined with years of welding soot and general airborne fines so common in such an environment are what made this layer. It has a consistency not unlike dried clay, but seems to have formed a jacket that offered some protection from the elements. The pulley and feed plate cleaned up nicely, as well.

Before:

View attachment 229628

After:

View attachment 229629
It looks good you will have it running soon
 
And I've officially arrived at the "woe is me" portion of this project. While tentatively breaking down the ram assembly yesterday, I broke the clapper box! The protective oil coating discussed earlier had managed to expertly conceal a small set screw retaining the 7/16" taper pin upon which the toolholder plate pivots. This setscrew was also not illustrated on the ram assembly blueprint posted on Boxford's spares website here: http://www.boxford-software.com/spares/SHRam.html Sadly, I even consulted their print before beginning disassembly, looking for just such a trap as this. Note to self: in the future, pre-clean assemblies before teardown commences...

I was using a wee ball-pien hammer (~10 oz.) and a 1/4" brass punch, just to give an idea of the limited force applied to the taper pin. On the second tap the taper pin began moving. Not much, but it clearly moved. Each successive tap moved it a bit more, so I continued. After the taper pin had moved perhaps 1/8", the hidden set screw reached the end of the flat machined on the taper pin and encountered the sharp shoulder of said flat. On my next tap, the pin popped free and I heard/saw several somethings bounce off the bench and onto the floor. My initial thought was that something lying on the bench had vibrated off or been knocked off by the ejecting taper pin, but it was not to be. A quick glance at the underside (from my perspective) of the clapper box showed significant damage and to say my heart sank would be the understatement of the day:

Clapped Clapper.jpg


I've already gotten an email sent off to Boxford to request pricing on a replacement. It's shown as an active part number on their spares website, at a cost of £30.25 ($37.74 USD as of this morning's exchange rate) and what I consider to be an extraordinarily fair price. Of course, that cost may have been posted in 2003 and never updated but I'll worry about that when it comes up.

Today, I'll be trying to put this amateurish mistake behind me and continue cleaning the undamaged components of the ram assembly. It's now fully disassembled and I'm happy to report none of the remaining pieces have suffered additional damage at my hands. Yet...

As it seems easy enough to find a comparable single-phase motor for around $125, I will probably end up going that route. Should I consider going to a slightly larger motor, say 3/4hp, when switching from 3-phase to single, or is this a consideration I've made up entirely in my own mind?
 
Great! Looks like this is easily resolved.
 
An email exchange with Steve Bowers (Boxford's customer service manager) has revealed that they have essentially no spare parts of any kind for the Boxford shapers. He also told me that almost none of these machines were sold on the US market, explaining the apparent lack of used parts available from any of my usual domestic sources. Looks like I've got about three decent options at this point, and will likely pursue all three somewhat simultaneously:
  1. Begin haunting eBay UK in hopes I can find a machine being parted out.
  2. Machine an insert to replace the broken tab.
  3. Make an entire new clapper box from bar stock.
I'll set up a search alert on eBay UK so that I'll be notified by email if anyone posts anything with "Boxford" in the title or description. A simple process that runs in the background without any further intervention on my part.

Using common inserting practice, the finished repair will likely be stronger than the original part. I ordered a taper-pin reamer yesterday and will begin scrounging around for a suitable piece of insert stock today.

I've always found it interesting to use a machine to make repair parts for itself. In this case, the repaired clapper box could be used to make a new clapper box! I've used A36 in the past as something of a cleaner substitute for cast iron parts and see no reason it wouldn't work in this case. Considering the design and fitment required, I'd like to avoid all that moving around experienced with CRS, and I believe an alloy like 4140 or one of the air-hardening tool steels would just be overkill.
 
Bugger (think thats an English term) on breaking your clapper. Nice looking machine, I love shapers. If you have the broken parts could they be brazed back together to get it going. I've had a Logan and now a Peerless, neither have a set screw on the tapered pin, so don't feel too bad.
As for the three verses single phase I'll probably get flamed on this but you'd never see the difference in surface finish. I've discussed this with electrical engineers and they agree the only way you could see the added energy pulses from three phase would be when the motor was at near stall and the momentum of the armature let alone the rotating mass of the driven equipment wasn't smoothing it out. My analogy is can you feel the pulses from a 4 cylinder engine vs a V8 when your driving down the highway?
A 1/2 HP would probably never run out of power but you could go 3/4 and the lower load would have it running a little cooler. There's no tag on the old repulsive inductive motor I have on the Peerless but Im guessing it 2 or 3 HP it never slows down taking 1/8 th cuts 16 or 18 inches long.

Greg
 
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