Downwindtracker2
Ultra Member
I bought "Shapers" book, the second one he mentioned..
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New to me Ammco 7" Metal shaper
- Thread starter Susquatch
- Start date
Here's a little earworm to go with your shaping experience.
My wife and I both love it!
Thank you!
It's raining here and the bride is off gallivanting.
Four blocks under the shaper chest now. MUCH BETTER. but still a monster in 4th gear. It's too close to the natural frequency of the shaper and chest. This is gunna be a longer term project.
So, I took at stab at grinding a shear tool. That's no piece of cake. In the end, I abandoned the idea for now and made a plain rounded end tool. Most of us know what a radius point on a tool, or round inserts do for finishes. Well the shaper was no exception. A round edge was like a miracle. Not the mirror that @140mower described, but still beautiful.
Left side was the first pass with a normal HSS cutter. Right Side is with a rounded edge cutter. The chips tell the story. If you look closely, you can even see a slight unmeasureable wave to the newly cut surface. Sorta like you see on a nice light surface grind. Very Nice.
Four blocks under the shaper chest now. MUCH BETTER. but still a monster in 4th gear. It's too close to the natural frequency of the shaper and chest. This is gunna be a longer term project.
So, I took at stab at grinding a shear tool. That's no piece of cake. In the end, I abandoned the idea for now and made a plain rounded end tool. Most of us know what a radius point on a tool, or round inserts do for finishes. Well the shaper was no exception. A round edge was like a miracle. Not the mirror that @140mower described, but still beautiful.
Left side was the first pass with a normal HSS cutter. Right Side is with a rounded edge cutter. The chips tell the story. If you look closely, you can even see a slight unmeasureable wave to the newly cut surface. Sorta like you see on a nice light surface grind. Very Nice.
I'd like to know what speeds folks use too!
FWIW, I tried my round nose tool on steel yesterday. It worked, but barely. The finish was not shiny at all, but was ok and could, easily be polished.
@140mower - After sleeping on it last night, I'm gunna have another go at grinding a shear tool. I think I understand the reason for the angle grind now. I believe it is there to generate a new angle on the tool, on which to subsequently grind the radius. The tool in the photo you provided was arbitrarily (I think) ground to about 45 degrees. I'd prefer more than that because my experience on the lathe has been better with a steeper angle, but I think you have to start somewhere. 45 is as good a place as any for a start.
I think the whole grinding process would be easier if the tool itself could be held at a variable angle on the tool holder. That would allow the operator to dial it in much faster.
What size hss blank are you starting with?
Downwindtracker2
Ultra Member
One of those You Tube machinists, I forgot which, roughed out his shaper bits with a mini grinder and a Zip cut .
Ground a new Shear Tool this morning. Looking better. Not curls anymore. But too big and not long enough. I think I'm too deep (taking too big a cut and not enough angle on the tool. The finish is getting better though.
The chips nearest the camera are from the previous grind discussed earlier.
The chips nearest the camera are from the previous grind discussed earlier.
Getting there. Cannot detect any roughness in the cut. But not shiny yet.
Roughly 120° grind, approx 4 thou depth of cut (too much slop on the depth dial to know for sure) less depth of cut, and slower feed 2 clicks.
Any recommendations on how to deal with a gravity based backlash? My instinct tell me to lift the tool while adjusting and continue lifting until the adjustment is locked.
I might try mounting an indicator and use that in place of the depth dial scale.
Roughly 120° grind, approx 4 thou depth of cut (too much slop on the depth dial to know for sure) less depth of cut, and slower feed 2 clicks.
Any recommendations on how to deal with a gravity based backlash? My instinct tell me to lift the tool while adjusting and continue lifting until the adjustment is locked.
I might try mounting an indicator and use that in place of the depth dial scale.
Getting there. Cannot detect any roughness in the cut. But not shiny yet. Aluminium would undoubtedly be better than Mystery Steel.
Roughly 70° grind, approx 4 thou total depth of cut (too much slop on the depth dial to know for sure), and slower feed 2 clicks.
Any recommendations on how to deal with a gravity based backlash? My instinct tell me to lift the tool while adjusting and continue lifting until the adjustment is locked.
I might try mounting an indicator and use that in place of the dial.
Most of the time I use the second slowest speed, sometimes the slowest speed. I have the gibs snugged up on the feed, enough that the assembly does not drop on its own and positive feed, auto advance, 2 or 3 clicks, with about 0.005in. down feed, material dependent and cutter bit dependent. Sometimes up to 0.010 feed, aluminum, and project dependent, eg. finish and length of cut.
Tried mounting a dial indicator to gain control of my depth of cut. Can you believe that I have a half dozen plunge indicators not in service right now and not one single mag holder that is 3/8? All my 3/8 holders are in service. Crap!
Time to make a few changes. I grabbed two 8mm holders, a 13/32 drill, and a 3/8 reamer and opened their clamp to 3/8. So much for that naggy problem.
The downfeed is actually pretty good. With the lock loose, they downfeed pretty consistently drops the tool holder by the same amount the dial shows. I'm pretty happy with that.
Here is the final finish. Not a mirror, but it feels really nice.
Time to make a few changes. I grabbed two 8mm holders, a 13/32 drill, and a 3/8 reamer and opened their clamp to 3/8. So much for that naggy problem.
The downfeed is actually pretty good. With the lock loose, they downfeed pretty consistently drops the tool holder by the same amount the dial shows. I'm pretty happy with that.
Here is the final finish. Not a mirror, but it feels really nice.
Is it steel or aluminium?
That is mystery steel.
140mower
Don
The shear tool that I ground is a piece of 1/2" hss as that is the size I made my tool holder and works well with my 12" shaper. The radius I put on the end was 1", I don't think it was planned, but since it matched my 1" radius gauge so closely, I am saying I planned that. Lol. There's a couple degrees of clearance ground in and then I ground the face back to roughly a 45 degree angle. I had my best results presenting the tool with the curve of the radius running front to rear and the 45 facing forward.
140mower
Don
Call me thick, but I am not following where your backlash is coming from. Top slide screw? Clapper pin, or other?
Seems I did a lot wrong. I ground the 45 in first (which ended up closer to 120. Then I turned the tool on an angle so the big angle cut was square to the grind stone, held the blank to get a little clearance, and put a round edge with a slight relief on the big cut. That allowed me to get a clean round edge that was easily honed.
45 degrees did work, but it was just not enough angle for me. It wanted to plow instead of Peel. 70 or a bit more seemed to work much better. Then again, my blanks are only 1/4 inch. Still, even on my lathe with 1/2" blanks, a bigger angle works better.
I didn't measure or plan my radius. I just ground it so I could see it on my little 1/4 inch blank. I'd guess maybe 1/2 inch or less.
At least this time around I had the benefit of sleeping on it to realize what I was trying to do.
My terminology is probably AFU.
I'm referring to the screw that moves the clapper up and down. Gravity tends to drop it down to the wrong end of the backlash. But as long as it isn't touching anything, it seems to work. The plunge indicator attached to the clapper and bearing on the vise doesn't lie.