South Bend shaper has made its way to my shop!

C-Bag,
If it makes you feel any better, yours looks like it just came off the assembly line compared to the Atlas I purchased several years back. I don't have any pictures of it and would have destroyed any if they existed. After I cleaned off the coating of spilled roofing tar, fixed the burned wiring, replaced the seized motor and put it under power, then I found out how bad it really was. The bull gear was cracked, the ways on the ram looked like they were surfaced with an angle grinder, the amount of wear all over the machine seemed almost impossible and I called it quits. When it ran, it made noises that didn't make sense. But I got a great deal on a shaper for cheap.....:black eye: LOL!

Mark
 
the red on the clapper , the vise and the stroke handle screams school machine


Exactly, I agree with you. The first Atlas shaper I bought came from state surplus. That machine was a pukey green color with orange accents much like this machine. Lot of machines in the schools back in the day were painted in usually a tacky color of green with either red, orange, or yellow accents that did nothing to improve their appearance.
 
Maybe it's the clapper caper , where the clapper was stolen ;) Then it was replaced and painted RED.
(THINK JOHNNY CARSON)
 
I'm sorry Crank, I didn't mean to hyjack your thread. Please stop me if it's inappropriate.

Thanks Buck and Doc. For the life of me I couldn't figure the colors out, but talk about a forehead slap when you guys pointed it out. Also explains the crazy damage and pretty good repairs like to the ratchet case that had obviously been crashed and welded back. its zemack and I think the repair was done with aluminum brazing rod and oxy-acetylene. Or that's how I would have tried to do it.

We all dream miraculous finds and yours was one Crank. Mine I knew was going to be a crap shoot like your first one. But I knew I could sell the vise alone for more than the $125 I gave for mine. I wish I would have taken pictures of this barn sale as it was beyond description. It sounds like one of those fantastic fishing stories when I read my own description. What made it hard to know exactly what I was getting into was the decades of dust and oil you see in the pics. It took a lot of kerosene and elbow grease to access the damage. I'm not a restoration kinda guy. I want it to function properly and do accurate work, but paint is way down the list. But that oil and dust is an incredible preservative as around here rust is a killer and there was no rust. Here's what it looks like now:

image.jpeg
 
C-Bag,
No worries. This is a shaper forum and we are talking about shapers. This isn't supposed to be a thread that only directs attention to mine, it's doing the job by getting people to share their machines. I cringe every time I think of that other one, that's one of those purchases that I should have run away from. Live and learn. I normally will dive into basket cases, but that thing turned into a train wreck that was borderline scrap value. I honestly can't recall what I did with it.

By the way, I forgot to mention, the serial number dates it to OCT 1958.

Mark
 
Thanks Crank. That's way cool you've been able to date yours. There doesn't seem to be a coherent serial # database I'm aware of for Atlas. I did a couple of searches and came up empty handed.

The first problem with mine was the old motor starter cap was caput so the motor would just buzz. I did several searches and the only reference I could find was a member here going through his Atlas lathe motor that had close to the same size and bless his heart he mentioned the mfd of the cap! So that's why I ended up here. I can't know for sure but judging by the motor which looks original I think it's from the 40's because it has oiler caps. Ive only seen oiler caps on really old stuff. Of course I could be wrong.

BTW I just got new felts for mine off eBay. The originals were rubber and felt but the new ones are the same thickness as the total thickness of the rubber and felt. I think the guy laser cuts them as they are perfect. Dunno if he does them for South Bend shapers or not.
 
I don't know what you paid for that shaper, but to me I see about $250-350 depending on your luck for the vise alone, and most of $100 for the index-able tool holder. Every guard that is not missing to me means more than $50 to $100 depending on the size of the guard. If it has the bull gear door that is roughly $50-75 depending on your luck. That is without assigning a value to the balance of the machine. That might give you a reasonable yardstick.

Any original Atlas legs or stand easily adds more than $100, and probably closer to $200 depending on what the machine is sitting on.

So if you have any doubts about what you spent on the machine use those figures as a reasonable estimate of what different parts of that machine cost to replace.
 
Yup, the vise was the first thing I saw poking out of the heap of boxes of tools and equipment the shaper was buried in. And it being red how could you miss it :) When I saw the tool holder and the ratchet case along with the belt guard I figured everything else was there but wouldn't know for sure until we unburied it. There was at least 20 guys running around digging through stuff so it was a mad house. When they said $125 I figured I would be ok if it was junk. The only thing it didn't have was the motor belt cover. It must have been busted off as it was gone, the boss on the ram guard was broken, and not in the piles around it. The stand it's on I think it an old military teletype stand. Certainly sturdy enough if not a tad tall after I put castors on it. I had some old heavy duty stops I welded to the stand so it won't move under power.

It makes me wonder why all the sudden enthusiasm for shapers? Most of what I see on eBay and CL is junk and are going in the $1500+ range. There are a couple of complete and nice ones, but nowhere near Cranks. And parts are getting rediculous. You never see ratchet assembly's and an early cast iron one(very rare) came up for auction. When it was over $300 I quit even being curious about what it finally went for.

image.jpeg
 
Back
Top