Shaper construction tips
Gingery's approach to making the rotating head was to cast the ram around a steel core. . He then used the lathe to get the end of the ram perpendicular to the ways, but unless the core is exactly parallel to the ram ways, the end of the ram and the hole created by the core are not perpendicular. A lot of filing and scraping of the ram is required to get a good fit with the rotating head. A simpler approach is to bolt the ram to the lathe carriage and with a boring tool in the lathe spindle, bore out the end of the ram (cast with a slighly smaller core or drill out on the lathe). With the same setup, flycut the end of the ram. This ensures the bore and the end of the ram are perpendicular.
Building the Shaper Step-by-Step.
Two excellent web references for building the Shaper Step-by-Step are
http://www.frugalmachinist.com/shaper.html and
http://members.optushome.com.au/terrybrown/ scroll down to Gingery Shaper.
Both gentlemen used commercial lathes and mills in the construction and both made useful and intelligent modifications. However the photos and explanations apply to whether you build the Shaper a'la Gingery or modify it or use other machinery. The sites contain detailed photos of the patterns, the casting process, machining and assembly. For someone like me who has difficullty in imagining a piece, they provide a much needed shortcut. I fully intend to adopt modifications and suggestions from both sites in my Shaper and have started my own drawings and plans to take into account the variations.
greg123452003
Two excellent web references for building the Shaper Step-by-Step are
http://www.frugalmachinist.com/shaper.html and
http://members.optushome.com.au/terrybrown/ scroll down to Gingery Shaper.
Both gentlemen used commercial lathes and mills in the construction and both made useful and intelligent modifications. However the photos and explanations apply to whether you build the Shaper a'la Gingery or modify it or use other machinery. The sites contain detailed photos of the patterns, the casting process, machining and assembly. For someone like me who has difficullty in imagining a piece, they provide a much needed shortcut. I fully intend to adopt modifications and suggestions from both sites in my Shaper and have started my own drawings and plans to take into account the variations.
greg123452003
