# Making a gingery style shaper



## Ebel440 (Aug 30, 2014)

A few years ago i got a partial set of the gingery books.  I finally have some time to build something so i decided to try making the shaper.  I made my furnace a few years ago using a home made refractory and some scrap steel and a bathroom vent fan i dont have the gingery book for the furnace but its easy to find info on the internet. I am changing the design to use materials i have on hand and methods that are easier for me to do. I will be using scrapped parts and drop for as much as i can.  Though i can make the castings I will be using as few as possible i have two little girls that like to help me and I dont use the furnace while they are home. I will also be changing to a gear drive to use other parts i already have. I am a machinist and could easily cnc the parts and put it together in a few hours but i want to try and build it with just a small lathe and drill press. So far i have worked on it for a few hours and will keep working on it as i get time.


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## Ebel440 (Aug 30, 2014)

I made the sides from 2 pieces of 10x12x.5 bar stock they were drops from my job that i had already used to build a small speaker stand years ago.  The pieces were already milled square so im using them as is, they have 2 large countersunk and 3 smaller holes from their past use.  I started by clamping the 2 sides together and laying out the hole pattern and step drilling through both sides at once up to .250dia. Next i clamped the sides to the front and base and used a drill bushing in the .250 hole to locate the holes for drilling and tapping.  this allowed me to drill all the holes at once without having to change drill sizes and tap each hole one at a time.  I used a cut tap on the first side but after trouble with a cheap tap i switched to a roll tap on the second.  The row of holes at the top looks staggered because it has one set of holes to hold the ways for the slide which will be made of .5 square 1018 or 12l14 im not sure which it is but i think its 12l14.  the other set of holes is for the radiused aluminum parts which i had saved years ago and will help strengthen the top, dress it up a little and give me a place to mount the clamps? for the rams ways.  As you can see i have not really followed gingerys plans but it is serving as a guide. today i hope to get the ways for the ram installed and possibly the clamps for it.  Due to the changes i have made i need to get the ram in place to figure out where everything else will go.


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## Ebel440 (Aug 31, 2014)

i spent some more time on it yesterday.  I made a last minute change to hold the ways for the ram with 5/16-18 bolts instead of 1/4-20 which now has a larger head then the ways so i need to use some screws and grind the diameter down.  It looks like i can use some gears i have from an old Honda to make the bull gear.


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## dave2176 (Aug 31, 2014)

This is intriguing.  Thanks for sharing. 
Dave


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## ScrapMetal (Aug 31, 2014)

dave2176 said:


> This is intriguing.  Thanks for sharing.
> Dave




Ditto!  Wish I had the "gumption" for a similar project.  I'll be watching you build on this.

As the prior post - Thanks for sharing,

-Ron


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## Ebel440 (Aug 31, 2014)

Thanks for letting me know it actually takes me time to post the pictures because i have to take them off my phone and use my computer which seems to play the movie Frozen non stop these days. I didn't do much with the shaper today. I drilled out the rivets holding the bull gear to the old clutch assembly. I need to figure out all the gears locations again because I had all the information stored in my phone and one of my kids killed my phone. I also lost some of the pictures which had the sides being laid out. I think the next step will be making the bull gear shaft and the bearing block for it.


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## Ebel440 (Sep 1, 2014)

i had a little time last night so i started on a bushing to fit the bull gear to the shaft.  I have a short piece of .750od ground stainless rod  i will be using for the bull gear shaft so i need a bushing that will fit the 1.185 gear bore to the shaft.  The only lathe i have at my house is an old craftsman 109 which is about as capable as the gingery lathe i think.  I started with a short piece of 1.375 6061 drop it was the only material i had that was big enough.  I made a few passes taking .04 off the diameter each pass until i was within .01 from there i had to make about 6 more passes as the 109 has no dials and i didnt want to take too much off.  Then i faced the end and spot drilled it and then drilled through with a .250 drill.  Ill drill it as big as i can then finish it with a boring bar im not sure how i will attach the gear yet.


