Atlas 7B shaper restoration

[cnr6400]

Most paints I've used you can do another coat when tacky, but after last coat wait at least a week before handling it, would be my suggestions.

[vdubjunkie]

Seriously everybody, thank you all so much for the kind words, encouragement, and insight.   

Beyond just the fact that it helps encourage me to keep going, and feeling like I'm not making any major mistakes, it also makes it easier to not take shortcuts along the way that I might otherwise.  I'll be sharing everything with you guys!   

I am getting a little bummed though.  With the length of time I'll have to allow these parts to sit, I don't think I should be doing any kind of metal removal out there until I'm all done!     I only have about 4 other projects right now I could be working on.

[Dave Otto]

Simple solution, move the painted parts into the house to finish curing; then continue working on the other pieces. 

Dave

[vdubjunkie]

Simple solution, move the painted parts into the house to finish curing; then continue working on the other pieces. 

Dave

Now that is funny.  It's made even funnier when you know that I am married!   

[wlburton]

Have you made any more progress with the shaper?  I bought one (a 7B) at an estate sale a couple of weeks ago and am in the process of giving it a much needed cleaning.  I'm also stripping three layers of paint off of it and repainting it a very similar color to yours (which seems to have been the original color of this shaper).  I didn't remove the two main shafts since they seem to be fine and I'm working around them as I clean and paint.  I enjoyed your account of your restoration and it's been helpful.  I don't think these things were ever designed to be taken apart!  The photo was taken at the estate sale.

[vdubjunkie]

Oh man, you got the vise and the stand too.  Nice find!   
I'm so glad to hear that it was helpful.  I'd be really curious to hear others accounts of there something was different than mine.

Sorry for the huge delay, but life kept happening.  I've finally been able to get some time in the garage recently and I'm dry fitting everything.  I'll try to get some more pics up shortly!

[vdubjunkie]

Hey again everyone.  Yes, it's basically been seven months since I was doing anything meaningful in the garage with a project.
Within the past few weeks, I've been able to begin doing some dry fitting of components and applying final paint where desired.



The dry fit accomplishes several things.  Obviously, you get a chance to make sure you have all your parts.  Ensuring that everything fits is implied by the name and also quite important.  A deeper reality to fit is that you find things like huge threads with no tap which still need a good cleaning and other such similar things.



I'm already loving the look of the unpainted feed ratchet housing and guard.  I haven't yet decided whether I'll actually polish it.  Right now I'm thinking that's a bit too much bling!   
Maybe you noticed the missing bolt in the flange.  I was certain I had all the big bolts, but I'm just not finding it at this moment.   



Nothing too special here other than I think it's visually stunning.  I've got PLENTY to learn about paint and I honestly don't know what I should expect from a brush, but I thought it turned out quite well overall.



Here was one of my earlier surprises of missing hardware.  Looking back through my pictures, I can see that I was missing one of the grub screws, but I did have three nuts.  I'll have to figure out where I've put those.   



The S7-83A shaft protruding from the side of the frame here has excellent movement.  Since I found no need to try to press off bearings, collars, nor gear, I did have a pretty good shot.  Those huge threads I mentioned earlier, these were what I was thinking of.  When I first tried to start the collar threads, I quickly realized cleaning of the female threads would be absolutely necessary.  More so, I had a hard time imagining how the collar was ever able to occupy that space before.   



Here we are with the cross rail and lift screw attached, as well as the S7-68A disc and gear, with rods and bushings.



Now, with the table installed and the ratchet assembly connected, I'm able to test the vertical and  horizontal movement of the table.  Everything is quite smooth.   



Other than some final fit and finish stuff and some missing hardware, this is one of the few remaining more involved issues.  I don't know why this surface is so badly galled, but I'm currently in the process of making some aluminum soft jaws for the South Bend so I can clean it up.

[vdubjunkie]

Well everybody, it's time for me to consider other's opinions.  The Tool Post Clapper and Swivel Assembly (S7-8AX) was missing one of the 1/4-28 dog-point set screws.  While looking for a replacement (no surprise), I've found it is much easier to find socket, or female hex type screws.

I think it is fair to say that these are an improvement over traditional slotted style.  However, as infrequently as one should have to adjust the gib, if you take the time to do things properly, you should be able to avoid chewing up a slotted screw.

I guess my question is whether anybody feels strongly one way or the other, but also whether anybody knows where in the heck I could find slotted dog-point headless set screws.  If need be, I'm sure I could take it as an opportunity to "make" my own by just cutting the head off a longer screw and turning a dog-point into the tip.

Oh, also, I did find a pretty decent option for the switch replacement.  I'm sure some would argue that I should just mount a big ugly box to the outside of the machine as so many others have done, since accessing this switch late will be problematic.  However, I just cannot bring myself to do that intentionally, when I have the opportunity to make it look right.

https://www.grainger.com/product/CARLING-TECHNOLOGIES-Toggle-Switch-2X464?internalSearchTerm=Toggle+Switch%2C+Number+of+Connections%3A+2%2C+Switch+Function%3A+On%2FOff&suggestConfigId=8&searchBar=true

If anybody knows of a better place to find a switch that looks even closer to original, I'll graciously accept that information.  I believe the original switches had a fairly fat pole with a bit of a ball at the end.

