Nice job! I looked into this book series about 25 years ago, but could never justify all the time put into building them, to the quality of cast aluminum machines at the end. I'm glad someone did it though. I'm sure Mr Gingery is smiling somewhere, and it does look like a fun project. I am now considering finding a plan for a bench top mill to build. Thanks for the video...
I am so sorry that youtube dont give people like you enough so that you can keep making video's. I loved your channel and I do hope that what ever you do you are having a good time with good health and everything good that comes with it :) GOOD LUCK
Hi, I'm from Austria and I'm an engine builder since 40 years. I build lathe's and al kind of grinding machines. Congratulations for your real great work. It's interesting to look the way from alloy aluminum to the complete shaper. I think your videos ar'e good stuff for every young people to learn what is possible. Thank you for your videos!!!
Hello, well done for completing, As a pro shaper machinist, I often use my shaper to make historically accurate parts that can't be done on a mill as the machining marks are all different, to improve finish on Aluminium you need a tool with 10degree s neg lead, 15 degrees front and side clearance, & this'll sound nuts but 30degrees back and side rake with a small nose radius about 1mm/0.040". Also polish the tool facets with 1500grit stone or wet n dry, & wd40 as lube to prevent stickup. Also, the chatter is from over long unsupported tool use a HSS lathe tool holder with inbuilt rake to help. Also, your tool tip is too far in front of the clapper box pivot, it's a "Gingery" thing, either move the pivot forward or raise it higher to improve the clapper movement angle. Sorry if I've laid too much on you. All the best
Holy freaking crap! Sometimes I think to myself, "Why am I trying to make this thing? I could have saved so much time if I just bought it." Which is totally wrongheaded thinking, but that's besides the point. The real point being, your dedication on this project blows me out of the water! Kudos, and thanks for your work!
I’m impressed to say the lest, you have done a excellent job of making the shaper, it goes to show that if you put your mind to it you can have massive achievements and you have proved that right here, thank you for sharing this mate
I had no idea you could use Styrofoam that way in aluminum casting! That opens up a lot of possibilities for making useful parts, I will have to keep that in mind for the future!
been waiting a lllooonnngg time to see how to make one of these. cannot express with words how much i personally appreciate your work and information on this project. watched your lathe build in its entirety, stoked everytime i saw that there was another one chronologically posted. at the end of that build i thought to myself, "man, all i need to know now is how to build a mill and a shaper", and sure as anything, here it is. good job brother, and thank you very much for showing the world..
Dude! You're my new sensei. My wife just bought the hardcover "Build Your Own Metal Working Shop From Scrap" by David J. Gingery. Such an awesome Father's day gift. I will be starting on page 1 and completing every project. I'm so glad you made these videos. Thanks!
I would love to see someone follow the Gingery build series with cast iron instead of aluminum. The increased weight would really help to make the machines more capable. I especially imagine that it would help with the chatter you’re getting if the clapper box wasn’t so light. Very nice build!
One thought on final shaper placement - I would suggest that you bolt it to the cement table so that the vertical slide projects just a touch over the edge of the table. That way, you add more vertical travel to the machine should you ever need to plane something taller than the current work envelope of the shaper. Also, I think it would be cool to see the the shaper and the lathe sharing a common power source. It might end up looking like a mini line shaft set up but since I don't think you'd use both tools at once, I think it might work.
I was going to share a power source until I realized that the shafts would be rotating the wrong way. Both shafts need to rotate with the top coming toward the operator. If I mount the shaper on the back side of the lathe cart I will need a way to reverse the rotation. I don't think v-belts would do well with a half twist.
if you use extruded polystyrene ( AKA pink or blue foam) instead of expanded, you will get a much better surface finish on your castings , its much nicer to work with , you can even turn it on the lathe to cast pulleys etc.
