What to buy next? Shaper vs. Surf grinder vs. Tool Cutter grinder?

[Downunder Bob]

I would love to have all 3 and a lot more, but I just don't have the room and that's the end of it. The only way I would get enough room would be to get another house, and that aint happening either.

From the practical point, Surface grinding, on the odd occasion I have needed it, I get done locally at reasonable cost. Shaper work mm, don't know anyone with a shaper so probably have to redesign the job. T&C grinder would be the most useful. But I do know a guy that might do tool sharpening at reasonable cost.

Currently I hand sharpen all my HSS tool bits and drill bits, but if and when I get my milling adaptor set up, I will need a away to sharpen milling cutters. I have actually hand sharpened an end mill. it worked sort of. at least it got me out of trouble.

 

[projectnut]

Thanks for the kind comments stoic. I have more pictures of the machines. I take them every few years for insurance purposes. I don't really have more encompassing pictures of the shop. Over the years I've changed the configuration at least half a dozen times as new machines come along. we have 2 Cocker Spaniels that love to come into the shop so I try to keep things clean. The truth be known I probably spend as much time keeping the crud off the flor as I do machining.

Janderso you are correct in that the shop is in the basement. It started in the garage about 20 years ago, but was quickly moved to the basement. The garage can be heated, but every time a door is opened it takes half an hour for the heater to recover. Also after a short time there wasn't enough room for the cars in the garage, and in the cold winter months it took forever to get the machines warm. There has been a wood shop in the basement since we built the house in the late 1980's.

I moved the machine tools down there about 20 years ago. I disassembled each machine and hauled the parts down on an appliance dolly. Once in the new shop each machine was reassembled. I moved everything myself except the column for the Bridgeport, and the headstock end cabinet for the Sheldon lathe. They each weigh about 1,000 lbs., and I don't have equipment big enough to move them. The latest machine to go into the shop was the Black Diamond drill grinder about a year ago.

I've attached a picture of one of my "assistants". Her name is Juliette. She loves to come into the shop, but if the floor isn't clean she has a tendency to drag things upstairs. Needless to say that isn't very popular. I've also included a PowerPoint rendition of the current shop layout.

 

[Janderso]

love it, you have done a great job of laying out your shop.

 

[C-Bag]

Great utilization of space. Very organized.

 

[NCjeeper]

If you get a shaper buy one that is large enough to do some real work. I had an Atlas 7" shaper and even though it was cute and ran well I found you couldn't do any real work with it. Sold it and bought a 16" G&E.

 

[stioc]

@projectnut - thanks for sharing some more details. I'm loving those shallow drawer organizers as well as the open shelving with everything neatly organized. I hear you, I too spend a lot of time keeping my 2 car garage as well as my tools/equipment clean but it always feels crowded i.e. too small!

I would love to see more pics if you ever decided to post a thread in the Shops section: https://www.hobby-machinist.com/forums/our-shops-and-the-spaces-we-work-in-shop-photos.186/

 

[ThinWoodsman]

It's interesting everybody mentions the shaper being good for keyways and splines. I've never used mine for that yet. What it has done for me is take big rusty pieces of steel and make them smooth and flat within .001", or nice and square super cheaply.

Agreed. The primary use for mine is squaring stock before milling. Depth cuts, like a square or a V-slot on a tooling plate, are simple to set up but require more attention as there is no auto downfeed. Side steps like in T-nuts require some care in setting up each pass. Mostly, a job can be set up and left running on the shaper while you are attending to that more complicated setup on the mill. And yes, even on a small shaper - just take lighter cuts.

Haven't seen the need for a surface grinder, even passed up an opportunity to purchase one cheap back before summer. I'm not running a production shop; I just use a file or progressively finer-grit sandpaper if I need to make small adjustments or apply a better finish.

 

[C-Bag]

Agreed. The primary use for mine is squaring stock before milling. Depth cuts, like a square or a V-slot on a tooling plate, are simple to set up but require more attention as there is no auto downfeed. Side steps like in T-nuts require some care in setting up each pass. Mostly, a job can be set up and left running on the shaper while you are attending to that more complicated setup on the mill. And yes, even on a small shaper - just take lighter cuts.

Haven't seen the need for a surface grinder, even passed up an opportunity to purchase one cheap back before summer. I'm not running a production shop; I just use a file or progressively finer-grit sandpaper if I need to make small adjustments or apply a better finish.

Lol, totally agree. Feel like a heretic admitting that here but I'm glad I'm not the only one!

 

[projectnut]

In my book a surface grinder isn't a "must have' but rather an accessory that's more like a "nice to have". In the scheme of things there are quite a few commercial shops that don't have them, and don't need them for the type of work they do. Our shop just happened to have one, and since we were primarily doing prototype work that included extrusion dies it got used on a fairly regular basis.

It also got used to sharpen planer knives for the wood shop and of course end mills and horizontal milling cutters. If we hadn't been in the extrusion die business I'm sure the machine wouldn't have been in the shop. The floor space would have been better used by another vertical mill or a lathe.