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## Ebel440 (Sep 6, 2014)

I was busy all week with work and family had a little time today to work on the shaper I finished the bushing for the bull gear. I have a new appreciation for things like graduated dials and reverse switches. The largest drill I can use in my 109 is a 3/8 so I drilled .25 then .375. The travel on the tail stock is only about an inch so I had to drill to the limit then move the tail stock and finish drilling. I then had to bring the bore out to .750 which meant I needed a boring bar but I haven't made one yet for the 109 so I searched and found a 1/4 tool which had been ground for boring and was long enough. Of course it had been shortened so much that it would only be held by one screw in my toolpost so I had to drill any tap it for another screw. Then after lots of cranking I got the bore opened up to .750. After that I took it out of the chuck parted it off on my bandsaw and put it back in the lathe and faced the saw cut. I


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## mattthemuppet2 (Sep 7, 2014)

Really cool project! 

Just from my own perspective, having 2 girls a bit older than yours, I avoid posting any pics of them not fully dressed on the net. You never know who will find them and where they will end up.


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## Chucketn (Sep 7, 2014)

I have the Gingery books, and I happen to have a full (I think) set of patterns for the Gingery Shaper. I also had a Gingery shaper on loan from the guy that made the patterns, but could not figure out how to get it to work. 
I hope to break in my furnace and casting skills making one, but need someone to show me how to use it! Keep up the great work, I'm watching closely...

Chuck


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## Ebel440 (Sep 7, 2014)

I didn't even think anything like that with the picture I just tried to delete it but can't find a way is there any way a moderator can delete it for me?


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## JimDawson (Sep 7, 2014)

Ebel440 said:


> I didn't even think anything like that with the picture I just tried to delete it but can't find a way is there any way a moderator can delete it for me?



Deleted


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## Bill Gruby (Sep 7, 2014)

Ebel440 said:


> I didn't even think anything like that with the picture I just tried to delete it but can't find a way is there any way a moderator can delete it for me?



 Jim Dawson got there before me, it's gone. Thanx Jim.


 "Billy G"


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## Ebel440 (Sep 7, 2014)

thanks


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## Ebel440 (Sep 7, 2014)

[SUB]I didn't get much time today to work on the shaper just started cutting the steel for the rest of the bull gear and had to start turning the face of the gear flat. I had been worried  the gear would be to hard to cut with hs tools but it seems to be unhardend steel which I can cut on the 109 just slowly. [/SUB]


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## Ebel440 (Sep 8, 2014)

I started casting by just reading stuff on the web and then I built a small furnace at the same time as my 5 gallon bucket sized furnace the small one is only maybe 8"x8" and fired it with a standard propane torch. I used it to learn some basic casting skills by using a small stainless steel pipe for a crucible and melted a handful of zinc pennies at a time. I actually learned a good amount and it was a much safer way to get used to it. The most important thing when casting is to be safe I'm still a little scared of a big pot of molten aluminum. But I think it's safe enough when done correctly and it's the best way to make parts that may otherwise be impossible in a hobby setting. I've never even seen a shaper besides pictures so ill be learning as I go it seems easy enough to operate I'm sure I can find some videos that show how its done


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## mattthemuppet2 (Sep 8, 2014)

Ebel440 said:


> I didn't even think anything like that with the picture I just tried to delete it but can't find a way is there any way a moderator can delete it for me?



yeah, sorry, I didn't want to detract from your project, but I'm also pretty sensitive about things like that with my own kids


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## Ebel440 (Sep 8, 2014)

It wasn't just that i had brought them to a flea market Sunday morning and one of the vendors told me his wife saw some guy taking pictures of them while my back was turned.


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## Ebel440 (Sep 14, 2014)

Didn't have much time to work on the shaper again this week. I finished turning down the face of the gear and cut two spacers for the bull gear clamp to sit on but that's about it. Hopefully more time next week. I did find some oillite bushings for it at a flea market for 50cents each so that saved a few dollars and the time to go and buy them.