Fun setup and with the right planning you can turn it into a gear maker also by replacing the table with a assembly that rotates a disk of metal at the right speed for the tooth to take a strip off.
hi my name is Kevin from Aus it is good to see you make little shaper in out famley engineering business we have tool room shaper yes you can do just about any thing on it I notest you had a weight on the set screw holding the tool in ,you might think of making a tool lifter so wen the ram goes backward it lifts the tool off the work piece you don't get makes on your work piece our machine has power feed on every thing it mite be a good idea putting dowels pins in some parts wen you line thing up your shaper looks very nice I like it I am a retired engineer
Isn't it just the cutest little shaper, personally i would not make it out of cast Aluminium, but out of steel The shapers i have worked with, also had an adjustment on top of the ram, to move the ram forward or backward.which is great. A Shaper is a very handy machine, it can do a lot of things that a mill also could do I once made a set of brake Calipers with just a drillpress and a shaper.
The machine is cool, I was wondering how a shaper would work as a project in the longterm. However It won't meet the needs of what I may require it for as a keyway inside of a shaft on about a 45 degree tapper. Super cool to understand a bit on how it works.
well its been a long time coming! Looking at the video I did notice that the table should only be traversing during the back stroke of the cutting tool. if you traverse the table while cutting you will add more wear and inconsistent cutting load on the machine. just a heads up.
I have been tracking the timing more consistently as I have used the machine since it does make a difference in cut quality. @ 10:33 I did adjust the timing so it advances on the return stroke. I have to remember to change the timing 180 degrees when I switch feed directions though.
I have been a Machinist for 42yrs and I find this Very impressive its one thing to have the materials flat stock round stock etc on hand and machine them but to cast and machine them is a challenge in itself Excellent job I also have all of the Dave Gingery books bought them from Lindsay Publishing about 10 yrs back sorry they went out of business I liked all their books
I advise you watch some abom79 videos. He does some nice shaper work. For high surface finishes, he uses what looks like a lathe grooving or parting tool. He hones it by hand on the machine to ensure the cutting edge is parallel to the table travel and seems to have good results that way. One other thing he said was important was to tilt the Clapper box so the step over doesn't rub the tool on the return stroke. I was going to mention the step over should happen on the return and not the cut but saw someone already did and you replied. That being said, nice work building it. Looks like it will be a lot of fun once you get the hang out of playing with it.
I used to get the book catalogs, loved reading those. I have everything to build a furnace, & the book to build the lathe, just never started. I have to admit my ignorance though. Please, someone, what does the shaper do? Probably best I haven't tried building the lathe, not understanding what the shaper does.
In various shots you are running the machine backwards. That would help explain at least some of the issues you're listing. The ram is only supposed to advance during the top half of the rotation of the bull wheel. This is so that the ram is driving on the most powerful part of the the rotation. You never just reverse the drive. If you're doing this with the idea of cutting in both directions of travel of the cross slide, just stop. When cutting, the table feed is in one direction only. You're supposed to just stop the machine and manually return the cross slide to your starting position. Also,if you're trying to use inserted carbide inserts, don't waste your time. Carbide needs an extremely ridgid setup, which, due to the clapper box needed on this machine you'll never have. Also,if there is any side to side and/or twisting play in the box you'll get crappy results. That's what I was just able to figure out from your video. Settle down. You're jumping around to much. Speaking as a thirty year+ veteran of the machine trade's, I can tell you that if you don't sit down and actually analyse and understand the process and how it's supposed to work, you'll just keep chasing your tail. Break out Dave's series and actually get in depth in the setup and operation sections of the book. He has a basic but very solid how to set of instructions in it. Also, when in doubt about something follow his instructions as closely as possible, especially the correct check and setting up of all the axis slides. This machine,as most machines, needs to be be as ridgid as possible. That means that most, if not all, of your plastic parts are most likely adding to any other issues you've got, making trouble shooting all but impossible. Sorry, but that's the truth. Plastic parts don't have any application in the driveline of a machine like this. Not solid enough.
I noticed that quite a few of the components interfacing with the plastic are maybe 22ga steel. Those are worth upgrading to at least a 3/16 plate to increase rigidity.
