So, I've been commissioned by my daughter to make another one of these.......

Ya, Ya, I know... grade 9 shop stuff. I made this one about 5 years ago on my mini-mill and utilathe. Will make a good excuse to fire up the shaper.

Tapping the head 3/8-16.

Here I'm experimenting on some aluminum to determine what a suitable down feed and side step would be. Looks like 0.1" down and a 0.15" side step will work nicely.

My shaper has a ridiculously small dial for indicating table travel. And no witness mark to align it with😵 So I'm using my dial indicator to measure side step.

One face of the head done. That there probably amounted to 2 hours of standing at the shaper down feeding. Not the quickest machining operation that's for sure.

Ya, Ya, I know... grade 9 shop stuff. I made this one about 5 years ago on my mini-mill and utilathe. Will make a good excuse to fire up the shaper.

Tapping the head 3/8-16.

Here I'm experimenting on some aluminum to determine what a suitable down feed and side step would be. Looks like 0.1" down and a 0.15" side step will work nicely.

My shaper has a ridiculously small dial for indicating table travel. And no witness mark to align it with😵 So I'm using my dial indicator to measure side step.

One face of the head done. That there probably amounted to 2 hours of standing at the shaper down feeding. Not the quickest machining operation that's for sure.