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Ammco 6" Metal shaper
- Thread starter TonyK
- Start date
Dan Dubeau
Ultra Member
Nice fix on the oil cups. Those are something I need to add to my Prema and get rid of the zerks. I had no idea they were so cheap now, I remember pricing them out a few years back for like $8-9 per which put me off doing it, as I need around 12 I think. I'd contemplated making them for a while, and was thinking about the tooling to press the caps etc, Thinking it would be a fun little shop project, but not for these prices now. I can do all of them for less than $30.
Thanks, I probably would have never looked or thought there were cheap import ones if it weren't for your post.
Thanks, I probably would have never looked or thought there were cheap import ones if it weren't for your post.
A little more progress. One of the things missing from this machine is the rear guard for the Ram. At first I thought possibly it never had one, but once apart and the paint had been removed I noticed 2 sheared bolts at the upper back of the casting. I like working with stainless steel, it is difficult to work with but welds very easily. On the other hand aluminum is easy to work with but difficult to weld. I thought about making a pattern and casting it, but felt that is a lot of work for this part. I will do that for the side cover when I get to it. So first off I made a paper pattern to lay out the flange on a 1/4" x 1 1/2' x 5" cut of stainless steel flat bar. I just used my power hack saw to trim out the part, nothing really fancy about it. The tray was made from a section of 18 ga. Stainless steel sheet and I did the bends on a small 12", 3 in 1 brake, shear and slip rolls. There was some hammering involved but the sheet was fitted into the flange and TIG welded then installed with 1/4 x 20 flat head screws. I also installed the drive pulley and small hand wheel that came in from China. I had to bore the 10MM hole to 5/8" and install a set screw.
TonyK.
Grimsby Ontario Canada
TonyK.
Grimsby Ontario Canada
Next on the list, motor and drive. I have a 1725 RPM 1/3 HP motor that came with the machine that I am going to work with. I have to make up a motor mount and jack shaft support for both. I want to use the Atlas 7b jack shaft bracket that I purchased from ebay. With a little measuring I started to cut out the parts. I needed to face some aluminum tabs on my TOS FN 20 with a Tungaloy 6 cutter facing tool. I am currently running Mach3 with a pendant to do this operation. After drilling the tangs I wanted to radius each one for appearance so I set up to put the dividing head on the machine table. I have a couple of options with this mill, I could remove the table and bolt the dividing head to the T slot face or just sit the dividing head on the table. Thirty years ago when I was a younger man I would lift it by hand, those days have parted. The dividing head has a #4 taper and is also threaded so that a table can be attached or a 3 jaw chuck. For this small job a 1" adapter is used in the dividing head and work is bolted to the adapter. The work is rotated to produce the radius. The dividing head can produce a 4th axis which has been handy in the past for restoration work of my 1953 John Deere Model 40 Crawler.
Still more to come.
TonyK.
Grimsby Ontario Canada.
Still more to come.
TonyK.
Grimsby Ontario Canada.
MashingMetal
Super User
I am just curious, is 1/3hp enough? I guess if you are reducing the speed. It looks like your project is going well
Downwindtracker2
Super User
One of the things about shapers, they don't require much power. My 6" uses 1/4hp.
Now there's a novel concept.
MashingMetal
Super User
That’s a good explanation, keep with the 1/3hp then.
Moving along. I started welding the parts that I made from 1/2" steel stock. The larger section was welded with 7018 rod and the smaller tags were welded with the same machine set up for TIG. I TIG welded the tangs on the aluminum motor base plate. I don't do a lot of stick welding, but it is nice to have a machine with the punch to handle 1/2" material when needed. Here is a shot of my welding cart. The Cebora MIG is an Italian machine that I have had for 35 years and can use 1 pound and 11 pound wire coils. It came with a cheap gun that was 10' long, plastic liner and gas valve was on the trigger. I wore the liner out and purchased a 12' Lincoln gun with a metal liner, then made an adapter to fit the machine at the input end and that was 20 years ago. Nice machine that I have also done stainless steel and aluminum with as well. Below that is a Fronius I Wave 230i which has Blue Tooth connected pedal for TIG and I also have the Blue Tooth Vizor Connect welding helmet made by Optrel. Expensive but well known in the industry as a very good machine. I am an electrician by trade and not a welder. I needed another 1" strip on the back plate and decided to try to TIG weld it, although slow it does an amazing job. I fitted the Atlas jack shaft to the bracket and can now see how this drive tensions and releases the drive belt. The centre of the Jack Shaft moves 1" to either allow slack in the belt and stop driving the machine or give tension to allow the machine to engage. Here is a rough mock up of the motor and drive assembly. It looks like it will work out. I have to take some measurements for the Jack Shaft and I will incorporate the brake mechanism that the Atlas 7b used, just because I can and it is a neat feature. The person that sold me the Atlas Jack shaft assembly was kind enough to also send the bearings with it. If the bearings were missing I would have most likely just turned brass bushings and see where that would take me.