Well written post from somebody who obviously knows what they are talking about... 😎👍 The carbide tools thing is definitely a no-no... a nice sharp HSS cutter with generous rake and clearance angles will DRASTICALLY reduce the input power requirements & general loading on the machine. I own an ELLIOTT 12" stroke shaper & love using it, the finish , with the right tool-grind, is easily better than a milled surface. 🤗
Peter Fitzpatrick Just an FYI, the tooling he’s using is HSS. It’s a design that looks like carbide because it’s an insert, but he showed the packaging which stated it’s HSS insert tooling.
metrology .. in a one inch square after scraping the spot count matters the less there is/spots/ the flatter the part the surface plates can get pricey and used ones can be found but they regularly get abused which affects their accuracy so you can apply some elbow grease to marble or steel blocks by using them to get them flat all it takes is your willingness and some diamond paste and three of the same blocks to alternate them out as you go. applying even pressure as you rub them together fine grain diamond sharpening plates would help you get the roughness out until you get to where you could have it rated for flatness or learn to do the rating your self but there again that gets pricey as well it takes specialized equipment to do that it really comes down to just how close your tolerances have to be you could get away with eyeballing it until it just has to be tighter
Nice job on the shaper. When You get it sorted out the cut will amaze you. I'm just a hobbyist, but stick to hss on a light machine as carbide likes fast cutting speeds and heavy cuts two things your machine does not do. I don't no if gingery talks about what way the feed mechanism should turn but there is a specific direction. Tubalcain has a great video on the subject, with a teaching aid he built. Look for shop tips #172 Whitworth quick reverse mechanism. He also has a couple videos on a very small home made shaper that is incredible.
I liked this project build very much. Of all the Gingery projects, this is the one I most want to build. I never seem to be able to get the time to get started on a project like this though...so many others going on. Also, somehow, it looks like around 16:50 you have the cross feed set up to move during the cut, so that mechanism is not in phase properly at that point. I'd be interested to hear how you did that.
@ 10:33 I did adjust the timing so it advances on the return stroke. I have to remember to change the timing 180 degrees when I switch feed directions though.
Very cool, I have not used a shaper since I was in tech school in 1984. Great job, it brings back great memories. It was a scary machine, especially when you made a heavy cut.
To achieve a better surface finish use a bull nose cutter and increase the feed rate, try 1/16". You lose some power with the Al ram being so light. Cast Al is porous making it difficult to obtain a good finish. I hope this helps.
It has been a long time since I used a shaper back in early eighties.Haven't used one since or seen anyone use them.Looks pretty cool though you must have the patience to build one.
I love these videos! With regard to the tool needing a counter weight (otherwise known as a wrench) to stop it chattering, Couldn't you use some kind of sprung attachment to ensure it returns firmly? Just a thought from someone who didn't even know what a shaper was until I saw this series... in fact, I initially thought the lathe and the shaper was called the 'Gingery' because... er... well... because you're ginger. Okay... I'll show myself out.
@@Makercise No way we need to stay with tradition, and be real men and not use a computer to run it. :) We just have to be careful when we turn it on and off.
I loved your lathe and shaper projects ! how about you make a new lathe ? one double or triple the original dimensions so you would have a lathe that is capable of much larger work ? I would love to see that ! the original to me, is just too small to bother with ... ....Bob......
Are you planning to make the Gingery milling machine next? How about adding things to the lathe, like screw cutting gears, back gears, dividing head etc.?
Minor addition to running the shaper, ensure that the table is advancing during the backstroke for the best surface finish, that way it's not trying to take an unevenly loaded cut
I have been doing this consistently as I have used the machine more. @ 10:33 I did adjust the timing so it advances on the return stroke. I have to remember to change the timing 180 degrees when I switch feed directions though.
