Adept No.2 Shaper

My "Machine for Very Small Shaping Work" is still at the Design Concept stage     [i.e. Doodling & Muttering] ... But I am delighted to say that, thanks to Roger Beere, I have purchased a very tidy Adept No.2. Hand Powered

It's in remarkably good condition, and very nearly complete and original. One gib-screw has been replaced with a hex-socket cap-head, and the original "Spanner" for the tool-clamping screw is missing ... but it looks like that might be all there is to worry about !!

Now I have to put it on a stand and learn to use it. I have a very substantial cast iron pillar stand available, so that should do nicely.

As for using it ... any advice would be most welcome.

MichaelG.

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Edit: The original "Spanner" is shown in the first monochrome picture, here

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 27/12/2013 22:00:59

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 27/12/2013 22:05:00

well done

i hope you will keep us informed as to how you go on with it

there was a serial in me or mew recently but i just haven't had time to read & digest it

i too have an adept no 2 powered shaper but i haven't had chance to "have a play" with it yet

i have also come to the conclusion that i got a bit of a bargain when i bought it , as i understand they are quite rare ,and mines in fantastic condition. infact i did a lot of uming & arhing before i bought it. glad i did now

regards

paul

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Spinach ???

Seriously, can anyone answer the question why a hand cranked shaper will fetch more money than a powered one ?

Edited By John Stevenson on 27/12/2013 23:08:26

Could it be because it will also double as a Bullworker® ?

Handpower is fine but once you go beyond making keyways it can soon become tiresome.

Paul

John,

Q1 ...

Q2 ... I didn't know they did.

For the size of work I expect to do with it, Hand Power should be more than adequate, even without the Spinach.

MichaelG.

My tip would be to think of it like a SMALL lathe. A small lathe would sensibly take a 5 thou depth of cut and a 1 or 2 thou feed rate but not 20/20 for each. So the cross section of the cut is only 5 to 10 sq thou. That's what you want to aim for.

It is quite hard to make small enough moves on the dials so it is easier to carefully increase the depth of each pass by only 1 or 2 thou and make the bigger increment on the horizontal for each pull.

My little Drummond is quite theraputic if not in a hurry and for brass not much effort is involved.

Bazyle,

Thanks for that very logical advice.

MichaelG.

Welcome to the Adept Owners Club Michael!

My machine has moved indoors to join my winter workshop and has taken up residence on the end of my axillary workbench (it's wheeled) with my Cowells drill. It was looking a bit battered but on examination it seemed mainly a problem with cracked paint (I suspect a top coat without any attempt to clean/degrease underneath it) - so I stripped it back to bare metal, primed it and have just brushed on two coats of engine enamel (Apple Green)

I have a number of ideas (which we've discussed here on another thread) for using this small tool but my first change will be to make a "half-length" handle. I'll keep the old one as is, but I purchased a new length of suitable bar at Sandown for the shorter handle. I found that for the work I was doing, I was always gripping the handle nearer the shaper, so this is a simple mod that will make the machine easier to use (in a confined space).

I think you will find this to be a very solid foundation for the sort of linear cutting machine you were thinking of, providing that you work on the basis that the current feed arrangements are simply for "coarse" positioning.

Anyway, good luck with your new shaper - perhaps we could both post some progress notes next year?

Regards,

Ian

Edited By IanT on 28/12/2013 11:43:24

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Thanks for the welcome, Ian, and for posting the photos ... Nice restoration.

Mine still has most of its original [very pale Green] paint, and will probably stay like that for a while, whilst I polish-up the bits that should be shiny.

The short handle sounds a good idea, and Yes; I think we should post progress notes here.

I've just cleared access to that cast iron pillar stand that I mentioned, and have confirmed that it's just the right size ... A real "Goldilocks Moment" which I'm taking as a good omen.

MichaelG.

Don't let anyone kid you, they are hard work. I had one years ago, and when we were at tech college, my mate did a design study of how you could motorise it. Probably today, I would consider an air ram and run it on compressed air. You could set distance stops etc to limit the travel, valves for speed ? (Would air be too 'spongey' ?

