The Shop > Tools
New Old Shaper - Atlas 7b
DMIOM:
:clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:
Hypnotic aren't they!
Dave
joshagrady:
Rock,
Congratulations on a beautiful machine. I think a shaper is a wonderful addition to any home shop.
--- Quote from: vtsteam on February 27, 2015, 05:53:33 PM ---Funny thing, I'm not actually sure if you can get music wire at a music store! Hobby shops, for sure.
--- End quote ---
I've had best luck by buying a beer for the local piano tuner every once in awhile. He doesn't do full refurbs very often, but when he does he ends up throwing away lots of wire. It was fairly simple to convince him to keep me in mind and, instead of binning the wire,give me a ring instead.
Manxmodder:
Pleased to see you got it sorted out. :clap:
The shaper will produce a surface finish better than any other technique provided the tool form is right.
You've a nice finish on that bit of ally,I bet you're real pleased with the results of your trials and labours.
On the subject of trunnion material,when I first got my Alba the trunnion was a block of cast iron running direct in the cast iron yoke which isn't too bad a choice of bearing materials provided the user remembers to oil the surfaces frequently.
Mine was in a desperate state and looked like it had been run for many hours without any lubrication which had caused seizing and tearing of the inner slide faces of the yoke.
The trunnion had about 1.5 mm of play in the yoke at the worst wear points.
The yoke needed the inner faces resufacing on the mill to get them cleaned up and parallel,and a new oversized trunnion was made from bronze and she's been a delight to use since the refurb.
One point about you tool form,the nose radius looks about right but a further improvement is to grind a really generous side rake angle to create what is often referred to as a shearing tool.
Have a look around youtube for some examples of shaper shearing tool design......OZ.
rockknocker:
Thanks for all the encouragement!
Dave, yes the shaper is one of those machines that has a certain elegance about it. It is probably because all the parts are moving slow enough that one can see exactly how it works and how the bit carves the metal.
Josh, I ended up buying more wire than I'll need in my lifetime from McMaster-Carr for a few bucks. Next time, I'll try to figure out to save on shipping costs though.
OZ, at your recommendation I looked up shearing tools and definitely plan to make one, they look like they work really well. It sounds like your shaper trunnion was in similar shape to mine, but my yoke survived the abuse better somehow. I'm still not sure exactly what material the old trunnion was made of, maybe one day I'll measure the density and figure out what it is.
rockknocker:
Well, I broke it! :(
In the 4 or so hours that I've used the shaper since last weekend, I've been trying to learn the ins and outs of the machine. I've learned a lot, but I've also abused the machine quite a bit. Mainly, the machine has been stopped by a bit digging in or a part shifting at least three or four times. Each time, the motor pulley just started slipping, stopping the machine with no fanfare or signs of damage. This is not what broke it.
During the fateful cut, the shaper was facing a piece of metal clamped to the side of the table. This requires the table to be cranked all the way over to one side for the bit to be able to reach it. The shaper was happily carving metal from the workpiece using the power feed to run it back and forth. Unfortunately, I didn't think of how close I was to the end of the feed and looked away for a few seconds too long... crack-click-crack-crack! My power feed had crashed the table into the end of the lead screw.
The fallout is below:
* broken power feed leadscrew gear (PN: 9-101-20)
* cracked Zamak power ratchet case (PN: S7-23D)
* chipped pawl (PN: S7-75A)
* single partially chewed up tooth on ratchet gear (PN: S7-81)
* bruised ego (PN: TK-0UCH)
Based on my previous research on this machine, the Zamak power feed housing crack is not a surprise, it was probably the first thing to go. The leadscrew gear probably failed next, and the pawl and gear tooth were damaged when I wasn't able to stop the machine before it cycled once more. My ego was then bruised when I realized how obvious it was that this could happen, given that I was operating right at the edge of my table's range of movement.
Luckily, the machine works fine without the power feed assembly installed. There was no visible damage to the lead screw, lead screw nut, or any other part of the machine. I was able to cut several more passes on the same part by turning the feed crank manually.
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