Model Engine Maker

Supporting => Tooling & Machines => Topic started by: Coopertje on May 08, 2014, 11:34:12 AM

Title: Boxford 8”shaper
Post by: Coopertje on May 08, 2014, 11:34:12 AM
Just got myself a new toy  :whoohoo:

(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x410/coopertje75/boxfordschaafbankje.jpg)

(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x410/coopertje75/boxfordschaafbankje1.jpg)

Always fancied a shaper, do not know why but I do. For years I have in mind to make a slotting attachment for my mill but never got to it. Main goal is to cut slots in gears, pulleys etc and for cutting internal gears. Just this morning came across this Boxford on internet, it seems the be in a fair condition and the price was more then reasonable.  What I like most is the very compact footprint of the machine, perfect for a home shop. Table travel is 225 mm horizontally and 150 mm vertically, ram 200mm, more then enough for my size of parts.  I really do not have space for this machine, maybe I need to say goodbye to my Clarkson tool grinder  :'(  Hope to pickup the machine tomorrow or Saturday.

Jeroen
Title: Re: Boxford 8”shaper
Post by: Tjark on May 08, 2014, 12:08:07 PM
Hello Jeroen,

A very nice shaper you bought.
Is it the shaper who was on sale on Marktplaats?
I saw one on Marktplaats some day ago, I think it was the same.
I am looking for one also but then on 220V and I am not in a hurry and looking a little closer to my place.
This because the weight.

   Tjark.
Title: Re: Boxford 8”shaper
Post by: Coopertje on May 08, 2014, 09:32:20 PM
Hello Tjark,
I think it the same you have seen. I have 380V in my shop so no conversion needed. The distance is only 130 km from where I live, I think in Holland everything is quite close by. I will go to take alook tomorrow and if all is ok I will disassemble it there and take it home. You will find what you are looking for in the end, patience is the key!

Jeroen
Title: Re: Boxford 8”shaper
Post by: Coopertje on May 10, 2014, 06:19:21 PM
Yesterday went to pick-up the machine. Disassembled it into pieces that could be handled and that would go into the back of my car. Below the pile of parts:

(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x410/coopertje75/Boxford%20shaper/DSC_2037.jpg)

(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x410/coopertje75/Boxford%20shaper/DSC_2039.jpg)

The bedways are in good shape and have nice scraping job on it.

(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x410/coopertje75/Boxford%20shaper/DSC_2038.jpg)

The mechanics just need a good clean, new grease and oil etc. The paintwork on the casted parts is in reasonable condition, will not do anything about that. The base however is quite rusty. Normally I paint the machines myself, but for this one I will get lazy and take it to a company to have all the sheet metal parts sandblasted and powder coated for me. With the prices of good industrial paint these days the costs are not soo much higher…. While the company will do the powder coating I have time to clean all the other parts. Should be up and running in some weeks from now.

Already sold the Clakson grinder, should be picked up quickly, its quite a mess in my shop now…..

(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x410/coopertje75/Boxford%20shaper/DSC_2040.jpg)

CU Jeroen
Title: Re: Boxford 8”shaper
Post by: Coopertje on June 06, 2014, 09:01:44 AM
I have been abroad for work some time so the work on the Boxford has slowed down. On the way back home from the airport I picked up the sheet metal parts from the powder coating company. So nice to receive the parts back finished without sanding and painting for one week. And after all only 30% more expensive then painting myself… Started to assemble the base

(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x410/coopertje75/Boxford%20shaper/Boxford21.jpg)

(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x410/coopertje75/Boxford%20shaper/Boxford22.jpg)

(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x410/coopertje75/Boxford%20shaper/Boxford23.jpg)

(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x410/coopertje75/Boxford%20shaper/Boxford24.jpg)

Below some pictures of the machine as it is now

(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x410/coopertje75/Boxford%20shaper/Boxford25.jpg)

(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x410/coopertje75/Boxford%20shaper/Boxford26.jpg)

(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x410/coopertje75/Boxford%20shaper/Boxford27.jpg)

On the bottom of the cabinet, below the machine table there is a strip to support the table while shaping the workpiece. This strip has some marks of usage in it.

