Shaper barn find

“Lantern toolholder”? Seriously?

Right. there is no toolholder.
There should be a 'clapper box' on the end of the ram, to allow the tool to return without pressure on the work piece.
 
davidpbest said:
Lantern toolholder”? Seriously?
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Yes, seriously. I’m seeing an empty clapper box with no tool holder in it. Unless one is using a dedicated holder for inside key ways the lantern holder is usually the order of the day. How would you typically do it?
 
OK, what am I missing about the recent fascination for shapers???. They were in machine shops for nearly a century and got little or no attention. Now that they're long obsolete in the money making world for some reason seem to appeal to the hobbyist crowd. Not that many years ago you couldn't give them away. In many cases the transportation costs were greater than the scrap value. A friend had a 16" one in his shop for making structural column shims for many years. When the contract ran out it sat in the corner for 3 years. He tried to sell it on several occasions and finally found a hobbyist/collector willing to pay $150.00 for it. It was worth more in scrap value, but it would have cost more than the scrap price to have it hauled to the dealer.

I thought maybe a visit to Abom79's website might shed some light on the subject, but it's still a mystery to me. I watched half a dozen "shaper" videos and all I saw were a few being hauled out of storage, and some making "test" chips. I didn't see one where they were actually making a useable part. Maybe I missed something and someone can point me to a video where a machine is actually making parts.

As for the shaper in the barn, it looks like it'll take a lot of time and money to transform it into a working machine. I don't think you're going to find many line shaft pieces and parts to be able to use it in it's original condition, so it looks it'll have to be modified to run on an electric motor. As an uninterrupted project I'm guessing it'll take a year or more to finish. It's more likely the project will span several years before the machine will start making chips. Even then what type of project will it be used for?

I guess I don't share the opinion that it's in "amazing condition". To me it looks rough, but salvageable. As mentioned earlier it looks like a long term project
 
projectnut said:
OK, what am I missing about the recent fascination for shapers???.
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For me I find the shapers intriguing. So simple but mesmerizing to watch. Something about the rhythmic motion back and forth as a chip of metal gets stripped from the stock in the vise. I really didn't exposed to shapers until I started watching Abom and Steve Summer's channels. Neither my High School machine shop nor my College machine shop had one.
 
"Of note also, he has at least a dozen canisters of 3" Naval dummy training shells. They look like they are made out of mahogany, or similar. "
I used to have a couple. Very nice relic. SARCOINC had them 20-25 yrs ago, for around $25. & shipping.... I sold the ones I had for about what I had in them.
A couple versions at least, earlier had a brass base, and nicer fuse assembly, later, steel, or alloy base, and not as nice fuse assembly.
Just remember - my memory may vary...
 
i grew up in a time when junior & senior high schools still had many lathes & machine tools for the kids to learn on.
But we had no shapers. My guess is most don’t even have lathes anymore.
I’m not sure I have any use for a shaper, but if I could find a good deal on a small one (not likely) i would buy it, they have always interested me.
EDIT: hotrats you must be a Frank Zappa/Captain Beefhart fan.
Me too.
 
I have to agree with @projectnut. We had a shaper at the JC when I was there. I used it to make a gear rack and was probably the last student to run it. That was back in '78. Fast forward 30 years and I met a guy who was a retired fine arts metalworking professor from UC Berkeley. He lived off-grid and had a decently equipped black-smithing type shop. I was amused to see a little bench-top shaper as I walked in the back door of the house, the first one I had seen since school. When I started participating in online machining forums, I was even more amused to see people lusting after and buying them. I suppose they are cool, and yes it is hypnotic to watch them run, but if I'm going to collect antiques they will have some resale value and my wife isn't going to need a forklift to get rid of them.
 
Manual Mac said:
EDIT: hotrats you must be a Frank Zappa/Captain Beefhart fan.
Me too.
Click to expand...
Exactly! Not so much Beefhart though. Nice to find other fans. Ever listen to Frankly A Capella, by the Persuasions? Good stuff.
 
Shapers are just interesting and fun to watch. I like the ability to 'make anything but a profit'. I have a home shop, nothing i make ever even hits my break even point, since it is a hobby. So I like to enjoy watching/playing/problem solving with interesting tools.

I realize Abom is the one who really kicked off the recent love for shapers (though, I found the video a few weeks ago that inspired HIS obsession! His comment in the youtube comments and everything), but I find them fun and fascinating.

Honestly, if we ever cared about the 'best tool for the job', we wouldn't have hobby tools, we'd have 5 axis CNC machines. A shaper is just a 1970s equivalent of a milling machine, or manual lathe.
 
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