well done

i hope you will keep us informed as to how you go on with it

there was a serial in me or mew recently but i just haven't had time to read & digest it

i too have an adept no 2 powered shaper but i haven't had chance to "have a play" with it yet

i have also come to the conclusion that i got a bit of a bargain when i bought it , as i understand they are quite rare ,and mines in fantastic condition. infact i did a lot of uming & arhing before i bought it. glad i did now

regards

paul

Could it be because it will also double as a Bullworker® ?

Handpower is fine but once you go beyond making keyways it can soon become tiresome.

Paul

My tip would be to think of it like a SMALL lathe. A small lathe would sensibly take a 5 thou depth of cut and a 1 or 2 thou feed rate but not 20/20 for each. So the cross section of the cut is only 5 to 10 sq thou. That's what you want to aim for.

It is quite hard to make small enough moves on the dials so it is easier to carefully increase the depth of each pass by only 1 or 2 thou and make the bigger increment on the horizontal for each pull.

My little Drummond is quite theraputic if not in a hurry and for brass not much effort is involved.

Welcome to the Adept Owners Club Michael!

My machine has moved indoors to join my winter workshop and has taken up residence on the end of my axillary workbench (it's wheeled) with my Cowells drill. It was looking a bit battered but on examination it seemed mainly a problem with cracked paint (I suspect a top coat without any attempt to clean/degrease underneath it) – so I stripped it back to bare metal, primed it and have just brushed on two coats of engine enamel (Apple Green)

I have a number of ideas (which we've discussed here on another thread) for using this small tool but my first change will be to make a "half-length" handle. I'll keep the old one as is, but I purchased a new length of suitable bar at Sandown for the shorter handle. I found that for the work I was doing, I was always gripping the handle nearer the shaper, so this is a simple mod that will make the machine easier to use (in a confined space).

I think you will find this to be a very solid foundation for the sort of linear cutting machine you were thinking of, providing that you work on the basis that the current feed arrangements are simply for "coarse" positioning.

Anyway, good luck with your new shaper – perhaps we could both post some progress notes next year?

Regards,

Ian

Edited By IanT on 28/12/2013 11:43:24

Don't let anyone kid you, they are hard work. I had one years ago, and when we were at tech college, my mate did a design study of how you could motorise it. Probably today, I would consider an air ram and run it on compressed air. You could set distance stops etc to limit the travel, valves for speed ? (Would air be too 'spongey' ?

BobH

I do understand the limitations of hand shapers Bob,

I've tried machining relatively large surfaces with my Adept some time ago. It was hard work but I was intrigued by the whole Shaper experience. As I've mentioned on a previous thread, it was one of the reasons I purchased a 7" Atlas when I got the chance. I find the (powered) Atlas is very good for surfacing larger surface areas (with an excellent finish) as I can set it up to run and (within reason) let it work whilst I get on with other things nearby. I suspect a lot of comment about Shapers being "slow" ignores this aspect of their operation. I certainly cannot 'duplex' with a lathe or mill in quite the same way.

However, I am not intending to use the Adept to remove large amounts of metal, I'm looking to use it on smaller and/or more specialist items/tasks. I think of it as a 'linear' cutting tool and one where I think the "hand" (control) aspect of it might even be an advantage. There are of course always more than one way to do things (like skinning cats apparently) so only time will tell whether this will turn out to be useful in practice. Fortunately I do this for fun and as I like experimenting with things, if they don't work out exactly as planned, it doesn't matter too much.

Regards,

IanT

hello MichaelG.

yes it is motorised, I've only had it running to see if it works thats about it, the motor its self is from a washing machine i presume as it has a hoover on the plate, it stands on a home made trolly

​It's going to be awhile before I get round to using it as I'm new to this model engineering lark and i'm only just getting to grips with my lathe. Just started to machine my 1st engine (stuart 10v) a bit of head scratching going on but it's a learning curve.

If i get chance later i will take some pics and try and post them

regards

paul

Hi Paul,

Back in the day Hoover made some very lovely motors for machine tools, so it [probably isn't from a washing machine if it looks like the one below. If it has oil cups at each end pop a drop or two of oil in every day you use it.

Neil

hello Dave

no its not the one but thanks anyway

here are some pics

one thing I did notice is as well as a good clean it will need its gibbs adjusting does anybody know how to do the cross slide ones without having to strip half of the machine down!

thankyou for your response Dave

I will certainly bear those tips in mind when I eventually get round to using it

regards

Paul