(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x410/coopertje75/Boxford%20shaper/Boxford28.jpg)

So I took it to the mill and took a light cut to remove the marks.

(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x410/coopertje75/Boxford%20shaper/Boxford29.jpg)

Next I will take it to the Tachella and give it a surface grind to remove the machining marks. Before I can do that I need to mill some slots in the "magnet plate" to be able to mount it on the Tachella grinder. Yesterday I went to a machine dealer and found some nice vises and angle plates to be used for the Boxford.

(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x410/coopertje75/Boxford%20shaper/Boxford30.jpg)

The 2 new vises in the top of the picture are grinding vises, hope they have enough grip on the workpiece for shaping activities…… The 3rd vise on the bottom will be adopted to my Tachella, nice addition to grind square toolbits…..

Regards Jeroen
Title: Re: Boxford 8”shaper
Post by: Jo on June 06, 2014, 09:53:42 AM
 8) Looking forward to seeing it make some nice red hot swirls of swarf and throwing them across your workshop  :naughty:

Jo
Title: Re: Boxford 8”shaper
Post by: steamer on June 06, 2014, 10:12:45 AM
SaWeeeeet!

Nice shaper!....STAY OUT OF THE CUT ZONE...

Shapers are very enchanting....but they have a nasty bite to those who think they can get the chip brush in fast enough....

Make sure that plate is dead parallel to the travel of the table when it's back.

Enjoy!

Dave
Title: Re: Boxford 8”shaper
Post by: Coopertje on June 07, 2014, 09:22:33 AM
Me too Jo, I am eager to start playing with the machine. very curious how it works and how to operate it. Have to do some reading on the tooling though, think the secret of surface finish is in the tooling and I expect it will not be different when working with a shaper. Hope to make the first swarf today.

I can Imagine what you mean Dave, the beam does not look like it will stop for anything…. my coffee cup already met Mr. beam. I had it on the table of the shaper and thought to just switch on the machine for a moment and enjoy the sound of it. Pressed the start button and had coffee all over the machine and floor  :cussing: 

Started with milling the slots in the magnet plate to be able to mount it on the Tachella grinder

(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x410/coopertje75/Boxford%20shaper/Boxford31.jpg)

After inspection I noticed that I have hit some internal part.   :thinking:   However after testing the plate it does not seem to affect the function…..Its still working! Took a less deep cut on the other side of the plate.

(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x410/coopertje75/Boxford%20shaper/Boxford32.jpg)

Next was to make a stone dresser. I have learned by error that you should always dress the grinding wheel in the plane that it will be used. With surface grinding this means dressing from the bottom side of the wheel. I made a small dresser holder from some scrap alu

(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x410/coopertje75/Boxford%20shaper/Boxford33.jpg)

It can be mounted to the magnet plate, ready for a touch-up of the grinding wheel

(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x410/coopertje75/Boxford%20shaper/Boxford34.jpg)

Below the set-up on the Tachella and the result. Its ok, but not perfect yet. In the end I discovered that I did not dress the grinding wheel enough, it was only grinding with half the diameter  :facepalm2: The surface however is more then ok for the strip on the shaper.

(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x410/coopertje75/Boxford%20shaper/Boxford35.jpg)

(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x410/coopertje75/Boxford%20shaper/Boxford36.jpg)

Then spend some quality time in adjusting the strip on the shaper cabinet.

(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x410/coopertje75/Boxford%20shaper/Boxford37.jpg)

After 30 minutes I had it within 0.02mm over the X-axis travel, that should be ok. Then I pressed the strip from the upper side by hand and noticed that I could move it down by 0.1 to 0.2mm easily. Not so strange as it is sitting on a piece of sheet metal only. So any misalignment will be absorbed by the cabinet.

Today I will make the clamps the mount the new vises to the table and I will make a modification on the bar that supports the machine table to the newly grinded strip. I plan to make a ball bearing in it so it will not mark the strip again, the strip is not hardened. And then it will be playing time  :cartwheel:

Regards Jeroen
Title: Re: Boxford 8”shaper
Post by: Coopertje on June 08, 2014, 10:16:05 AM
A little more progress on the Boxford. Started with a piece of steel to make 2 clamps for the new vise. It is a simple milling job and after drill one hole.