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## Ebel440 (Sep 20, 2014)

I'm trying g to load some pictures from today but my computer seems to be a little slow right now so I'll try to get them loaded later tonight.  I  finished the bull gears t slot today and then I tried to bore out the gear that will drive the bull gear.  The gears are metric and I'm using standard material so I need to either make a bushing to adapt the gears or cut the gears to standard dimensions.  For the bull gear I made a bushing but I wanted to bore the drive gear.  I was worried when I started the gears would be hardened and be difficult if even possible to cut.  I was able to face both sides of the bull gear so I thought I would be able to cut the drive gear.  I didn't even test the drive gear with a file before I tried boring it with a hs boring tool so I started the cut and quickly rubbed the tip off my tool.  So than I was able to scratch it with a file and decided I would try with carbide.  I had to grind a brazed carbide tool to fit and then I tried the cut and it started the cut and was instantly dull. I had managed to enlarge the bore about .010 for about a quarter of the gear. So I put the gear aside and started working on the yoke instead.  I got the yoke put together without any problems I just need to install the bushings in each end.  I need to decide what I'm going to do with the drive gear.  I can try annealing the gear and continue as I planned. I also considered cutting the end of the shaft to fit the gear but I would then have problems attaching the gear as it would still be to hard to drill for a set screw or cut a key way.  I also considered grinding  the gears bore in my lathe but I would have the same problem of attaching the gear to the shaft.  I think I will try throwing the gear in my melting furnace tomorrow and then continue as I planned.


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## Ebel440 (Oct 11, 2014)

some pictures i had uploaded before but a few posts are missing guess they may have been lost in the crash. The yoke is done except for the bushings that will wait until I can figure out the sizes I need to change from changing the original design. I wanted to make the sliding block but the only material I had large enough was a piece of 1.375 round so I put it in the 4 jaw and started cutting. I kept cutting till I had a square block. Then it was time for the bearing support. I made it from 2 pieces because I had a piece of scrap that looked right for it. I attached the two pieces with 8 1/4 20 screws. My kids wanted to help so I gave them markets and they colored it for lay out.


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## Ebel440 (Oct 11, 2014)

im just putting some new pictures in of how im boring the bearing support for the bearings. using a bar i had to make and boring in place. The boring bar rides in bronze bushes on both sides of the column I will add bushes to the first side I bore to support the second side. I had to use this method as I have no mill and my lathe is too small to fit it. I started with a .5 bore through the bearing support and column as that's the biggest drill I have that I had a bushing to fit. I bored through the column side and am into the support but my battery died. And I'm late for a wedding but just had to try out the boring setup.


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## Ebel440 (Oct 12, 2014)

I didn't plan ahead too much when building any of the shaper. I started with a plan then changed it some to use materials I have or can get. This is always open to changes and I have not even planned how to build some parts yet. This can cause some problems. In the process of cutting with the boring bar I realized I had no way to test the bushing's fit in the bore without upsetting the cutters depth. I have only been roughing the bore at this point so its not critical yet but I will need to make a tool to measure the cutter depth prior to changing it for the finish cut.  I can measure the bore without disturbing the cutter but will still need to reset the cutter for the final cut. I saw a tool in the gingery lathe book for boring the headstock which will work for what I'm doing so ill have to build one before I can finish the bore.


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## Ebel440 (Oct 18, 2014)

I found an old micrometer with the anvil cut off at my work and made a new anvil to fit the boring bars radius i didnt get around to attaching it because i figured i could do without it. I finished the bore for one bushing and fit the bushing. Turns out I didn't need to measure the bore or boring bar I just cut then adjusted the cutter out a tiny bit and recut till I had a nice press fit.


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## dave2176 (Oct 18, 2014)

I'm looking forward to seeing this run.  Thanks for taking the time to post your progress. 

Dave


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## savarin (Oct 18, 2014)

I look forward to seeing the rest of this project.
I have cast all the parts for the Gingery lathe, bed scraped and ways bolted and scraped.
Then bought an asian 9x20 so the Gingery has lain there half finished gathering dust for a couple of years.
The shaper was going to be the next project after the lathe but so many projects are on the list now so I cant see that happening soon.
If anyone wants my castings they can be picked up for free but I have no interest in posting them (very expensive in australia)


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## Ebel440 (Oct 20, 2014)

I hope to see it running soon myself I have a habit of not finishing projects because I get an idea for something else or if I have a problem with the build. But I'm making progress so I may finish it in a few more months.  It's starting to look like a machine now which helps keep me going.


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## Andre (Oct 20, 2014)

Don't know how I missed this. Anyway, nice build so far. I'd like to build a small hand operated shaper in the future.


