Mystery Machine

[boxofbits]

A mystery to me anyway, anyone know what it’s called and it’s general use?

 

Edited February 20, 2021 by boxofbits

[rogerguzzi]

Hello 

           It is a shaping machine

Horizontal shaping machine (slideshare.net)

Roger

[RobH]

As Roger says.

First type of machine tool I learned to use as an apprentice.  The purpose is as you see in the clip - planing off to get a flat surface or they can be used for cutting grooves or angles, and even gear teeth, depending on the shape of the cutting tool. We used it as the first process for getting things approximately to shape before final finishing as the resulting cut can be a bit rough. 

Here is one doing some REAL work:

 

[boxofbits]

Thanks guys amazing piece of kit. The way it effortlessly shaves off metal is mesmerising to watch. I can see the cutting tool getting very hot. Is it not supposed to have a running supply of cooling fluid?
 

Thanks for the video Rob.

Kevin

PS just noticed it looks like it has some kind of fluid applied from the blue hose.

Edited February 20, 2021 by boxofbits

[RobH]

Yes and he does use that later in the video. The dry cutting was just for the 'wow' factor I think!

[Lebro]

Have not seen one of those in action since my apprenticeship in the Late 60's.

Bob.

[Motorsport Mickey]

The cutting fluid is named "suds" for the uninitiated, a mix of cutting oil and water which turns out like milk with occasional brown flecks (where the oil isn't fully absorbed). They make shapers in many different sizes and whilst visiting a couple of Truck customers workshops have even seen a couple (small size with slide movement of less than 12 ") which were hand powered with no motor. It's slide cutting action is easy to achieve with a bit of muscle power via a long upright handle and as said above allows a gear wheel to be produced (realtively crudley) merely by grinding the toolbit to the tooth shape, useful when more sophisticated tools with dividing heads and skill sets to use them are not available.

Mivck Richards 

Edited February 20, 2021 by Motorsport Mickey

[boxofbits]

Thanks Bob and Mick for your input.
 

The machine in the first video belongs to a friend of mine who goes to many TR shows with me, and sent the video to me. I couldn't figure out what it was.
 

He has a garage full of stuff like this ( with his father’s 1936 RR 25/30 buried somewhere in the middle).

Kevin

 

[Charlie D]

We had one in the metalwork room at school.
I don’t know why, as I never saw anyone use it.

I also thought that the name “Shaping machine” showed a total lack of imagination on the part of the bloke who invented it.
Surely EVERY metal work machine alters the shape of the piece of metal you are working on.
Maybe the inventor had actually called it a “Scraping machine”, but he had bad handwriting and when typed up by a clerk in the patent office, he misread it.

Charlie

[Lebro]

[boxofbits]

Another video of a shaping machine cutting a keyway into a gear. Interesting watch..

 

Edited February 21, 2021 by boxofbits

[Paul J]

Back in the 70's I machine skimmed cylinder heads on a shaper both cast iron and aluminium heads, took awhile to set them up with feeler gauges. No coolant on the cast heads needed but we used paraffin on the aluminium heads.

Paul

[barkerwilliams]

I have often wondered if a shaper produces a flat / level surface. If the workpiece is uneven to start with, will the shaper ever produce an accurate surface. As the cutting  tool is self-leveling will it just track an uneven surface? Yes use a mill to get a "proper" surface.

Alan

[RogerH]

Hi Alan,

the shaper will certainly make an irregular surface flat.

It would not be as good as a turned or milled surface. It's forte is removing a lot of metal quickly.

They can take big bites.

 

Roger

[Motorsport Mickey]

If it came to using a shaper or a file I’d be using the shaper.
Once the initial slide movement happens when the forward motion propels it into the material, the forces remain constant and the shaper will produce a pretty decent surface and finish. As apprentices we found   It’s limitation was upon different thickness of cut, for example where a varying material thickness was being cut on a rough surface. The varying cut stresses allowed any wear or slip in the slide to flex which produced a more uneven cut surface, as Roger says not of the same standard as a Miller or lathe. 
We soon learned to reverse normal  machining practice, ie larger cuts with a smaller finishing cut. If a small cut upon uneven or varying surfaces is made first to produce an even “ datum” surface then subsequent heavier cuts can be made which produce level surfaces. although trying to judge how a final 30 thou last cut will end up makes your bum “ twitch”.

Mick Richards

[RogerH]

1 hour ago, Motorsport Mickey said:

 surfaces is made first to produce an even “ datum” surface then subsequent heavier cuts can be made which produce level surfaces. although trying to judge how a final 30 thou last cut will end up makes your bum “ twitch”.

Mick Richards

not a pretty sight 

Roger

Edited February 23, 2021 by RogerH

[boxofbits]

17 minutes ago, RogerH said:

not a pretty sight 

Roger

Unless Carol Vorderman by some twist of fate happens to be the machine operator 

[john.r.davies]

I think I've linked before to a series of videos by a US gentlema, Adam Booth, who nakes them about the work of his machine shop.    One of his machines is a shaper, and the only word for this as the Americans would say, "Awesome!"    Some of his videos about it show enormous cuts being made, but here he is restoring a two foot straight edge.    Adam likes to show every detail in his work, and this with the Part 2, takes a whole hour!  But skip through it and toards the end of Part1 he checks the finish straight from the shaper, and it's +/- 1 thou.   

 

[Motorsport Mickey]

Not unusual John, apparently the human eye is the tool de rigure for checking the straightness of combat tank barrels picking up extremely small deviations just by comparison against background straight lines. On YouTube somewhere about 6-7 years ago.

Mick 

[john.r.davies]

Presumably, Mickey, done in the field, in combat conditions, if you can find a "background straight line"    The horizon could do, but I can't think of any other natural straight line that would, and few combat situations where open sea would be available to provide wide enough view of the edge of the world!

I know the human fip tip has a remarkable  sensitiviity to irregularities.     I often seen that 0.1 thou quoted, but we can apparently sense a thickness of 10 nanometers, a thousandth less!

[Motorsport Mickey]

No, time moves on ...now they do it from the inside, from the US medium calibre testing regime

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/archive/index.php/t-9829.html  where they give a choice of three methods...interestingly they also mention measuring the outer dia down it's length but pointed out it does rely upon the barrel having an even bore - outer diametre wall thickness...quell surprise !

And from a shooting forum where light shading of concentricity is used (also one of the tank barrel checking methods)

Checking a barrel for straightness [Archive] - Cast Boolits (gunloads.com).

Mick Richards

Edited February 23, 2021 by Motorsport Mickey