7:50 first I clarify that i don't want disrespect you, I'm asking for curiosity. Is the worktable showing lack of rigidity ??? it will be a big problem i think. in any case amazing job
Why am I doing exactly the same thing you're doing, with the same materials even, but I'm 5 failed attempts into lost foam casting the bases for the gingery mill? It's extremely frustrating and incredibly disappointing. I'm going to keep going, but it's getting hard to continue failing. Is the quarter inch foam just too thin? I've made several castings that where thicker for other projects, so these would be the thinnest. I'm going to try to make a set of base patterns for the mill that are half an inch and see if that helps, but if not then I'm abandoning lost foam.
Have you looked at gear involute gear cutting on the shaper? It's a very interesting process just using a v bit and rotating the workpiece to produce the gear tooth.
Dedicated and rewarding work ! I actually have a serious question and forgive my ignorance, but why Scrape the right-angle plate instead of just laying some wet/dry sandpaper on your Granite flat plate and cleaning it up that way...it's Aluminum !
LOTS more heat required, much more safety-related measures involved, different molding characteristics (not sure about lost foam with iron, but green sand characteristics are less forgiving), different crucible requirements, etc. Check out luckygen1001, for some real quality hobby work in cast iron and great info.
Could perhaps the whole advancement mechanism be replaced with a hall sensor, a stepper motor, an arduino and a stepper driver? With such you could dial in the amount of advancement to microsteps.
@@Makercise Well, you certainly wouldn't need a full cnc setup with a dedicated PC and all. There are just so many cheap off the shelf components that solving the problem electronically seems more "beer and bait money". Perhaps it could be done with a small encoder , a hall effect sensor, and an H-bridge, skipping stepper drivers/stepper motors altogether.
@@bradyrose I think it's actually likely less work to use a stepper because you don't have to implement a control algorithm for ensuring perfect positioning. And drivers are dead cheap, just buy the cheapest and shittiest 3d printer control board you can find (usually these have safety hazards with their heated bed controls but it doesn't matter since you aren't using that part), and an equally cheap stepper motor. You can program it all like an Arduino.
You should have an introduction video showing the shaper . I wasn't familiar with the shaper and had to jump to the end to see what it was. It's good to have an idea of what you're working to. You could also do the same for the lathe. If you do iron casting, it's a much higher temp, and I believe its harder to work with. I believe that's why Dave Gingery did most of his work in aluminum. What video do you describe the differences between green mold sand casting, and lost plastic foam casting ? Are the castings more porous ??? Also, I saw a similiar lathe project where instead of bronze bushings, they just went out and purchased bearings from Northern Tool for $9. Thanks.
This is the first time I have run across your channel and I gave you the RU-vid Trifecta! Only recently have I let the Bell be rung as I don't like the scroll as I am watching RU-vid videos on something else! I used to get the old orange cheap paper catalogs from some guy in Illinois someplace, maybe Chicago? I just wasn't at a place where I could afford to do even what you are doing. I have done some lost wax silver jewelry casting in the area of Annapolis, MD with the Patuxant Lapidary Guild after seeing a TV show about classes in Sedona, New Mexico for over a grand! I got to thinking when I was going to have that much money to blow, especially if I was in N.M.? So I looked for something closer to Baltimore. It was so much fun when I let the broken-arm casting machine loose I let out a Rebel Yell and I scared the woman who was the only other person taking the class. She thought that I was trying to intimidate her! I have seen all of the Chinesium microtools and so much applaud you for the effort not to just drop money on the issue! All of the the upgrades to those tools are not even close to a well used & mostly used up refugee of every kind of jobshop for so many decades from nowhere near when it was brand new or even workable grade can be brought back easier than to put the stretch on junk! How much is it to be a cadre level supporter? Very nice work! Carry on!
Is your machine advancing while cutting? I thought shapers advanced the feed on the return stroke thus the need for the clapper. Other than that it's an impressive feat.
Sometimes I forget to move the link block. If the machine is cutting left to right then I switch to right to left cutting, I have to remember to slide the link block down the slot. By sliding it all across the crank shaft axis, the phase is 180 degrees out.