(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x410/coopertje75/Boxford%20shaper/Boxford38.jpg)

(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x410/coopertje75/Boxford%20shaper/Boxford39.jpg)

I want to mount a roller bearing in the bar that supports the table during shaping. Took the bar to the lathe and with a carbide insert I was able to plane it but noticed it was quite hard (little sparks while turning). I measured it with my Rockwell tester and found that it was 62RC.

(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x410/coopertje75/Boxford%20shaper/Boxford40.jpg)

Time to anneal the material, did not feel like breaking my tooling on this piece of material. Just heated it until red and let it cool down in the air. Measuring again the hardness reduced to 18RC, thats better!

(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x410/coopertje75/Boxford%20shaper/Boxford41.jpg)

The bearing with 2 washers aside is 8mm wide, so first drilled a 8mm hole in the bar (after checking that I was for sure drilling in the right plane and not 90 degrees wrong).

(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x410/coopertje75/Boxford%20shaper/Boxford42.jpg)

And milled the slot with a 8mm mill

(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x410/coopertje75/Boxford%20shaper/Boxford43.jpg)

Drilled 3.2mm, open the top with 6.1mm, tapped the bottom hole with M4 and made a flat on top with a 10mm mill.

(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x410/coopertje75/Boxford%20shaper/Boxford44.jpg)

A little deburring and test fit:

(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x410/coopertje75/Boxford%20shaper/Boxford45.jpg)

(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x410/coopertje75/Boxford%20shaper/Boxford46.jpg)

Made the bearing shaft out of 10mm drill rod. First turned and treaded the outer shape and part it off.

(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x410/coopertje75/Boxford%20shaper/Boxford47.jpg)

Swapped it around in the chuck and decided to drill a hexagon hole to suit an allan key. The procedure is quite simple, center drill, drill the hole, chamfer it and use a rotary broach (this one I build on KEN I design).

(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x410/coopertje75/Boxford%20shaper/Boxford48.jpg)

Of course some testing with an allan key to check and enjoy the result

(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x410/coopertje75/Boxford%20shaper/Boxford49.jpg)

Recently I purchased a chemical blackening kit, time to try it out. Seems to work out well, just need to be sure that the parts are as clean as possible before blackening to get the best result. And it needs some time to dry in the air according the  manual, so I hanged them on a electricity pipe on the ceiling

(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x410/coopertje75/Boxford%20shaper/Boxford50.jpg)

Below the final result, not to bad for an amateur like me

(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x410/coopertje75/Boxford%20shaper/Boxford51.jpg)

Below the bar with ball race modification mounted on the machine

(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x410/coopertje75/Boxford%20shaper/Boxford52.jpg)

And the vise mounted on the table

(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x410/coopertje75/Boxford%20shaper/Boxford53.jpg)

And now all the missing parts are mounted time to test the machine and see if it can make some swarf. Just took a standard lathe tool I had in HSS and mounted a piece of steel. Took light cuts, do not know yet what this little machine is capable of. But its working, surface is flat, finish is not top yet. Tried later a piece of aluminum and that went a lot better related to surface finish. Need to get my tooling sorted out and grinded to meet the shapers need.

Here is a little video of the first cutting strokes of my shaper

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xg6PlhTtWJ0

Thanks for watching….

Regards Jeroen
Title: Re: Boxford 8”shaper
Post by: steamer on June 08, 2014, 10:20:15 AM
That's beautiful!   I really liked having my AAMCO ...but I needed the room.....one of my life's regrets I suppose.

Dave
Title: Re: Boxford 8”shaper
Post by: Coopertje on June 16, 2014, 09:56:04 PM
Thank you Dave. Seems like a nice and not too big shaper you had. But as you said, you cannot keep all the machines, sometimes you need to make choises based on financials and space limitations. I sold my Clarkson tool grinder, hurted, i really liked that machine. But I prefer to have one tool grinder and a shaper over 2 tool grinders.

