Shapers typically have a clapper box that moves the cutting tool away from the work piece on the return stroke. Do you think this could be a cause of the cracking you're talking about? That's a pretty cleaver attachment. Good job!
Thanks for watching. Yeah, I know that real shapers have such blade holders that allows cutting tool to run freely on return stroke but this was not the issue in my case. Problem was that I milled that hss tool blank holder at too high angle, you can find a picture from here (language is Finnish though): www.hh-tech.net/gallery/index.php/Koneistus/Cincinnati/Kiilaura-lis-laite/IMG_0305 So the corner was cracked during the cutting stroke, not the return stroke. When I was building the machine I thought that should I add some feature that would allow free return, but since this is feeded by hand, this does not matter. It's actually pretty easy to syncronize the manual feed just by watching the machine, as long as RPM is low enough. Reason for those gears was to be able to shift the driving mechanism higher to allow bigger working area above the table. Anyway this whole slotting attachment was just an experiment to add some new functionalities to horizontal milling machine. And generally I like more working with horizontal machines, since e.g. end mills won't drop to table and their chips falls nicely down. And when you have horizontal cutters, you don't have to play with angle plates and stuff. And generally horizontal machines are pretty rigid. regards -Heikki
