I have a Boxford 8" shaper and a small milling machine (Emco FB2 clone). I got the shaper first, because it was available first at a price that suited my budget.

I tend to use the shaper to hog off metal before moving over to the mill, as it can shift metal more quickly with inexpensive & easily hand ground tools than the 2MT spindle milling machine. But there is also the "fun" factor – it is rather satisfying to use. It is doubtless capable of much more than I have done with it to date.

Would I have bought it if I had found the milling machine first ? Probably, just for the "fun" factor alone. But, while I am getting pushed for space, I don't yet feel it is taking up a corner that I would rather use for something else.

Nigel B.

With a hand powered Shaper, like the Adept No.2, you won't hog off large bits of metal.

It is a small machine, and very low powered. But it can do things that a Mill cannot, such as cutting internal keyways, or even internal splines or gears.

It will generate flat surfaces because the end result is the combination of the tool moving in two different planes as it cuts. A mill that is even slightly out of true will generate one or more shallow hollow grooves.

Sharpening the tool is far easier than trying to sharpen an End Mill. It is just like a Lathe tool, so can be a form tool, capable of easy modification, if so needed.

A vertical Mill is the machine for producing a slot, or keyway, with a radius at the end..

Horses for courses again

Howard

Agree entirely with Howard. I like my handraulic shaper for the things it can do – like internal keyways. But it is never going to compete with a powered machine.

For most things I do, a larger shaper would be good but I don’t think it will happen. I might progress to a small powered machine as another ‘toy’.

I use my lathe, both mills and the Drummond shaper. Not universally because the particular machine is the best/easiest to get the job done.

If milling attachments were so good for everyone, mills would not have become so popular. People use what they have and modellers will make models according to the size of machines they have – although smaller models can be made on a larger machine, but not so easy the other way round. Only you would know the answer to your question.

I might like to add a surface grinder, but it would not get much use. But that would not necessarily stop me if a suitable one came up for sale.🙂

I would say get the shaper if you fancy it. I had a Boxford shaper and a milling machine in the past and did use it. It is a nice machine to use, quite quiet and sort of peaceful – there is something mesmerising about watching it work. However when I moved house and now have a smaller workshop I chose to keep the milling machine and sell the shaper.

I to have a Boxford 8" shaping machine and Tom Senior milling machine, I usually use the shaping machine to reduce bar stock to the correct usable size. It gives a fabulous finish and is very enjoyable to use, It will remove 0.5mm cuts on BMS with ease, although I saw somebody on here a while ago stating his could cut 2.0mm cuts on BMS,,,,,,not hope in hell.

When I was an apprentice at ICI Billingham many years ago I watched a large Shaping machine in the mill wrights shop throw huge red hot cuttings all over the workshop. Happy days.

My Acorntools (Atlas) 7" can rough up to about 20thou (0.5mm) using a fine feed without sounding too uncomfortable Peter – so very similar to your 8" Boxford I think.

A 24" stroke Hydraulic would be very nice to peel metal back with (it wouldn't even break a sweat with 2mm) but I think it would probably create a black-hole in the floor of my Shed and then promptly disappear into it….

IanT

Use the fancy HSS if you have it, like M35 cobalt HSS

Fancy HSS is great for slow speed stuff and holds its edge much better with slow speed cutting

both for lathe turning and shaping jobs

GL

I have a Boxford shaper and a Tom Senior Mill. Use the shaper a lot for key slots in gears and pulleys etc. Also love the very fine finish that you can get on steel, almost a ground finish.

Would never part with the shaper.

Spent a few very enjoyable hours yesterday playing with my Perfecto 7 inch shaper, bought it new back in the seventies and apart from a repaint into a Myford grey colour it is absolutely original. The job this time was a pair of steam chests for a 2.5 gauge loco, they only had about fifty thou on each face to come off so a roughing cut all round of about thirty thou and then two finishing cuts, no time wasted because while shaper was doing its thing I was sharpening a few milling cutters. For larger jobs I also have an Elliott 10m, gives a beautiful finish for port faces etc, it’s got a three phase motor but runs beautifully on a transwave converter.

+1 on "most" of the comments above.

A mill even with a fly cutter can never replicate the finish a shaper can achieve with the right ground tool, especially a shear tool taking a final couple of thou off.

Internal keyways and gear cutting are also a boon with the shaper.

It may often be slower vs a mill on certain procedures, but it is a helluva lot more fun.

I get immense enjoyment from operating the lathe and the shaper, but a mill is always a "do i have to?", "i suppose i must", type job, i find a lot of common, simple milling operations almost boring. The lathe and shaper – never.

I note there are a lot of Tom Senior mill and Boxford shaper owners above, great minds think alike, perhaps we should start a society/club?

Steven, the Boxford chip tray is 18 ½" x 34", obviously that's a bit bigger than the cabinet floor footprint.

On the long side, the ram needs a further 7" beyond the tray as it slides back and forth.

The manual doesn't seem to give a weight, but I moved one myself in a van.
It was already partially stripped down, also separated from the cabinet, and I had a hand to load up.
Unloaded OK on my own, but I do have an elevating hydraulic table/trolley on wheels.

Reassembled OK alone, and added a VFD in the main cabinet. I retained the original mains push buttons, but removed the contact breaker behind them and replaced with microswitches to control the VFD.
N.B. make sure the motor runs in the correct direction; the cutting stroke should be slower than the return stroke.

Bill

Well just to check I set a 2" square by 6" long piece of BMS up today. Selected the lowest pulley speed. VSD at 50Hz and had a go with a 2mm DOC. As soon as the cutting tool got to its full 2mm cut the machine stalled ? God knows what an 3mm DOC would have achieved. I would be interested to see how your cutting tool was ground. I may not have the correct tool shape. More than willing to have another go with a different cutting tool.