South Bend 7" shaper refurbishment

[KeithB]

Sweet!

 

[Ian]

That's second "gear" with the motor wired for 1400-sumthin' rpm. I timed the strokes in the first three speeds and after comparing to the speeds the manual indicates, I think I'll wire it back to 1725 rpm because the low speed as it us now is slower than the recommended tool speed for most any material. The gears are not in good shape thanks to all the chip ingestion caused by some idjet putting on a motor that ran the wrong direction.

I strategically installed a bunch of magnets to hopefully control the chips and fines that make their way into the oil and keep it all out of the oil pump. Both way oilers are tuned in and the gear and sliding block drippers are positioned correctly. Now I get to finish reconditioning the vertical slide, clapper box, box table, knee and table wipers, and vise. After spending two weeks of late nights flattening and scraping the ram and saddle ways by hand, all that should be pretty simple.

 

[Mitty38]

That's second "gear" with the motor wired for 1400-sumthin' rpm. I timed the strokes in the first three speeds and after comparing to the speeds the manual indicates, I think I'll wire it back to 1725 rpm because the low speed as it us now is slower than the recommended tool speed for most any material. The gears are not in good shape thanks to all the chip ingestion caused by some idjet putting on a motor that ran the wrong direction.

I strategically installed a bunch of magnets to hopefully control the chips and fines that make their way into the oil and keep it all out of the oil pump. Both way oilers are tuned in and the gear and sliding block drippers are positioned correctly. Now I get to finish reconditioning the vertical slide, clapper box, box table, knee and table wipers, and vise. After spending two weeks of late nights flattening and scraping the ram and saddle ways by hand, all that should be pretty simple.

Well nothing exploded or caught fire yet. LOL

Seriously, you do very nice work. You can tell, you have pride in workmanship.

 

[JonB]

I bet that thing would do a nice job slicing cheese...put some EVO oil in there, and you could have a nice coating on the cheese, plus some for dipping that expensive French bread bits in, LOL

 

[waco]

I can’t help but notice the red and green colors are very similar to my Highland Park Lapidary saw.

 

[Ian]

I didn't want Lamar and Brad descending on my shop armed with cases of Dillon Blue so I had to keep the red muted. Actually I was trying to keep the red where the original Glyptal primer was and was too cheap to buy real Glyptal. Last week I found a can of IH tractor red that would have been much closer to correct, but too late. Still have to paint the box table in a few places, will probably do it in red like the factory did.

 

[RicinYakima]

Ian, you are a true artist!

 

[Ian]

Thanks, Ric. We'll see if I can live up to that title when I start trying to whittle rifle receivers out with this thing. Should I make the first one of sharp cheddar for Jon?

 

[Mitty38]

In a few years we will be seeing Ian Gun Works, precision rifles behind the glass at the local gun shops.

 

[JonB]

Sharp cheddar sounds good, but maybe the first one could be a softer material? like cheese puffs, LOL.

 

[Ian]

Got the head and clapper box cleaned up and put together, box table cleaned and painted and the stuck support foot repaired, stoned the burrs off the foot pad, put the cross feed mechanism together, and rechecked the tram after milling a .005" step in the top table way block.

 

[Ian]

After cleaning up the vise and getting everything squared away, adjusted, locked down, and triple checked, I let her rip on some aluminum.

 

[Ian]

Third gear out of four, motor still wired for low speed. First pass in video above was on the slowest speed. .006" stepover, .025" D.O.C.

 

[Ian]

The final finish at .002" step and .010" depth, third gear. Using light penetrating oil to keep chips from sticking to the tool.



All that remains to finish the shaper is get some fresh felt wipers for the knee and saddle ways and install them. Now it's time to buy some 3/8" HSS tool steel blanks so I can run them directly in the tool post without the Armstrong tool holder if I want. Also need to make some key-cutting bars to fit the Armstrong so I can make square holes.

 

[smokeywolf]

Ian, for machining aluminum, about the best cutting oil I've found is Relton A9 mixed 80/20 with kerosene.

Get or make yourself a chip catcher to place in front of the shaper to minimize sweeping/vacuuming.

 

[Ian]

I completed cleaning up the aluminum block tonight. Did the ends by feeding the head down manually on each backstroke. The block sides are parallel across within .0003", ends within .0001", and there is about .0006" taper lengthwise (about 2.5" long). I don't know how accurate these little machines are supposed to be, but that's what I got using the vise and support foot.

 

[462]

From the start of the refurbishment project to its completion, and to the results of your first piece of test work, you ought to be very proud of it all.

Well done!

What's next?

 

[smokeywolf]

Ian, if you want to troubleshoot that taper, the first place I would look is the vise.

 

[Ian]

I need some vee blocks for fixturing in this machine and the vertical mill, so I'll try to make some in a future installment. I'll have to finish up the band saw project before that though.

 

[Ian]

On May 21st the shaper came home and got uncrated. On July 9th it made the first chips. I remember Keith disclosing the deficiencies of which he was aware and areas that would need immediate attention, and I told him that I was prepared to do anything short of grinding and scraping ways. Well.....funny how teachers have a way of stretching a student's skill set beyond what that student could imagine, even unintentionally! Thanks for the experience, "Perfesser" Benedict, I just dipped my toes in it but I see a whole new world of precision now.

Keith's photos, from his sale thread (far better lighting than any of my "before" photos) :