Making Tool holders for my Shaper

Me again...

I used my Nice New ALBA NC shaper to make new jaws for its vice, and promptly decided that the next thing to make is a darn Chip guard! Wow, can that shaper toss chips about! As the only space I have left for it is in the Woodwork shop, chips don't go down well in there!

So, here are some pics of the guards - quickly fitted and removed by means of 4 thumbscrews, and 4 ex-hard-disc drive magnets siliconed to the guards:

Two right side thumbscrews

Two left underside magnets

Then I started making some toolholders for cutters made from 10mmx16mmx80mm HSS.

First doing the flat bars in the shaper:

One bar is 12mm thick, the upper bar in the pic below, the other is 16mm thick. The 12mm bar made horrid chips - all squashed and scrunched, torn out of the bar, while the lower bar chips curled off nicely. Both mild steel, with black scale, flame cut to sort of size - supplier could not tell me what grade/type of steel these were!

The lousy chips come from the upper bar in the pic below...Surface finish is strange! Same feed speed, DOC, ram speed and cutter as the lower bar. Upper bar cut first.

Cutter as ground as used - a HSS cutter 10mmx25mmx150mm

The open slot end of the tool holder - fitted with steel insert to be welded..

Castle tool holder clamped to bar, ready for welding

TIG Tacked...

All welded and cleaned up, ready to use.

Welding dome with TIG, at 200amps to get real deep penetration, and to put the weld where I wanted - not so easy with MIG..

I suspect the upper bar was structural steel. Had the same finish on a bit of S275 (430 N/mm^2 ultimate, 275 N/mm^2 yield, weldable fine grain steel) from a channel section. Not nice finish. Retains grease well, if it's any consolation.

Looks pretty good otherwise.

Must use my Boxford more.

Regards,

Richard

Blimey! The shaper looks brand new! I didn't think shapers were made any more, so it must be a really high grade restoration! CNC too, the mind boggles!

Seriously I suggest that you submit the rebuild (?) as an article in MEW, very little good shaper information about. It would make a change from "One man and his Lathe"

Andrew.

> Seriously I suggest that you submit the rebuild (?) as an article in MEW,

It would be most welcome. I have mentioned this thread in the next issue.

Neil

Damn Joseph, now I'm going to have to upgrade from the cardboard box I've been using too!

Regards,

IanT

Another vote for wanting to see a write up on the restoration job and details of how the numerical control was done.

Vested interest in my case as a similar NC exercise for mine is on the "have a good look at it list" for, provisionally, 2020 - 21. Shop Gremlins permitting of course. Fairly sure Josephs work on the NC side will be better than what I'd do if starting from scratch. Special attention to gear cutting in y case as I'd like to do a full set of extra gears for my P&W B once the service, spruce up and re-paint planned for 2019 - 20 is done. Not that I need the gears but might as well do the job right.

Clive.