I have been playing with the shaper and I am very pleased with the surface finish that can be achieved! Post a picture soon. Also I am making some toolholder for the Boxford. The idea is to have a tool holder and replacable tips to cut several widths of slots. Also it will hold the gearcutter when cutting internal gears.

Jeroen
Title: Re: Boxford 8”shaper
Post by: Coopertje on June 24, 2014, 01:15:45 PM
As mentioned before below a picture of the surface finish achieved with the shaper and a HSS toolbit. The part in front is steel, in the back is aluminium. The aluminium is almost a mirror finish!

(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x410/coopertje75/Boxford%20shaper/Boxfordtoolholder0.jpg)

I would like to have a set of key way cutters in the range from 2mm upto 10mm. This would fit the range I would use normally in my projects. The idea is to make 2 basic holder that can be mount in the clapper box, one with a 10mm hole and one with a 15mm hole. In these basic holders I can fit the several cutters for the different key way sizes. Alternatively I can mount the cutters for internal gearing in these holders.

First part is the nut that will be used to tighten the tool holder against the clapper box.  I started with a piece of 40mm steel and turned a stub of 20mm on one side to be able to clamp it in a collet. For cosmetic reasons , instead of a standard hex nut shape, I want to have it similar to the nut on a standard ER-25 collet adapter so I can use the standard available wrench to tighten it. Mounted the dividing head in the mill and cut 6 groves with a 5mm end mill.

(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x410/coopertje75/Boxford%20shaper/Boxfordtoolholder1.jpg)

(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x410/coopertje75/Boxford%20shaper/Boxfordtoolholder2.jpg)

Test fit with the ER-25 collet wrench

(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x410/coopertje75/Boxford%20shaper/Boxfordtoolholder3.jpg)

In the lathe parted of the 20mm stub and drilled the nut to 23.5mm. I happen to have a tap M25x1.5 so M25x1.5 it will be. Used the tailstock to keep this big tap aligned.

(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x410/coopertje75/Boxford%20shaper/Boxfordtoolholder5.jpg)

Turned a small recess on the back side to limit the contact area with the clapper box and chamfered the front side to 45 degrees which finishes the nut

(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x410/coopertje75/Boxford%20shaper/Boxfordtoolholder6.jpg)

The toolholder should have a diameter of 25.3mm with a flange of 35mm on the back. Did not feel like turning 40mm steel down to 25.3mm, material is becoming quite expensive these days. I decided to build it up out of 2 parts. The main part will be made out of 25mm stock and flange including the 25.3mm part will be made out of 40mm stock. When finished both parts will be silver soldered. This approach produces less swarf and also make the external screw cutting in the lathe less critical since there is no shoulder to bump into. Below some pictures of the steps made, think they are self explaining.

(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x410/coopertje75/Boxford%20shaper/Boxfordtoolholder7.jpg)

(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x410/coopertje75/Boxford%20shaper/Boxfordtoolholder8.jpg)

(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x410/coopertje75/Boxford%20shaper/Boxfordtoolholder10.jpg)

(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x410/coopertje75/Boxford%20shaper/Boxfordtoolholder11.jpg)

In order to create a reproducible alignment I milled a flat on both sides, a set screw in the side of the clapper box will align the holder.

(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x410/coopertje75/Boxford%20shaper/Boxfordtoolholder12.jpg)

To make sure that the set-screw to clamp the final key way cutters is at 90 degrees related to the flat side I clamped it in the vice with 2 pieces of toolbit against the flats

(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x410/coopertje75/Boxford%20shaper/Boxfordtoolholder13.jpg)

To prevent it from rusting and give it a better look I put them in the chemical blackening liquid

(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x410/coopertje75/Boxford%20shaper/Boxfordtoolholder14.jpg)

Forgot to take a picture of the holder mounted in the shaper, will do that later.

Regards Jeroen

Title: Re: Boxford 8”shaper
Post by: EmanMyford on June 24, 2014, 02:06:46 PM
Hi Jeroen, excellent shaper and some great machining. Thanks for sharing. I'm about to clean up a Tom Senior M1 Mill and would like to ask how you cleaned up the pulleys and exposed metal parts of the shaper? Did you use some scotch brite pads and oil (WD40) to clean the surface rust of?