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## Ebel440 (Nov 1, 2014)

i started on the feed crank i made it from two pieces again to use material i had.  I had a few disks with .375 dia holes in the center i used one for the feed crank.  Two others will be used for the yoke supports so i drilled them all out to .5 dia. I needed a 3.125 disk for the feed crank but didnt have any round stock that big so i used a piece of half inch thick bar stock and cut a larger disk on the bandsaw.  I used a fine tooth blade but should have switched to a coarser blade but it cut quickly just loaded the blade some.  I attached that to the smaller disk with 2 counterbored 1/4-20 screws to hide the heads.  After that I bored it to .750 to fit the shaft and put a .250 hole through to take a 1/4-20 screw to attach it to the shaft.  I decided to cut the slot in the feed crank with my lathe and an end mill.  i had to drill my tool post for another 1/4-20 screw to hold the crank for milling.  Since i dont have a mill i dont have much in the way of end mills but i had a 1/4'' dia and used that.  I had just enough room to mill the slot but had to use the compound and cross feed to get enough travel.  After cutting the slot to.250 I offset the end mill in the 4 jaw and cut it to .312 it just happened to come out to that size i didnt try to set it to any size in particular.  i think i will end up using a file or saw to open it up further.  I still need to fit the plates for the t-nut as well.  The shaft was drilled and tapped for the 1/4-20 screw. I ended up using a .007 washer to set the end play as it was a little too tight.  Next up after finishing the crank will be the ram I need to figure out what material to use and how to build it.


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## Ebel440 (Nov 29, 2014)

I had a few hours today to work on my shaper.  I haven't gotten much done I started on the down feed screw.  For some reason Gingery recommends starting with .750 rod and turning it down to .625 at the max and the majority of it .375 and .437 which is a lot of metal to remove on a small lathe. I started with a .630 piece of cold rolled steel I'm not sure what alloy I would guess 1018. I center drilled it on my drill press then chucked it in the 4 jaw and centered it and got it within a few thousandths. Then I took a light skim to check everything was straight and would leave me with the .625 collar.  Then it was time to cut down the first side to .437. It took about 2 hours to get that done and by that point my feet were numb from standing on the freezing concrete and so I called it a day.


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## 12bolts (Nov 30, 2014)

Thanks for keeping us updated. Nice to see progress is still happening.

Cheers Phil


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## Smithdoor (Nov 30, 2014)

Nice shaper

Dave


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## Ebel440 (Dec 6, 2014)

Well it's been a rainy day today for some reason I sat around all morning doing nothing with my kids just reading about machining instead of actually doing it. I finally got moving and decided I'd thread the screw before I spend more time turning the rest of it down.  So I need my pitch gauge to check the thread and spend 30 minutes looking for one I knew I had even though I knew where 2 others were.  Then time to change the gears and guess who forgot to print out a gear chart?  So spend some more time finding one a member had sent me in a email.  So I have the chart time to change the gears right? Nope the gears stuck on the screw and another 20 minutes to get it off without damaging the zamack gear.  So of course the gear I'm putting on is brand new never been used or had the casting flash removed from the bore.  Break out the needle files and get to work fixing that and here I am almost two hours later almost ready to thread. Just one of those days.  Now I've got to find that threading tool hopefully I'll have a threaded shaft next time I post.


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## Ebel440 (Dec 6, 2014)

*i did​nt get the screw done yet my kids decided it was art time in the garage while I was working on it so I had to stop I don't use the lathe with them around too many ways to get hurt.  And I don't trust the threading dial on my lathe so I leave the half nut engaged and turn it back by hand as it has no reverse switch and I wasn't about to try that with two kids playing around me.  I did get to make a few passes and everything's good so far.  I really need to get my real lathe moved into my garage I bought the 109 as a temporary lathe to be able to use something rather then nothing but it's starting to cost too much time. I could move my lathe in a day and I'm going to try and get it done soon.  
*


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## Ebel440 (Dec 7, 2014)

