Alba Shaper 4S Shaper, $1200, Calgary, AB

[YYCHM]

Maybe it can be a forum bonding event and we can do it on the Saturday meet-up

But in all seriousness, hopefully Friday.

You could always bring to the meet-up as a show and tell

 

[Xyphota]

Did you witness it running?

Yes, the fellow showing me the machine fortunately had it all hooked up. It looks like he fully lubricated since posting the advertisement. It looked pretty dry in the photos he uploaded. We ran it in each speed of the gear box. This model comes with a clutch, but one of the push rods looked a bit bent so the clutch couldn't fully decouple. That should be an easy fix. The only thing we did not check was the total stroke adjustment.

The way's looked ok, but one of the rear way wipers was missing, so there was some visible scoring on on the rear end of the ram on the one side. One of the T-slots on the table had a pretty good ~2 inch chunk missing on one side, but I saw that in the photos so at least that wasn't a surprise lol.

The clapper was in a box off to one side with what appeared to be all the pieces, except for the mounting bolt. This may be a whitworth thread machine so that'll be a fun little fastener to turn up on the lathe.

This machine is coming out of a machine shop. The seller said they bought this shaper 15 years ago with a specific project in mind but never ended up using it. He was firm on price, but with the clapper included I though $1200 is pretty fair.

You could always bring to the meet-up as a show and tell

I did joke in the meetup thread that everyone should bring their favourite machine . Maybe I should just lend it to @RobinHood after my Dad inevitably tells me there is no room for it LOL.

 

[Tom O]

Whitworth threads aren’t really a problem just grind the cutter to 55* instead of the usual 60*.

 

[Tom Kitta]

Good buy for $1200 with clapper its a good price!

 

[YYCHM]

What length is the stroke?

 

[Xyphota]

I’m not 100% sure, but I think the alba 4s is identical to the elliott 18s which is an 18” stroke

 

[JustaDB]

So she is going to come home with me!

Yesss! Now that makes me feel good.

 

[Xyphota]

I was expecting to be able to rent a drop deck trailer from sun-belt rentals but they no longer have it listed on their website. Does anybody have any suggestions for how to move this home? The seller did say they are happy to help move it via fork lift onto a trailer if needed.

I'm trying to find a spec on the weight of the shaper, but I have reason to believe it is over 1500 lbs and my Dad's truck bed is only rated to 1300 lbs.

 

[phaxtris]

Trailer and a gantry crane, or trailer and hire a picker truck for an hour

Or trailer and a ramp/pipes/come along or winch

Edit;

Worst case....driver direct

 

[Tom Kitta]

Wow 18" stroke! that is a great price!

 

[trevj]

Trailer and a gantry crane, or trailer and hire a picker truck for an hour

Or trailer and a ramp/pipes/come along or winch

Edit;

Worst case....driver direct

Have done well with a Tow truck, as far as loading and unloading heavy iron goes. By the time I tipped the guy enough to buy him a box of beers, it still cost me less than two boxes of beers!

Maybe more risk than using a Rigger outfit, but we are usually not dealing with $100K+ machinery either.

 

[phaxtris]

Have done well with a Tow truck, as far as loading and unloading heavy iron goes. By the time I tipped the guy enough to buy him a box of beers, it still cost me less than two boxes of beers!

Maybe more risk than using a Rigger outfit, but we are usually not dealing with $100K+ machinery either.

I know a few guys who use tow trucks to unload welding machines out of the back of trucks, I've never done it, but it apparently works pretty well so long as you can make it work within the limitations of the tow truck boom

Don't put to much stock in a knuckle boom operator as a 'rigger', there is literally no technical training required to run a knuckle boom, no trade ticket required. You don't need a crane ticket or any kind of rigging training until there is a live cable involved.

 

[Chipper5783]

I was expecting to be able to rent a drop deck trailer from sun-belt rentals but they no longer have it listed on their website. Does anybody have any suggestions for how to move this home? The seller did say they are happy to help move it via fork lift onto a trailer if needed.

I'm trying to find a spec on the weight of the shaper, but I have reason to believe it is over 1500 lbs and my Dad's truck bed is only rated to 1300 lbs.

My latest move was a 3000# surface grinder. I used a tilt deck trailer from United Rentals. The seller had some 4” wide strips of hard plastic (~1/2” thick) - walked it along with a crow bar, then pulled with a comalong. For the drive I put the machine down on the wooden trailer deck (3000# is easy enough to lift with a bar and only had a 1/2” to go). Other methods would be fine too, just sharing what worked well for me on this move.

I had tried to rent a drop deck from Sunbelt, but it was already booked out. The tilt deck turned out to be cheaper and worked really well for transporting the SG.

 

[6.5 Fan]

Congrats on the shaper purchase.

 

[Bandit]

There are a couple of drop decks at Sunbelt in Okotoks, I have used one a couple of times now. I am fairly sure will be at the Calgary meet on Sat., so worst comes to worst, load it in my truck with fork lift. Unload at my shop later. Should be good for 2500lb. easy.

 

[Xyphota]

There are a couple of drop decks at Sunbelt in Okotoks, I have used one a couple of times now. I am fairly sure will be at the Calgary meet on Sat., so worst comes to worst, load it in my truck with fork lift. Unload at my shop later. Should be good for 2500lb. easy.

That's a very generous offer of you! I believe I have a plan that will work but I'll keep you posted haha! Thanks!

 

[YYCHM]

@Xyphota Need pics of the move.....

 

[Proxule]

There are a couple of drop decks at Sunbelt in Okotoks, I have used one a couple of times now. I am fairly sure will be at the Calgary meet on Sat., so worst comes to worst, load it in my truck with fork lift. Unload at my shop later. Should be good for 2500lb. easy.

THIS IS THE WAY.....

Before I learned of these, I moved my Elliott 14S with a home depot open trailer and 2 ton engine hoist.
gluck

 

[Rauce]

Or trailer and a ramp/pipes/come along or winch

This works just fine, I got a 3000lb lathe off a uhaul trailer this way on my own without incident. Wouldn’t recommend the method for a knee mill because of the tip over factor but something more stable it’s not difficult at all.

 

[Xyphota]

Made it home! Forgot to take a photo of it strapped to the trailer lol.