Peerless Shaper Basement Install

[Chicken lights]

Like a mill levelling foot but made with a bolt

 

[YYCHM]

You could use a piece of round with a flat spot milled in it, the flat spot would be the wheels down position so as you rotate it 180* it extends rising off the flat to the major diameter Raising the wheels. The depth of the flat controls how much it lifts. It wouldn’t be a 500 lb lift as one side is lifting and you probably only need a 1/4” of movement

Is this round piece with flat fixed to something or between something or what? I don't think I'm totally following but I'm liking the sound of this approach. I only need to raise the stand a smidge.

 

[Tom O]

Like this. It could be make out of a larger bolt.

 

[YYCHM]

Like this. It could be make out of a larger bolt.
View attachment 14590

Interesting concept.....

 

[Tom O]

True one drawback is it would need a spring or a thumbscrew to stop it from lowering when the casters are being used. We used this method on our English wheels to raise/lower the lower anvil during fittings it is quite accurate. It could be possible to have it go through both with a longer shaft lowering both legs at the same time or have the rocker plate similar to the caster locks.

 

[kevin.decelles]

Or do you jack it up and shim it with a 2x4 block to get it off the wheels. How often will this move from its current position? I took most of my tooling 'off' casters, opting for level-able feet. A toe-jack and a dolly to move it when you need to may be your simplest option?

 

[YYCHM]

Or do you jack it up and shim it with a 2x4 block to get it off the wheels. How often will this move from its current position? I took most of my tooling 'off' casters, opting for level-able feet. A toe-jack and a dolly to move it when you need to may be your simplest option?

I've been playing with that idea as well. Jack it up with a hydraulic bottle jack and put it on blocks. Some what time consuming but probably the cheapest solution. The machine needs to be pushed out of the way after every shaper project so some what frequently.

One thing that concerns me with this approach is that every time you jack up a corner you'll probably be twisting the stand somewhat and what effect that will have over time.

 

[YYCHM]

So I'll soon be needing to cut an internal keyway. To that end I decided to setup the shaper and give it a try....





I made up this centering jig so that I could align the work piece in the vise.



Here work piece is in the vise.



This is the keyway tool. 1/2" round stock slotted for a 1/8" HSS cutting tool held in place with a set screw.



After much fooling around and reconfiguring I finally got this. Unfortunately with all the messing around I lost track of how deep I had cut the keyway.

Things that went sideways were...

Twice I had to re-adjust the length of stroke and start of stroke. I'm not sure why.

At one point the 1/8" HSS tool started climbing in it's slot. Maybe it needs a bigger setscrew?

And in one incident, the 1/2" horizontal tool holder moved in the lantern tool holder.

Guess I need to try it all again and work the bugs out.

 

[Hruul]

Great idea on how to centre the part in the vise.

 

[YYCHM]

Ok..... I think I've got this keyway cutting issue sorted out..



The top back rake I ground on the tool was causing it to dig in and dig it with enough force to throw things out of wack. I re-ground the tool with no top back rake and away she went. Feeding at a slow rate helps as well.

 

[DPittman]

Ok..... I think I've got this keyway cutting issue sorted out..

View attachment 14600

The top back rake I ground on the tool was causing it to dig in and dig it with enough force to throw things out of wack. I re-ground the tool with no top back rake and away she went. Feeding at a slow rate helps as well.

I'd love to see a picture of the successful shape of the tool.

 

[YYCHM]

I'd love to see a picture of the successful shape of the tool.

It's nothing special, just a square piece with about 10-15 deg of end relief. Think of it as a lathe turning tool pointing down. This is 1/8" square HSS, so kind of hard to get fancy with it and maintain a 1/8" wide cut.

 

[Dusty]

What do you guys think of this idea as a means of lifting the shaper stand off it's casters when in use?

View attachment 14561

A coupling nut welded to 1" square stock bolted to the leg in two places, of course we would do this to all 4 legs. In order to clear the casters the bottom of the nut has to remain 4" above the floor. What I mocked up in the image represents a 1/2" bolt and I'm thinking that's not good enough or would it be if I placed a block under it to reduce the 4" exposure?

Thoughts?

Hi Craig, also keep in mind you wouldn't want your adjustable steady leg supports modification to interfere with the 360 degree castor swivel. Having watched your abilities I'm confident you will come up with something special. Good luck!

 

[88hillman]

YYCHM,

One simple and cheap-ish option is to purchase workbench retracting casters, often associated with woodworking benches. These may have been mentioned already and I missed it. These are 4 individual units placed at 4 corners with swivel casters built in and a lever per unit that you step on or flip up with your toe. Available on eBay, Amazon or Lee Valley.

Another option is to use similar principles like the above in a slightly different way. Years ago I had a heavy machine by home woodworking shop standards, not so much by metal machining standards (< 1000 lbs). This machine needed to move frequently but absolutely needed to be rock solid when in use so we built a lifting mechanism for each end of the machine that bolted to the cabinet side which happened to be 1/4" plate.

I've sketched the idea so hopefully it makes sense from the drawing. It's not shown, but these were non-locking swivel castors. In my case we used some cheap units from Princess Auto but rated at about 500 lbs a piece. That meant the unit would start to roll when you thought it was perfectly still on a pretty flat floor. Easy to move, but the tool needed to be dropped to the floor for sure when you weren't moving it.

I'm sure this wasn't a new idea, but I had never seen it before we built the units for my machine.

Cheers,
Kirk

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[88hillman]

I forgot to mention, the cam (bearing in this case) needs to go slightly over center when the machine is lifted so you don't need another method to lock the lever in place.

Cheers,
Kirk

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[Tom O]

Did you lock off the clapper? I couldn’t see in the pic.

 

[YYCHM]

Did you lock off the clapper? I couldn’t see in the pic.

Not following?

 

[kevin.decelles]

Force the clapper to “not clap”. In a key way cut , the clapper can cause problems by catching the bar/cutter on the bore

I removed my clapper with a solid mount for doing key ways


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[YYCHM]

Force the clapper to “not clap”. In a key way cut , the clapper can cause problems by catching the bar/cutter on the bore

I removed my clapper with a solid mount for doing key ways

How do you bypass the clapper?

 

[kevin.decelles]

On some shapers there is a bolt/screw to keep it closed, I’ve seen broken castings more often than not inthat setup

I just removed the hinged clapper and used an new block of steel

I’ll send pics after dinner as this is one of the 6 days we can bbq with no wind in Alberta this year


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