Member postings for thaiguzzi

No probs. Works very very well. Do all the tens in one setting, then the fives, and finish off with the ones.

Just recently done a large shaper excercise. Full stroke used and practising machining all the vees (like dovetail cutting) and large t slot. Could have saved a few hours doing some ops on the Senior M1 with vertical head, but i was determined to do EVERY op on the shaper, bar drilling and tapping holes, and sawing off each piece in the Denbigh power hacksaw. Started off with two flame cut billets of steel, ended up with 11 Dickson/Bison style QC tool holders, 9 std, 2 part off blade holders for my Boxford VSL. 76 hours from start to finish inc drilling, tapping, sawing and hot oil blackening. About 3-4 hours per day on the job.

And i do all of my graduations of dials etc on my 8" Boxford shaper, with my H/V Vertex 6" rotary table and dividing plates. Release belt tension, set the stroke, and manually rotate the handle. Good fun and easier than on a lathe with a lining tool.

A big +1 on all the above.

# I always prefer my vintage/classic machine tools and motorcycles clean and in perfect mechanical "WORKING" order. Working being the key word. Original paint is always preferred to a respray, c/w dings, scratches etc. Over the top brightwork has never impressed me. Nor have concours standards.

# Never a truer word spoken; Radford was a true great, and GHT added the bling, and admitted a lot of his mods were from Radford's designs.

Cheapest parts by far for Boxford lathes. +1.

My dad bought me my "universal clone" 16 speed 2MT Taiwanese bench/pillar drill as a birthday present in 1983. I have still got it, that's over 30 years old. Original motor, original capacitor, original brgs, quill etc. Never, ever been to pieces. Quill still in good nick. Binned and changed the 5/8" capacity chuck early on.

Now here's the rub, not only is it my "hobby" bench drill now, but between 1988 and 2003 it was our main pillar drill in my full time m/c workshop run as a business. Day in, day out use, and including drilling 1000's of 5/8" holes with a 2MT drill bit in 1/4" thick flat bar for window security grills (another sideline).

Bloody marvelous.

Check the new "retro" South Bends out, either a model 9 or 10. Lovely to look at. Fair bit about it on the South Bend owners area on PM.

Also if the front face is curved the same as the shaper tool, you can face with it too, but contact must be centre height, whereas in normal turning to diameter, centre height is irrelevant for a shear tool. For me, on the shaper or the lathe, not only do i get a great, consistent finish, but the finished size/diameter is so consistent over the whole length/ size of piece.

Again, topics like this make me smile, and, again, show me one of the many reasons i live here now, and not there anymore.

# Building scaffolding - bang some eucalyptus and bamboo together with nails, sorted.

# Building protective hard hats, steel toed boots - What? Sorry?

# Schools buses too full - get the teenagers and older ones to sit on the roof. 11 years living here i have never seen or heard of someone falling off.

# M/C helmet laws - only for the driver/rider, the 3 (that's 4 on a moped) other pillions/passengers - never mind.

# The most popular mopeds are automatics or semis, ie no clutch lever, so pretty ladies can ride holding an umbrella with their left hand shielding them from the sun, or mothers have got a better grip on their infant.

# Household electrical regulations - you are having a laugh, twist wires together and finish off with insulating tape. Or do it yourself, properly.

... I could go on...

Also pull apart and check the ratchet feed mechanism. Maybe somebody previously has been in there and things are not as they should be. When you've got that far, check the feedscrew end float (Should not be any), taper locating pins and thrust bearings if any.

Mike.

Good to know it's sorted. Next time loosen the gib strip adjustments right off for the table, should make re connection a doddle. Re -adjust tight.. This could not happen on my Boxford, something would break, feeding towards the operator's side. Feeding away from you, it would just run off the screw and stop, as intended by the makers. The majority of shaper work has the table feeding towards you, so you want to be there when the surface has been finish machined, not in the kitchen making a cup of tea.

Regards,

Mike.

Then if it's a simple matter of the table coming off the screw, even on the operator's side, it should be able to re-engage by turning the handle and at the same time giving the table a couple of deft wacks with a dead blow hammer. Tables and cross feed mechanisms on all shapers need to be much tighter than on mills or lathes, purely for the ratchet feed mechanism to work properly. Don't ask me how i know...

As you may gather, i live in NE Thailand. No neighbors, plantation farm house with perimeter wall. Crime rate is going through the roof here, it never used to be like this. Anyhow, i am legally entitled to SHOOT and KILL any intruder on any part of my property inc farm land. But as the police made clear it has to be a frontal shot, then no problems. You cannot shoot an intruder in the back. Sounds fair to me...

7 stitches on top of my right hand from a corner of sheet steel in the 80's at work. I was ok after they sat me down pouring blood, foreman came over, saw me and nearly fainted. they had to get him a chair too.

Early 90's in my own engineering workshop, very long beard, got caught in the pillar drill, pulled in and lost half the beard before switching off. Had to shave the rest off as i looked a right prat, and nobody had seen me for decades without a beard. Very fond of that beard.

Mike.

+1.

Boxford.

Mike.

When you say "towards me" i presume you were standing on the operators side, ie where all the handles and adjustments are. If so, you do in fact have a problem. However, if the table has stopped moving at the other side, like most people replying think you have, then you have no problem and do as instructed in the above posts. Sometimes a dead blow hammer helps, as a shaper table does not move or re-engage as easily as a lathe cross slide.

Mike.

Myford Super 7 vs Boxford model A (or even better the VSL);

# Bigger headstock bore, MT 3, bigger spindle thread.

# V ways.

# Bigger, heavier and more heavy duty in every aspect.

# Motor in the cabinet, not behind the headstock, so very 40's.

# Virtually every one sold comes on a cabinet.

# Better saddle, apron, cross slide and top slide.

# You are paying just for a lathe, not a name and a lathe.

# I could go on but...

Regards,

Mike,

NE Thailand.

# "Tramming" the head is all part of the ownership experience of a vertical mill, and is a pretty straight forward process just like using a 4 jaw chuck in a lathe. Much easier than playing around with flimsy tilting vices et al. Concur about the lack of a quill in the Boxford mill, and also no std powerfeed to the table, otherwise i would already own one to match my Boxford shaper and VSL lathe. Hence i own an M1 with an S vertical head.

You can find Boxfords much cheaper than Myfords, and they are a better lathe in EVERY aspect.

Yep, magnesium is THE ONE. Panic stations when that catches light. Only ever happened to me once, hopefully never again. Thing is, magnesium machines beautifully, whereas Titanium is a pig to drill and mill and saw, and only slightly more fun to turn.

Yeah, sorry, bit thick with a computer. Back to the tool - it is also a ridiculous easy grind to shape. Mine has the radius so i can face with it too. The shaper tool is in the Moltrecht books.

Regards,

Mike.