Kind Regards.
Ewald
Title: Re: Boxford 8”shaper
Post by: Coopertje on June 24, 2014, 09:30:15 PM
Thank you for your comment Ewald. Indeed I use scotch brite, degreaser and WD40. First i degrease the parts and use a sharp knive to remove all sticky things from the parts. The round parts I mount in the lathe and clean them with scotch brite, very quick and effective. Also use sandpaper sometimes, grid 400, 600 and 800 if the parts have rust on them. Flat parts are more complicated, do not like to sand on machine tables etc. if I need to do I always use a flat wooden block with sandpaper to not make the parts hollow. If there is too much damage from rust I will have the part grinded. Not the cheapest way, but an inaccurate machine is not good for me. I am not a craftsman that can compensate for machine inaccuracies during machining.
Although its a lot of work to clean the parts, the joy of seeing them form a nice machine after reassembling is priceless!

Good luck on your milling machine, hope to see your progress soon on this site!

Regard Jeroen
Title: Re: Boxford 8”shaper
Post by: Coopertje on July 08, 2014, 08:39:29 AM
As promised here are 2 pics of the tool holders mounted in the Boxford:

(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x410/coopertje75/Boxford%20shaper/Boxfordtoolholder15.jpg)

(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x410/coopertje75/Boxford%20shaper/Boxfordtoolholder16.jpg)

Now I need to think on the internal keyway cutters themselves. I would like to have a range of 2mm up to 10mm wide cutters. There are some options on construction:

1)   Grind them from drill rod, harden and temper them
2)   Use pieces of square HSS bit hold in an adapter
3)   Use pieces of round HSS bit hold in an adapter
4)   Other ideas?

I tend to option number 3 because this is the easiest to make. If any body has some examples or experience on this I would be interested to know. For me its new and I prefer to use proven methods, saves time in remaking the tooling.

I also read that for a shaper there should be no top rake on the cutting tool. This to prevent it from digging into the work. Others claim to use a top rake of 5 degrees...... Any advice on this is very welcome too!

Have fun in the shop, regards Jeroen
Title: Re: Boxford 8”shaper
Post by: steamer on July 08, 2014, 10:39:55 AM
I ran top rake on my shaper tooling without troubles

The holders look great!

Dave
Title: Re: Boxford 8”shaper
Post by: Tjark on July 08, 2014, 11:23:53 AM
Hello Jeroen,

Maybe you can use the Prematex Morges Supercoop parting blades fort his job.
Those blades are not only tapered vertical but also horizontal.
Here is a link to the dimensions off the different blades http://www.anglo-swiss-tools.co.uk/supercoup.html

   Tjark.
Title: Re: Boxford 8”shaper
Post by: Coopertje on July 08, 2014, 11:52:33 AM
Thank you for your input Dave!

I have thought about this option too Tjark. The only issue is that for small keyways, for example 2mm the specified hole is between 6-8mm. This means that my adapter that holds the cutter should not be bigger then 5.5mm in diameter. It will be impossible to hold a blade like this firmly. If I would grind such a blade to size I am afraid that it will break in the cutting action.....

Up to now the most rigid option I can think of is to make a round adapter, drill a perpendicular hole, grind a piece of round HSS bit to shape and clamp it in the adapter by a locking screw.... hope my idea is clear....

Regards Jeroen
Title: Re: Boxford 8”shaper
Post by: swood1 on January 03, 2021, 08:43:46 PM
Hi CU Jeron,

Can you advise how easy it was to split the Boxford shaper?  Also, did you manage to fit it inside an estate car?  I am looking at similar machine but dont really want to be paying to hire a van again if I can get away with using my car.



Regards

Steven
Title: Re: Boxford 8”shaper
Post by: Jo on January 03, 2021, 08:56:04 PM
This is an old thread...

I brought my alba 1A home in a Cortina Estate car. The base is bolted on to the main machine so it was brought home in two parts. However it took three of us to lift it into the car and it should have been strapped down  :-X

Jo
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