BobH

Hydraulic, yes. Pneumatic, no.

Martin.

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Thanks for the thought Bob; but the only part I'm likely to motorise is the Cross Slide movement. A Stepper Motor, incrementing "n steps" every time the Ram retracts, should improve the surface finish.

MichaelG.

Congratulations on your purchase Michael.

You will find that it is very cheap to run, and environmentally friendly !!!!

Seriously though, as long as you don't expect it to shift huge quantities of metal, it should prove to be remarkably accurate and give a good surface finish. I have owned a hand powered number 2 for some years and have found it really useful for some jobs.

There is quite a bit of information out there on t'internet about shapers in general. The beauty of the beast is that tooling is dirt cheap and easy to modify. It took quite a bit of experimentation to produce satisfactory tooling for mine, but I have been very impressed with the finish that can be attained on steel, brass and aluminium.

Gordon.

I do understand the limitations of hand shapers Bob,

I've tried machining relatively large surfaces with my Adept some time ago. It was hard work but I was intrigued by the whole Shaper experience. As I've mentioned on a previous thread, it was one of the reasons I purchased a 7" Atlas when I got the chance. I find the (powered) Atlas is very good for surfacing larger surface areas (with an excellent finish) as I can set it up to run and (within reason) let it work whilst I get on with other things nearby. I suspect a lot of comment about Shapers being "slow" ignores this aspect of their operation. I certainly cannot 'duplex' with a lathe or mill in quite the same way.

However, I am not intending to use the Adept to remove large amounts of metal, I'm looking to use it on smaller and/or more specialist items/tasks. I think of it as a 'linear' cutting tool and one where I think the "hand" (control) aspect of it might even be an advantage. There are of course always more than one way to do things (like skinning cats apparently) so only time will tell whether this will turn out to be useful in practice. Fortunately I do this for fun and as I like experimenting with things, if they don't work out exactly as planned, it doesn't matter too much.

Regards,

IanT

It will teach you a lot about keeping your tooling sharp, since you will be able to tell when it is getting dull. Standard lathe angles for the tools will be fine except that you may find a little less top rake suits a shaper. If there is too much top rake the tool may tend to pull down into the job. Best test for sharpness is to see if the tool will take a scrape from a fingernail.

The old treadle lathes taught the same lesson, you can't get away with dull tooling when you are supplying the effort yourself. Not that I had that experience myself, but my father once had a Greyson lathe which was treadle powered until he motorised it. He said that while it did save a lot of hard work, you do lose something since you get a good feel for how the cut is going and what the tools is like with a human powered tool. I got some of the same sort of lesson with my Unimat 3 since with the original belts it was quite sensitive to the state of the tool edge. Since you don't tend to use a shaper quite as often as a lathe, being hand powered is not such a big deal...anyway it has to be better than first chiseling, then filing, a flat surface as the old timers used to do.

John

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Thanks, Gordon

It looks like you, me, and IanT are on the same wavelength ...

MichaelG.

<quoted text emboldened by MichaelG.>

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Paul,

Sorry I didn't respond to your post ... Is it the motorised version that you have?

Mine, like IanT's, is hand-powered [and I expect it to remain that way], but I would be interested to hear how the motorised one performs.

MichaelG.

hello MichaelG.

yes it is motorised, I've only had it running to see if it works thats about it, the motor its self is from a washing machine i presume as it has a hoover on the plate, it stands on a home made trolly

​It's going to be awhile before I get round to using it as I'm new to this model engineering lark and i'm only just getting to grips with my lathe. Just started to machine my 1st engine (stuart 10v) a bit of head scratching going on but it's a learning curve.

If i get chance later i will take some pics and try and post them

regards

paul

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That's great, thanks Paul

MichaelG.

Hi Paul,

Back in the day Hoover made some very lovely motors for machine tools, so it [probably isn't from a washing machine if it looks like the one below. If it has oil cups at each end pop a drop or two of oil in every day you use it.

Neil