(teaser) Homemade Metal Shaper

[Andre]

and I thought my table was bad, because it has some nicks and a couple of scrapes. are those hammer marks on it also.
By the way the project looks good. I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the build.

Those are indeed hammer marks. Hundreds of them

 

[Andre]

A tool holder for the ram. The two steps are 3/16" and 1/4" wide, and it's held to the ram with a 1/4-20 SHCS. I will eventually make a clapper box, but for testing it should work out. Still need to make a clamp, but I need to figure out a small bending jig first.

 

[Andre]

Milling the table box way. Sorry for the blurry second photo, but I left it in to show the profile of the way. Every surface (minus the ends) will be surface ground and Swiss scraped. (Scraping in this case is really just for oil retention)






And with three #10 holes drilled as clearance for the 10-24 Stove bolts, it's almost ready to be bolted on after grinding. I figure since shapers are a bit old-school, I should make their hardware stand out. Stove bolts, square steel nuts, and the brass nuts (on the ram gib adjustment screws) should catch the eye.

Although this is entirely built from bar stock, and it can be finished with all bar, I'd like to try my hand at aluminum casting a bracket for the knee elevation screw. Maybe...

 

[Andre]

All 6 important surfaces on the box way have been machined and ground. Top, bottom, both sides, and the underside ways.



And milled the slot in the bottom of the table.

 

[Andre]

Looks like your spindle speed is a tad slow. The Tool marks are heavy. A tad faster will give you a smoother cut.

"Billy G"

My mill has shot bearings, so running it much faster than the ~700 RPM it's running now really makes a racket. Maybe I should step up from a 1/2" endmill to something in the realm of 9/16" or 5/8" to compensate for the slower spindle speeds?

A new spindle with angular contact bearings is actually the next project

 

[Andre]

The bearings should, IMHO, have already been changed. Don't wait much longer. I would hate to see one lock up on you. They are a real PITA to get out when they lock up. Be careful and listen closely to that spindle. If it starts to squeal it's done for. You are progressing nicely figuring the spindle is shot. Good work so far.

"Billy G"

The spindle has about .005" side slop with hand pressure. I already had the quill out to look at the bearings more closely, and they look to be in good shape minus the runout. The biggest issue when milling, is when milling a slot the walls will always be tapered outward and so the walls will have to be either ground or scraped parallel for any precision fits. Bearings will be upwards of $500 to replace..... a used J-head with a homemade adapter plate could be cheaper, and then I have R8 capabilities and the ability to use tooling with larger than a 1/2" shank, higher speeds, more robust bearings (taper roller angular contact instead of angular contact ball), power downfeed, back gears, more quill reach, etc. The base of my mill is still in good shape. Accessories like right angle heads, and quillmasters are easier to find for J heads as well.

Thank you, still a fair bit of work but it should be finished up shortly.

 

[Andre]

Having some problems with Imgur pictures not loading for me in this thread, so here is a picture from Photobucket.

Milled a slot for way wipers in the table. 1/8" wide, 1/16" deep. Next step is to mill T-slots in the top, drill and tap for 9 gib screws and grind the bottom. Not sure how I want to make the way wiper covers yet. I have some steel sheet, but I want to try aluminum casting first. I'd like to cast them if possible for a more finished look than sheet metal.

 

[Andre]

Milled three T-slots in the table, and am in the process of grinding the table. Once it cools down and normalizes, the sides will pop up and I can grind it truly flat. Surface grinders are great at making things smooth, but if you're not careful that smooth surface might be as flat as a banana is straight. I've flat I'll grind the bottom surface, scrape the sides in (the head on my grinder is misaligned so sidewheeling isn't one of it's strengths) and I'll start assembling the table. Even without the bottom ground it slides extremely smooth and precisely along the way track.

(Those are fingerprints on the ground part not burning)

 

[Andre]

Shiny parts are now shiny. I was able to sidewheel the slot, and it turned out very nice although the bottom if the slot is a little rough. Really need a different wheel.

The shaper is getting quite heavy if you can imagine!

Still some machine work needed for the table, so painters tape will protect the ground surfaces for now.

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[Andre]

Bolted the table to the knee. The outer bolt holes are elongated clearance holes with nuts underneath, so it can be trammed square to the rams stroke.




Drilled and tapped for three side gib screws



Pull scraped some oil retention pockets.



And of course, I had to mess up drilling the bottom gib screws! Two center punch marks in the wrong place, a stupidly marked hole that lead to a cross hole and the tip of a tap is stuck in the one to the far right. Using one JB weld to fill in the holes. The gib screws on the front will be in an odd pattern but will still work just fine.




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