Shaping machine from 1874 (Gebr. Boehringer, Göppingen) in 1:12

[Max Eyth]

Franz Enzfelder, a model builder from Austria, had discovered the Shaping Machine in a small museum in Austria. He measured it exactly and built casting models. Then he had the parts for about 15 model machines cast. I discovered his 1:12 model workshop, then still equipped with PMR machine tools, at an exhibition. But I was particularly fascinated by the two shaping machines of a design I had never seen before. (Se the Shaping machines and Workshop built by Franz below).
He told me that after having built the US machine tools, he now wants to build German ones as well. They were designed quite differently, he said. At that time I had no idea about early machine tools. So far, I had also thought of building PMR - and had already built the Drill-Press. But the small Shaping excited me, especially since originally it came from a manufacturer near my hometown.


Franz Enzfelder only had one set of castings left at the time, which I could aquire, together with photos from the museum. My aim was to build the machine almost like the original. Franz had made some compromises because he had made a small series and at that time was still thinking of offering a whole range of model machine tools commercially. Unfortunately, nothing came of it. 

I then started to build according to the photos. The ram runs in a slotted cross head (see picture below). I had never seen anything like it before.
At the same time, I did some research on the development of machine tools and found a picture of a similar machine, from a British manufacturer, in a report on the London Great Exhibition of 1862.  Probably one of the Boehringer brothers visited the Exhibition, sketched the machine there and built a mirror image of it at home.
There were two versions of the machine at Boehringer's, one with a belt transmission only, the other with an additional gear transmission. I found such a second one built in 1892 in a museum near Freiburg im Breisgau. So the machines were produced absolutely identically for almost 20 years. 

So far for today
Michael

[Dave Otto]

Those are interesting machines, thanks for sharing.

Dave

[mklotz]

Yes, thank you for the pictures.  The shapers are fascinating and that miniature drill press is downright delightful. 

[vtsteam]

Very interesting machine. In the first engraving, below the clapper there's a horizontal spindle. Do you know if that was that a horizontal milling spindle, or was it just an arbor for cutting gears and splined shafts with the shaper tools?

[Chipswitheverything]

Thanks for posting this very interesting information and the excellent photos of the miniature equipment ; I also like the tiny precision drill very much ! Dave

[Admiral_dk]

Great pictures - thank you for showing 

[Max Eyth]

If you are interested, I'll show you some pictures of building the little machine, since it implies some challenges other than with steam engines.

The first pictures show the work on the guide for the cross slide.

As we all know, machine tools require guideways that are adjustable. In the case of the shaping machine, they have an angle of 60°. Also some grooves of the original machine are trapezoidal. Since I couldn't find such a small 60° cutter, I had to make my own. Below are pictures of how I made a 60° cutter from an end mill with my own resources.

[Max Eyth]

Progress of the work!
I could not think of a clean mechanical solution for the brass wedge strip. So I have filed by hand.

Best whishes
Michael

[Admiral_dk]

Great thinking 'Out of the Box' and resulting Parts 

I would certainly be happy to see more 

Per

[vtsteam]

I really like your shop-made dovetail cutter 

[Dan Rowe]

Wow, that is some fine work. I love that you chamfered the edges of the work table. I see the brass wedge on a piece of wood and the file used. I can not figure out how to use the wood to make the wedge. I must be missing something.

Cheers Dan

[cnr6400]

Great work! 

[Max Eyth]

@Dan: The piece of wood is just my workbench. Everything filed by hand, no mystery arond it 

Today some pictures of the mechanics of the push- slide.
This is a slotted cross head. It consists of two parts, which are clamped with screws in the slide. The whole machine is (also in the original) remarkably simple constructed.
In the model, however, it was very fiddly because there is little space. In the crank disk a trapezoidal nut is inserted, which (also in the original) is clamped with a nut. So the stroke can be adjusted.
After much thinking and measuring, I stayed very close to the original. Only the ball bearing is a modern ingredient.
I glued the crank disk to the shaft with Loctite 661.
Everything is very tight, but the mechanism runs.

Best wishes
Michael

[Max Eyth]

Here you can see, how the slotted crosshead works
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ns9dVJfGX7U" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ns9dVJfGX7U</a>

The next step is the support for the cutting-tool. It consists of some seperate Parts. Note, the spindle has a left-hand thread to ensure the "normal" movement of the slide.

Then comes the mounting table, a casting.

An then the integrated feed.

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gj3fK6OEhY" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gj3fK6OEhY</a>

Best whishes for today
Michael

[Kim]

Very nice, Michael! 

Kim