Hi Paul,

This may help you with visualising shaper tool profiles.

Gordon.

Shaper tooling can be a lot like lathe tooling in shape much depending on material and the job in hand IMHO it needs to have less “front” clearance typically only around 3* to 5* to cope with the high intermittent cutting forces of the Shaper and to maintain a robust cutting edge for as long as possible.

If the tooling is too small shimming/packing is quite acceptable, I would avoid having the tool too far away from the face of the clapper as this can cause chatter and poor finish. Irrespective of machine type I find better finishes are obtained when the tool is slightly rearward of the face of the clapper say when mounted in a rear facing “Armstrong” type of toolholder.

I can recommend some reading for you: Ian Bradleys book on the Shaper and “Lathe & Shaping Machine Tools” by “Duplex” in the “Duplex” book he goes on to describe the construction of an Armstrong type of toolholder manufactured from a Bicycle Crank I can say that they work quite well.

Paul

I don't have a shaper, but I have the Duplex booklet and it gets my vote.

Shaper's are like lathes, anything with an edge that you can clamp securely in the right place should work to some extent.

Neil