Bed & Bore Mill gets a machine addition!

wildo

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I've been watching for one of these to pop up for ages now. Really pumped to have found a South Bend 7" Shaper to add to my machine collection and shop. Everything seems to slide nicely, though it needs a good cleanup. I plan a full restoration anyway, as I have no immediate need to use it. It currently has a 3 Ph motor installed, which I'll remove in favor of a single phase unit I have laying around. This thing won't see enough action to warrant purchasing a VFD, and I think they came with a 1/2 HP 120V motor from the factory anyway. No vice was included, and I think the clapper box is missing a part or two. Otherwise, as far as I can tell, it's all intact. Woohoo! New project!

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Unloading sure was easier than my mill!!
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You might be wondering where in the world this will fit in my small shop. For one thing, does it matter? Like everyone of you would- I'll find a spot. Ha! But in fact I do have an idea. This whole cabinet is going away. That cabinet group never panned out quite how I thought it would. Instead, I want to build out a four post table to match the height of the rest of my benches. I will store the shaper on a HF scissor cart, which I'm hoping is rigid enough to use the shaper on as a stand. This will be nice because it can be lowered to the floor and stowed when not needed, and then brought out and lifted up to operational height when desired. The SB stand will be sold, as I have no room or need for it.
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Why don't you keep the stand - it belongs with that shaper - and send me the Millrite. The shaper would fit right in that corner really well, don't you think?
 
Wow what a nice looking machine. It looks to be in great shape. I would try to keep that nice original stand. Looking at your pics, it would appear that by removing the cabinet with the red x you would have more than enough room for it. It looks like the stand has 3 drawers that you will loose for potential storage if you switch it out for a scissor lift. And on the other hand, I'm not sure what room you would gain with the high/low arrangement, especially considering there is a window partially behind it. Lastly, the stand just looks good with the shaper on top!

Anyway, just my thoughts on a really cool looking machine. Nice find and score.
 
Why don't you keep the stand - it belongs with that shaper - and send me the Millrite. The shaper would fit right in that corner really well, don't you think?
LMAO!! You guys are too funny!

I don't know. I'm totally indifferent about the stand. It's really a BIG stand given the small size of the machine. I definitely can't fit the stand in my shop.
 
And on the other hand, I'm not sure what room you would gain with the high/low arrangement, especially considering there is a window partially behind it.

I envision a bench under that window to essentially be a working/assembly area for whatever project I'm working on. The toolboxes on the left side of the picture will eventually get built into a bench just like the box on the right side of the picture. I want to basically keep the stuff on the left side there as a "clean" area for measuring/layout kind of stuff. So a bench under that far window gives me an area to work at a bench without the need to keep it super clean.

I really can envision myself making small engine models- steam stuff and whatnot. I can imagine the need to layout some material in one area while working on assembling the model elsewhere. Thus that extra bench.
 
Beautiful find, Wildo. You're assembling quite the little machine shop in that spare room. This takes voyeurism to another level, you know?
 
Doing my best!! It's been a life-long dream; I just decided recently that I don't want to be old, sore, and cranky when I start building a shop. Why not do it now?

Funny story- here's as good a place as any to share. It's no joke when I say life-long dream. I moved to a new town in fourth grade and the school had this killer wood and metal shop. Really top notch stuff. However, they had no teacher with the knowledge to use it all. They could run the wood shop, but not the metal shop. This would be like 1992 or so. I lobbied that small farm-town school to get a metals class my entire time there. Finally my SENIOR year, they decided to offer the class. Guess what- for me being an AP student, the class conflicted with my Government/Economics class. Are you freakin' kidding me!? So yes, I missed out on my only real opportunity to learn about machining in a class environment. I went to college for software engineering, and there was no machine shop there.

This has been a life goal for as long as I can remember. My shop is modest, and I have almost no tooling, but I have the machines and I'm working on it. Not to mention- my shop makes me smile. I think some people thought that the ceiling trim, paint, and wallpaper were silly and over the top for a machine shop- and perhaps they were right- but I learned long ago that your environment can play a HUGE impact on your desire to BE in that environment. My shop makes me smile. And it makes me want to be in there. And it definitely makes me want to make stuff! Huge win in my book.
 
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I second, or is it 5th or 6th the recommendation to keep the cabinet. Would it be more inclined to keep it if you put castors on the cabinet and roll it out of the way when not in use? If you do sell the cabinet, they (like everything SB) are collectable and command a good price.

Nice find,
 
First, congratulations on the shaper score!:you suck: And a south bend too! I love those machines, they just have such a cool rythem when they are running.
Second, I am with the other guys, you really need to rethink the stand and figure out a way to keep it, or at least store it somewhere. It's a part of that machine.
I have a Burke no. 4 and don't use the power feed, but I keep it because either myself or someone else that might get the machine from me in the future may want it, again it's part of the machine as it was designed.
Third, awesome shop you have! I like it very much.
It will be fun to watch you fix up that shaper and put her to use.
Congrats on the find.
 
I envision a bench under that window to essentially be a working/assembly area for whatever project I'm working on. The toolboxes on the left side of the picture will eventually get built into a bench just like the box on the right side of the picture. I want to basically keep the stuff on the left side there as a "clean" area for measuring/layout kind of stuff. So a bench under that far window gives me an area to work at a bench without the need to keep it super clean.

I really can envision myself making small engine models- steam stuff and whatnot. I can imagine the need to layout some material in one area while working on assembling the model elsewhere. Thus that extra bench.

I would consider a rolling chassis under a few of the stands, then you can slide them out of the way when not in use.


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