Shaper

[bogstandard]

Darren,

Just a little warning about Atlas machine tools and their clones.

If you find something really stuck on your travels around the machine, be very gentle in releasing it.

Atlas are renowned for using a metal (?) called Mazak in some weird places. Pullies, gears, operating handles etc. The machine will work perfectly if used as designed, but a bit too much pressure on this material will soon have it snapping apart. This material will last a hundred years if you don't force it, a couple of seconds if you do.

John

[Darren]

Thanks for the warning John,

I have read that the auto advance housing is made from Mazak and it looks like this will need to come apart to check it over. It works fine in both directions, but finding neutral is not easy.

I can see a couple of other bits that look like the same material. Lucky for me I recognised it straight away. (bad past exp !!)
Thankfully like the Union lathe this machine was so caked in oil that all so far has been quite free. Fingers crossed the rest is.

Mazak + Magnesium Zinc Aluminium alloy, aka diecast zinc, monkey metal, brittle and turns to dust if left unprotected.
I think at some time I'll take them off, clean them up and add a protective coat of paint.

[bogstandard]

Darren,

If ever you do break a handle, Arc Euro do some very good ones, at reasonable prices, and they can usually be modified to fit.

http://www.arceurotrade.co.uk/Catalogue/Machine-Spares/Machine-Handles

John

[Darren]

After getting all that done i had a look at adjusting the shaper to minimise vibration as much as I could.
The table was lifted to reduce slide overhang and at the same time the slide was lifted up.
About 3" in all.
Then I reduced the auto feed setting to about half what it was, plenty more adjustment if need too.

Also after reading on the net about tooling reground a HSS cutter so that it was more suited for steel.
The result was very pleasing

Anyone for curls....



The finish was almost as good as emery, certainly wouldn't take much to finish by hand.
Alas the fine slotting wasn't so good, too much vibration. More do some more reading about tooling and cutting angles etc.

Two different cutters used for each slot.



The alloy wasn't quite as good, a little rough in one area. Again probably tooling angles I suspect. But not bad all the same. When I say rough it's only slight. Quick wipe with emery would finish it nicely.

Overall I'm very pleased with the finish a shaper can give and very pleased I bought it. It can also remove material quite rapidly as well.

[Darren]

I was "givin' it a go" earlier with some Stainless Steel bar.

The outer surface was a bit crusty with what looked like a polished finish. But when I took the surface off there seemed to be faults going through the metal. Looked like fractures with some small voids.

Has anyone seen this before in SS, is it just cheap stuff, that's if SS can be called cheap.
Not seen this in any round stock I have.

The thing is, if I were to order flat bar in the future how do I avoid this stuff? I had a project in mind for this with my valve amp build, but it's not good enough.

Shame as I have rather a lot of it !!

[Bernd]

First, nice job on getting her up on the stand. All it takes is some wooden boards and then keep "walking" it up from side to side. I usally use a long crow bar to lift up a machine to put a board under it, but it looked like you were restrained a bit by room.

Second, that's getting to be a nice looking piece of equipment there. Plus getting a good finish off that must be pleasing. I think you'll be glad in the long run that you got it.

I've never seen SS do that before. Wonder if it's some odd SS aloy or something. How does it machine in other machines, mill, lathe? Is the tool in the shaper ground properly?

Bernd

[CrewCab]

and ........... have you machined more than one piece yet ............ perhaps all the batch isn't the same.

CC

[Darren]

Bernd, it machines lovely and smooth, no probs there. These faults are in the metal itself. I took about mill off, sorry 1mm to you guys that get confused.....
thinking it was just surface rubbish. but it's not it seems to go right through.

CC, good point, I'll check some other lengths...thanks