[Dave Otto]

Not sure where you live, but Ace Hardware here in Boise ID has a selection of slotted set screws. Not sure about the 1/4-28 though.

Dave

[LAmachinist]

vdubjunkie-

Beautiful job on the restoration of that Atlas shaper!  Given its starting condition, it's a lucky machine to have found someone willing to take the time to do a full tear-down and repainting.  I find the atlas shaper to be one of the more robust tools produced by that company.

I also have an Atlas 7b shaper - unfortunately it had seen heavy use, and the previous owner apparently didn't believe in oiling the ram (which led to extreme scoring of the box ways).  I also had to do a complete disassembly, at which point it became clear that every single way needed to be re-machined and scraped in.  Point being, 1) make sure to use a good machine oil once you get it back together! and 2) I can appreciate the time that goes into a restoration!

I tripped across this post as I recognized that machine - I believe I am the person who bought the original base to your machine.  I don't know why the seller separated the two, and I imagine perhaps you wish he hadn't.  I spent time last fall stripping the same green-over-grey paint and grime off of it, and painting to match the shaper I had restored (which now rests on top of it).  I feel a bit guilty knowing that the machine from which the base was taken will be resurrected after all, but it wasn't me that separated them and I thought perhaps you would be interested to know what happened to the original base (landing out here in New Mexico).

I remember looking at the add for the shaper (which I think sold before the base was listed) and thinking that whoever bought it would have their hands full - Im glad it went to someone up to the task!  If you have any questions about these shapers, send me a message (FYI McMaster is a good source for laminated brass shim stock for adjusting the box ways if the originals can't be found, and there is a seller online that makes new brass lead screw nuts for these machines if yours are worn.  I look forward to seeing how your restoration turns out!

-Tom

[Steamer5]

Hi Tom,
 You’ve done a very nice job on that shaper! Have you used it in anger yet?

Cheers Kerrin

[steam guy willy]

Hi Tom, Looking lovely and I love the mimetic juxtaposition with the anvil  !!!!!  As all machining metal is to do with bashing bits off , the original method was to use an anvil ?!!!

Willy

[Mcgyver]

Very nice, they are a handsome machine.

I did one years ago.  A real character had disassembled it to move into his basement decades previously.  He could not find the base casting so it went for very little.  It must have been close to new when he took at apart.  I found a base casting on ebay, bought legs as well, hand planed a maple top and made and procured other missing parts.  I finally sold it as I ran out of space, but I miss that little guy

[LAmachinist]

Kerrin - the machine has had a fairly easy life since the restoration and I'm not sure I have 'used it an anger' other than to test out things like max DOC.  The truth is that I bought the machine simply because I wanted a shaper - there is something wonderful about the linear-motion single point cutters (shapers and planers) that seems so foreign in today's machine shop.  That and, as vdubjunkie has pointed out, the machine construction and casting shapes are of quite a beautiful style. 

At the time, I had convinced myself that it would be important to have a shaper for internal keyways and splines.  As it would happen, I ended up buying a wire electric discharge machine shortly after the shaper.  Now my only excuse for having a shaper (and the flimsy justification I give to my girlfriend) is that it will be essential for cutting blind internal keyways.  Not sure how often that comes up! 

Willy - good point about the juxtaposition of the anvil and the shaper!  I wish I could say that was deliberate, but like many machine tool addicts, I find I am perpetually short on floorspace.  I don't use the anvil much for forging anymore, but it comes in handy for cold work (contrary to popular belief, milling machine tables are not suitable for that purpose  )

Mcgyver - I believe I have seen pictures of that hand planed maple base you made; a beautiful job!  It is fascinating to see all the different approaches to doing a restoration.  I had it quite bad - see below for a picture of the scoring on the original ram ways.  By the time I re-machined everything I might as well have started from raw castings!  Frankly I was not overwhelmed by the quality of the original way surfaces - some areas like the vertical box ways that the table clamps to (which had some scoring which I stoned, but should have seen almost no wear) were fairly out-of-plane.  Perhaps this was due to relaxation of the castings over 50 years.  It did give me an excuse to try my hand at scraping, and dissuaded me from every trying to scrape in a larger machine without first buying a Biax power scraper.

-Tom

[Steamer5]

Hi Tom,
 I agree there is something about watching a shaper just doing what they are designed to do. My Dad has one & uses it for all sorts of odd things, making fishing gaffs being one!

Some years ago  I got to watch a planner carving railroad irons for points, you wouldn’t want to stand in the wrong place given the distance the table was moving, full lengths of irons so it was a big machine.

Cheers Kerrin