An obscure machine tool and its history

I finally got a metal shaper -- time to dig a bit into its unexpected history, learn how it works, and make something useful on it.

[@eatenkate]

Here for the teardown and the deep clean!

[@smellsofbikes]

That camera mounting on the shaper ram is so good. Somehow, the t-slot nuts on my mill stand just a bit above the table surface and I never realized how useful it would be to have them low enough to slide under work in progress. So, besides learning about shapers watching this, I learned about t-nuts.

[@TheDrAlbee]

The t-nut segment was a solid "the more you know" moment.

[@aeiro5390]

I really enjoyed this! Thanks for subtitling your videos, as a deaf person that's greatly appreciated!

[@dutchgray86]

T nuts is the first thing I made on mine, though I modified some I had on hand that were for 5/8" studs but were too large to fit in the slots, I was lucky and mine still had its vice, I bought it from a guy who was retiring and he had had it sat in a corner at the back of his shop but hadn't ever used it, in 40 plus years, never even wired in and he told me it came from an R&D shop which he bought a bunch of machinery from when it shut. So its in pretty decent condition. I also bought an nearly unused universal dividing head, most of the accessories were still greased and wrapped from new and its in the factory shipping crate.

[@googlesucks7975]

That's a badass machine you got there, I'd love to see a video on the teardown and cleaning process! If you don't mind me asking, how much were you able to pick that up for?

[@samehmann7353]

really awesome video! thanks for giving a great tour of the machine!

[@skipd9164]

Graduated 1980 from trade school as a machinist. In the summer of 78 I worked in my first machine shop after 10th grade. Half of the shop was run from a belt and shaft that was almost a century old . This was an old machine shop when Lynn MASS was shoe capital of the world. Upon graduation I worked at United Shoe Manufacturing corporation ( USMC ) in Beverly Massachusetts. This was the factory that produced shoe making machine's and was the largest shop in America. It is now Cummings property. This factory had its own foundry and production line machining where I worked on an old Milwaukee horz and vert mill as piece worker. The story that ruined this company was about a monopoly. USMC had its own thread system and nothing was standard measurement. Meaning no 1/4 20 tap but maybe..265 by 18 tap. No 1/4 , 3/8 or other known measurements but .240 or 385. This is examples and not real but no one could produce or make any piece until courts sided with the government and forced USMC to use same system in the country

[@johneric3886]

Nice video. Good find, I'm happy for you!!!

[@levirhoden]

Amazing! My uncles got a couple of these and he’s offered to give me one…if I can drive it all the way from Wisconsin to Seattle! Always thought they were too cool!

[@user-nz4iy7lo3y]

operated one like it in 1951 when i was a 1st year apprentice.

[@ZanzasToys]

This was great- I've wondered about shapers for a long time, and it was great to see one actually in use. So great that that machine ended up in your shop rather than a junkyard.

[@garyhall2126]

Great Video! Gotta tell you how nice it is to have a fellow Washingtonian and Seattle Metal Head doing youtube videos. Gives everything a "home grown" feel. You do a really good job!

[@JoeGassen]

Just bought a 20" Steptoe and cleaned and painted it up first. Will be watching and hope to learn from your efforts!

[@n__neen]

very underrated channel. even though your two-thirds keyboard video did get a lot of views and is good, i like these videos about old stuff even more. you have a good presenting and editing style and are very knowledgeable; your videos are a joy to watch. thank you.

[@StripeyType]

Jealous! I think I mentioned on Masto but also this would have made my job of rebuilding my lathe cross slide a whole heck of a lot easier.

[@xmadrugadaxeternax]

See also Leyton's "A Generative Theory of Shape".

[@MichaelKJohnson]

3D print an addition to the strap clamp box for the new t-nuts?

[@Attoparsec]

That's a good idea -- once I figure out where they're living, other than on the bandsaw table!

[@CullenCraft]

Wow! I can imagine a shop filled with this type of machine. The sound would be deafening.

[@spankeyfish]

Mills are faaaar louder

[@jrk1666]

Its better to clamp stuff in line with the stroke, that way should it overpower the clamp it will just slide it off the clamps. If you clamp at 90 degrees it will crash, either damaging the part or the machine

[@Codebreakerblue]

Personally, I'd love to see a video on the teardown and cleaning

[@IndianaDundee]

You mentioned "South Bend". I am assuming Indiana. If so, or not, hello from Richmond, IN.

[@desertTooHot]

Nice!

[@spankeyfish]

The saying is that you can make anything with a shaper except money.

[@mason5557]

P r o m o s m ☺️

[@firesurfer]

Plenty of shaper action on abom79.