Shaper cross feed increments

I'm somewhat used to seeing variation in machine tools. But there seems to be some odd knowledge gap in shapers. Or am I just too ignorant to comprehend? Were different shapers for different processes? Like in the case of f350ca's Peerless was it just for roughing in? Or is there something like another finer tooth ratchet that could have been installed? As with the cut direction it's not just a flip of a lever. You had to change the tool, and the position of the link on the ratchet wheel. So there might have been other parts that were supposed to be changed to but are lost to time. Or not.

Did they use DI's on the knee and head to keep track of the cut or did it not matter, because almost universally the dials seem so small as to be worthless. And because the dials were so small the engraving can't be to deep so they went away quick. How did the machinists back in the day keep track or was it all just experience and seat of their pants?

My brother who worked as a machinist makes fun of me for wanting to adjust and clean my hobby machines to take out the play and operate smoothly like I'm going to screw them up. It reminds me of shops where the guy on the line with a little 3 drawer rollaway would make fun of the guys with the big tamale carts. Like they weren't "real men" getting the job done little or nothing and his case doing the job in spec with worn out stuff. Every shop I worked in where there were common machines that everybody used were never maintained. Just used to destruction and put out back. i guess that's why you have to be careful buying an old machine tool used for production.
 
I puzzled over how accurate a shaper was, as much to know when I got close on my shop built project. I asked on a forum and the only answer was the skate was important. Since there isn't that much written on how-to for shapers I was able to read some. Again no numbers. A shaper is a tool from the beginning of the last century, so I went back to first principles. The old books talk about picking of the measurement off a rule with dividers by splitting the line. Scribing that line onto the part. That's a +/- .005

The joke was on me, the cheap Chinese 4" milling vise I 'll use on my shaper was made with a shaper. It was within .005.
 
For most of my wage slave career I was a mechanic and was obviously not cut out for it. I was constantly thinking as I'm standing on my head, wishing I was double jointed, tearing the skin off my knuckles, "what WERE they thinking, and what were they on when they thought it?"

I did two stints for two different manufacturers with an engineering dept. and was in positions in both places to interact with the engineers as I was in assembly and it was instructive. Somewhat. Whenever I'd ask why are we doing this, this way? It makes our job so much harder and since time is $$$ it's a waste of $$$. One engineer thought I was being a know it all and wouldn't change. The other outfit I was lucky enough to work with engineers who saw the problem and were happy to refine their designs and we made a great team. In neither place could a get an exact reason for why things were done the way they were. In both places there were too many egos and too many layers of command that was stirring the pot.

So in the case of that lead screw my only guess is they wanted something proprietary that you would have to come back to them if it wore out. But I'm math-impaired and would never try to grok tpi vs feed rate so I get ill never get beyond the seat of your pants machinist.
 
One of my favourite saying is "And they thought THIS ? would work ?" I was a millwright so engineers and machinists rarely made it onto my Christmas card list.
 
One of my favourite saying is "And they thought THIS ? would work ?" I was a millwright so engineers and machinists rarely made it onto my Christmas card list.

LOL! That last outfit was a foreign owned co. that bought out an American co. and tried to carry on like it was still an American co. Some of the stuff we'd get from the parent co. you'd unpack and just be floored. It says a lot when you can look at something without running it and know for sure it was junk. We'd try to run it and even though it was undamaged would watch it destroy itself. But anytime you are trying to push conveyor belts or chains you know you're in deep yogurt and we'd see that.

One time they decided they needed a motto and asked for suggestions in the suggestion box. I submitted "We'll defy physics to sell you a machine!" Needless to say I didn't win.

One of the better things they did was have the most experienced assembly guys who put the line together also do the install. I was in on a couple of those and if the original layout was right our install went off without a hitch because it was all done on the shop floor. There was no in the field reengineering because the engineers and the machinist dealt with in the shop.
 
You are correct about the size and number of teeth on the ratchet wheel. On Imperial machines the thread on the cross feed screw and the rotation of the ratchet are usually able to be set for 1: feed of cut. 2: Spacing for cutting a rack.
Before I got some gear cutters I was about to make a new screw and wheel to cut a Module 1.25 rack as it is impossible with the existing thread unless done manually with a dial gauge and that negates the point of having a shaper as one hand is necessary for tea.
It is there on the 'To-Do' list. It is a simple thing to make and change if needed to do a special task.
 
Back
Top