What did you make on your shaper?

[C-Bag]

Found a new use for my shaper, that may be of interest here.

I was given a dividing head by a friend, I had no real use for it as it was too big to fit on my shaper table. After a while it dawned on me that I could drill a locating hole in the base of it and mount it directly on the knee support stud.

Pic shows it in place shaping a drain plug, the castellations of the home made tool holder being used were also made using it.

Seasons greetings folks

BernardView attachment 250573

Very cool Bernard. I would love to see more pics from different angles to see your mounting details.
My current project for my shaper is making some new jaws for the Atlas vise as the originals are somehow sprung in the middle and are not holding things true. I've got some mystery steel and some Dura bar and not sure which would be better. Any advise?

 

[Dranreb]

Nice work my friend, very nice.

"Billy G"

Thanks Billy, it certainly gives me more options, and I nearly gave it back!

Very cool Bernard. I would love to see more pics from different angles to see your mounting details.
My current project for my shaper is making some new jaws for the Atlas vise as the originals are somehow sprung in the middle and are not holding things true. I've got some mystery steel and some Dura bar and not sure which would be better. Any advise?

Thanks C B but there's really not much more to see, it just sits on the stud with a bolt in the top T-slot and a hole drilled to allow the lower bolt to screw into the existing table mounting hole. I'll drill another hole the other side when I next put it on.

The large (temporary) machinists jack was a flea market find, like new but shop made I think, with bronze nut and boootifully smooth



Drilling for the stud on my Atlas lathe, too tricky set up in the drill press.



As for your jaws, I would use the mystery steel, your shaper won't mind at all, and you'll have had some practice if it's no good!

Bernard

 

[C-Bag]

Thanks Bernard! All is revealed! So your shaper has a tilting table? The Atlas 7b I have has no such thing but it's great to see what your mod was. As a noob to all of this, including posting pics of projects, I realize I have a tendency to think a my pic has explained everything. But not until others ask questions do I realize that the details beforehand that went into making the pic were not as apparent to the viewer.

Thanks again for the pics and the tip on the jaws. Mystery steel it is!

 

[Dranreb]

The tool holder, these are so desirable to shaper owners in UK because absolute rarity creates a huge yearning.....so the self imposed "Have shaper get shaping' rule meant I had to make one!



Mystery steel was a bit hard, hence the tool blunted quite quickly, daren't re-sharpen it as the side relief would have made it too narrow, keep going, be alright.



The components ready to weld the tang on, look at the spigot, that old tang was tough on the lathe, and even a bit of a workout for a shaper.



I have to admit this was my second try at the threaded part, I tried to cut a slot on the shaper with sad results. I turned another part and a mate then cut the slot for me on his mill. The washer allows a round or square tool bit to be used which is quite handy at times.




Bernard

 

[C-Bag]

Very nice job. Luckily mine came with the original tool holder. I'm keeping an eye out for the holder/extension for doing inside slots. What kills me was several years ago I picked up one of those tool holders in an antique store and thought ?!?! Not until finding this site and looking through the stuff on shapers did I realize what it was. I've seen several of the tool holders like what you copied and the inside slotting holder on eBay and they were over $100, way to rich for my blood.

 

[menace]

Great info from this topic here! I bought a Logan 8" shaper with variable speed drive in the base. I put a VFD on it and made a few nice blocks from rusty blocks. Beautiful finish but never used after that! Lack of a decent vise and tooling put it literally in the corner! I bought a swivel vise on the bay and it still sits unused. I have a robust Tree mill that has spoiled me! I would like to use the shaper but am clueless to its use. This thread has re sparked my interest, I hope the posts continue with ideas and how toos. I'll have to post some pics when I get a chance!

 

[Dranreb]

Thanks Bernard! All is revealed! So your shaper has a tilting table? The Atlas 7b I have has no such thing but it's great to see what your mod was. As a noob to all of this, including posting pics of projects, I realize I have a tendency to think a my pic has explained everything. But not until others ask questions do I realize that the details beforehand that went into making the pic were not as apparent to the viewer.

Thanks again for the pics and the tip on the jaws. Mystery steel it is!

Ooops... brain fade struck again..

Appologies for any confusion caused but that pic with the jack shows how I had it fixed before I thought of mounting it on the knee cross slide. It was closer to the ram that way so it could in theory handle bigger work pieces but too limiting without the ability to traverse.

Here's another one of that first setup, shows more of the knee support thingy with the locating stud in the middle.



Bernard

 

[Dranreb]

My version of a tool post indicator holder, kept it short to indicate larger work, indicator can be fitted either way to indicate the face of workpiece if needed.

Shaper made except the dial housing that was done on the lathe cross slide with a boring bar in the chuck.



No room or need for an adjusting screw, ally strip works just fine.



Bernard

 

[C-Bag]

My version of a tool post indicator holder, kept it short to indicate larger work, indicator can be fitted either way to indicate the face of workpiece if needed.

Shaper made except the dial housing that was done on the lathe cross slide with a boring bar in the chuck.

View attachment 250680

No room or need for an adjusting screw, ally strip works just fine.

View attachment 250681

Bernard

Brilliant. I like that it can be easily reversed. I was going to make one like Mr.Pete's, but I like your design better.

So you did the dovetails on the shaper? That is one of the main projects I thought I wanted to do with the shaper. I bumbled on to mine for a too cheap to walk away price. After seeing the Rudy K vid I thought "I could do that". But tracking down the problems with the vise and just learning the ins and outs of operation has obsorbed most of my time with the shaper. It has a steeper learning curve than say the verticle mill. I was able to complete some simple projects very quickly on the mill.

It's always motivating to have a project in mind and that DI quick mount is a very worthy project. Once I get the jaws squared away and hopefully it solves the problem of not cutting squarely it's on to machining a tool post indicator holder ,a tool post mount for my R8 Rhom chuck, and a micrometer carriage stop. Probably in reverse of that order

 

[Dranreb]

Glad you liked CB, yes did dovetails on shaper.

Here's a link with a good description of the process, I ground my tool with more clearance than his, more like 50 degrees.

http://artfulbodger.net/docs/shaper/dovetail/index.html

You can do lots of things without a vise, just cramp stuff onto the table, you can fix a bar or angle section across the X or Z axis or both and clock it square, this will mean you can quickly reposition work easily and cramp it down again.