Still working on it.
TonyK.
Grimsby Ontario Canada
Still working on it.
TonyK.
Grimsby Ontario Canada
Downwindtracker2
Super User
You build a much more scuukum motor base than the original maker of my shaper and I did.
Dan Dubeau
Ultra Member
Great work so far. Looking forward to seeing this peeling chips off.
Started on the Jack shaft and used Harrision and the 5C collet on the 3/4" cold rolled steel shaft. Then machined flats for the Grub Screws. Did a test fit of all of the drive line parts. Made brass collars to keep the shaft in position, flats milled for grub screws as well. On the left side of the machine the collar is wider so that it will act as a brake drum, test fit shown. Next up, sand blast and paint the parts then assemble. I am about ready to bolt the machine to the table and find the final location for the drive line.
TonyK.
Grimsby Ontario Canada.
TonyK.
Grimsby Ontario Canada.
I agree. Premium job!
I have had a bit more time the last few days to continue work on this restoration. The motor bracket and mounts were ready for sand blasting. Sadly I do not have a sand blast cabinet, setting up to sandblast a few parts becomes a lot of work. Here I will digress on what I use. First off the Air compressor. When sand blasting you can never have enough air and any leaks just add to frustration of how long it will take to sand blast a part. I purchased the 4 cylinder air compressor ( 10 HP required) over 20 years ago from Princess Auto, the compressor was sitting on a skid with the pistons removed and the pan off and there was a sign $400, I asked to see the manager, he told me that the large end connecting rod bearings were bad. I asked if he would take $300, he said yes and helped me load it into the back of the pick up truck. Without a lot of detail, I purchased a 1" x .062 strip of brass, made a former and then pressed each bearing half into shape that was required. I then bored the connecting rod large end with the brass bearing halfs and that compressor has worked flawlessly for over 20 years. Connected to the PTO of my John Deere 2032 R tractor. The issue at hand was that I did not have an air tank but a few years ago, my wife's cousin purchased a house on Jersyville Road in Ancaster and in the detached garage were 2 5HP air compressors with 60 gallon tanks. The fellow that lived there had a small powder coating business in a detached garage and the cousin wanted to get rid of the compressors. I took the horizontal compressor and installed it in the rafters of my barn. The tractor compressor is set for 130 PSI and the 5 HP electric is set for 120 PSI, both share the same air tank, I now have lots of air for the 150 pound sand blaster pot using a 1/8" nozzle. The pot blaster I got from a guy that was closing out his shop on condition if he wanted it back or needed to use it he would call me. He is still around and I see him from time to time, but he has never used it since he gave it to me. The sand blasted parts are ready for paint. The black sand used is aggressive and is not suitable for auto body work, but as the painters say, the roughness gives good tooth for the paint to stick to the surface of the parts being painted. Parts were primered with 2K Urethane primer and top coated with the same air dry enamel that was used on the Shaper parts.
At this time the shaper needs to be fastened to the final use location. The template of the holes to be drilled for the machine is placed and the holes are drilled and the machine has been mounted to the work bench.
TonyK.
Grimsby Ontario Canada
At this time the shaper needs to be fastened to the final use location. The template of the holes to be drilled for the machine is placed and the holes are drilled and the machine has been mounted to the work bench.
TonyK.
Grimsby Ontario Canada
I now understand why the jack shaft bearings are so huge as there is significant load on the shaft when the handle is thrown to tension the belts. As luck would have it, when I was using the 5C collet my draw bar/pipe/sleeve? at the back of the lathe sitting beside it was the old Z Axis screw, shown on the stand by the shaper base. The electric motor was painted by hand, I would have loved to sand blast it, but all I would do is damage the windings and fill the motor with sand. A cleaning and painting with a brush and some chassis black semi-gloss paint will have to do. On to the clapper box. If you remember I TIG welded the pin bosses on the clapper box and set it aside. This week I decided to get back into it, only to find that the weld, and I used stainless steel for filler material is so hard a file skates off of it. I did a bit of dressing with a carbide burr and fit the pin, but I expect the repair to fail, I will need to make a new clapper box. The box measures 1"x 2" x 4" and appears to be cast iron. I was in a Metal Supermarket Stoney Creek location and they didn't have any cast flat bar, only rod. I think I may have to go to a fitness store with my vernier and check out bar bell weights to cut a section from it to remake the the clapper box. Stainless Steel is more impact resistant than steel and that could work. I am open for suggestions on what material to use as I feel it will be only a matter of time before the welded repair fails. I have all of the parts for the Z axis to be assembled and fitted, that is next on the list for this shaper restoration.
TonyK.
Grimsby Ontario Canada.
TonyK.
Grimsby Ontario Canada.