I did a little more work done on the screw I made a few passes on the thread today then I wanted to check the size to see how much more I needed to cut off. I usually will just check threads I make with a nut or the mating part but both ends of the shaft are still oversized so that won't work.  I need to measure the threads with wires.  I checked a chart and a screw with 20 tpi needs .029 wires.  I don't have a set of wires and I don't like to borrow stuff like that from my work so I needed to find some wire that was .029 diameter.  I thought I had a bunch of piano wire of assorted sizes but couldn't find it so I searched through a few boxes of junk looking for a spring or any wire I could straighten but nothing was the right size.  The best I found was .032 brass rod but it wouldn't work at that size. My plan was to try and stretch the wire until it was right.  The best way would have been drawing it through a die which I have never done before and don't have one of the plates to do it.  I looked for a drill to make one but I don't have anything that size, I thought I could use a slightly larger drill as long as I only used the tip but I would have nothing to check the hole size with as I drilled it.  So I decided to try stretching the wire by putting one end in my vise and pulling with a pair of vise grips. I gave it a few tries but only either pulled it from the vise or broke the wire right where the vise grips held it and there was no change in diameter.  I decided to try annealing the wire so I got the torch out and heated it till it glowed and let it cool.  I think copper is quenched after heating to leave it soft but I have Heated it and just let it air cool in the past and it worked.  I don't know what the recommended method is for brass but guess it's similar.  Anyway after it cooled I tried again and it worked, I felt it stretch right away. I measured it and it had reduced the diameter to .03-.0305 so I gave it another pull and it went to .029-.0295 so I stopped the stretching. I cut off a few inches from each end as there was more taper there and wound up with a piece from the center about 7 inches long. I cut it into three wires which should be good enough for what I'm making.  Then I had to quit for the day but at least I should be ready to go next time.


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## Ebel440 (Dec 13, 2014)

I got the screw finished in the lathe today.  I measured the threads with the wires i made last time and got a measurement about .003 over nominal.  It was a good thing i stopped cutting to measure when i did as I planned on finishing the threads with a die once the lathe work was done.  So i went to work on the other side of the shaft, the plans say to cut it down to .375 dia but i decided it would be better to enlarge it to .500.  I also left the shoulder in the center wider then planned and made both ends of the shaft about an inch longer then called out. I dont know if i will be building the downfeed as designed or if ill make any changes so i figured its better to cut it down if i need to. I then hacksawed the excess material off and started to die cut the threads.  I padded the shaft with aluminum blocks to hold it in my vise but then the shaft was spinning in the vise as i tried to turn the die. I ended up twisting my little vises handle into a ring trying to hold it but it was still spinning.  Thats where i ended for the day you can see a few threads are finished on the end I need to try thinner pieces to pad the shaft or get a bigger vise which I had already planned on.


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## Ebel440 (Dec 14, 2014)

I didn't have a 7/16-20 nut last night to try my threads but I got one and tried it on the thread I had finished and its a nice smooth fit with no wiggle.  I'm using a die from Harbor Freight which has some bad burrs but seems to make a good thread at least but it takes a lot of force to turn it even on the single pointed thread. I would not want to try cutting threads with it if they hadn't been done on the lathe first.  Also I looked over the pictures from last night and realized the piece of plastic I used as my stop was visible. So if you were wondering that's what it's for. Once the carriage touched it I would shut the power off and back out the tool at the same time. I had been making an automatic stop for threading but never hooked it up. I was taking some heavy cuts to rough the shaft down just to see what the 109 could do. The deepest cut I took was about .025 which was about as much as I think the lathe can handle. I was actually surprised I could cut as deep as I did,  I think I'll stick to lighter cuts just to minimize the possibility of damaging something. No idea what I'll make next I need to check the plans.


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## Ebel440 (Dec 22, 2014)

I finished the screw for the down feed. Had to buy a bigger vise first and found a nice used one. The price for a new vise was ridiculous even at harbor freight, I couldn't imagine what they would cost from a real store. I paid 15$ for a Usa made vise that looks unused besides the paint. I try to buy used tools when I can the price is cheaper then new Chinese stuff and the quality is as good as what the good companies sell. I still have not decided what part ill make next, hopefully ill have a chance during the holiday to work on it.


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## Ebel440 (Dec 27, 2014)

The finished shaft. It got a little damaged on the end when I was taking it out of the vise I had oil on my hands and I had polished the unthreaded end so it went flying a little and landed on concrete. I think it'll end up being shortened so ill be ok.


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