Manual shaper

[Sonic EscapeParticipant @sonicescape38234]

There is a flea market nearby and every Sunday I see this nice manual shaper. I like it but I can’t agree with the seller on a decent price. Anybody used such a machine? It looks interesting to me.

 

[IanTParticipant @iant]

At first glance, this little shaper has very limited horizontal movement (headroom) Sonic – so may have been for a specific task or just some one’s home made ‘these parts are available’ job. If you want a small hand shaper an Adept No 2 or Cowells might be a better choice.

Regards,

IanT

[John HinkleyParticipant @johnhinkley26699]

Specific to Perfecto shapers – both manual and motorised – this site has some information and a load of pretty pictures (as well as some not so pretty).  I see that it hasn’t been updated since 2022 and an email that I sent to the site owner some years ago, in response to his request for more content, went unacknowledged and unanswered, so I guess it’s no longer actively supported.

John

 

[Martin of WickParticipant @martinofwick]

A decent price would be about £10 (if you wanted the parts for restoration or some other project).

As stated, a home made lash up, virtually no travel on the z axis, no auto feed on the x axis, cant see the state of the clapper. No dials on the feeds. Rubbishy looking  drill vice and the ram looks fairly well worn. I think you would be very disappointed when you got it home and attempted to use. Save your money for a good condition small shaper, if you feel your workshop is incomplete without one.

True, small shapers in good condition seem unreasonably costly. I had to pay £100 for my Cowells. It is very useful when it is useful, but not used very much, if you see what I mean!

[DiogenesParticipant @diogenes]

..very basic, but looks like bolted-up construction, so probably possible to change the configuration.

Slow work with a limited envelope, but might be a useful little slotter at the right price.

The problem with adapting ‘less-than-ideal’ tooling is whether the end result is worth the trouble & time invested..

..what it really needs is some way of accommodating different heights of workpiece, see examples linked to here;

https://www.lathes.co.uk/adeptshaper/index.html

..maybe you can find a big slotted block or couple of substantial angle plates at the market..

[Sonic EscapeParticipant @sonicescape38234]

The sellers wanted 600Euro. In the end he was fine with 400. But I think is too much. I don’t really need one. The milling machine I have can replace it very well. I just wanted to play with it.

[Martin of WickParticipant @martinofwick]

I hope they have a nice warm, dry place to keep it – they will be having it for a while at that price!

[Speedy Builder5Participant @speedybuilder5]

You soon get tired of pulling that lever especially if you have other means of shaping metal.  I had a Perfecto years ago for making bits of a locomotive, and the second job I did was to motorise it!

Bob

[Martin ConnellyParticipant @martinconnelly55370]

I think shapers generally have the fixed jaw on the other side of the workpiece as well. For the occasional time when I have needed something like this I have used the lathe for slotting.

Martin C

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

It does look as if made from salvaged parts, but perhaps that was genuinely all its builder could do to give himself at least something to make flat bits on.

The cross-slide looks as if from a Drummond manual shaper (I have one), where it is on the knee this machine lacks.The Drummond’s ram slides are fixed, machined in the body itself. Some shapers were made in that configuration, the ram rather than table moving across, though.

The ram is from some other machine; the clapper-box and its slides possibly from others again That does not greatly matter as long as it works.

 

The vice is as Martin suggests, probably intended for drilling; and perhaps not intrinsically as “rubbishy” as he alleges but not really robust enough for use on a shaper. You can’t really have the fixed jaw on the inside, but this does mean the vice needs be very strong. I use my Drummond shaper with its own vice set along the carriage, not across it, so the thrust is not against the screw.

 

The main handle does not look ex-shaper – it would be very awkward to use with such a long reach at the back of the stroke. It is normally straight, at right-angles to the ram in mid-stroke. You could modify that one by cutting and welding.

 

The down-feed handle looks ex-valve.

 

Having no self-acting cross-feed is a major disadvantage. It would not be too difficult to make one though. The principle is that of an ordinary spur-gear engaged on the return-stroke by the wedge-shaped end of a sprung, cylindrical pawl. This can be rotated to give feed in either direction with a central, neutral (disengaged) position; and its carrier is linked to the ram to give it its rocking motion.

 

You could improve it by raising-blocks to give more vertical height, etc. but you need consider whether it is worth the money and extra work involved.

[Paul KempParticipant @paulkemp46892]

I have an Adept No2.  Gave £2 for it as a pile of bits at an auction.  Knee was missing, arm was missing and it had no vice.  Spent around £80 sorting the missing bits (modified a chronos angle plate for the knee and bought a vice, made the arm from flat bar).  Used it on some cast iron for axle boxes, had one well developed arm and one weedy one! It’s seldom used these days.  However as noted above when you need one they are invaluable, use mine now mainly for internal keyways, made a bar holder to replace the clapper and it does internal keyways really well.  As also said above, no one is going to pay anything like that money for it, even a good proper one only fetches £200 tops over here.

Paul.

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

Id want someone to pay me to take it away.

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

I think the original picture is a French make that occasionally appears on ebay. Characteristic fixed bed.
Vice is perhaps a drill vice but probably original as very very few shapers actually have the fixed jaw on the leeward side including the Drummond and Adept originals.
Small hand shapers are perfectly good and useful devices for small parts and small models, say up to Gauge 3. They are better in a small shed than a milling machine as they can be put onto the bench in this case, or held in a vice for the Adept No1, when needed instead of permanently using space like a mill.

Value perhaps up to £100 in the UK.

[Sonic EscapeParticipant @sonicescape38234]

Some things are so cheap in UK! What is the main online e-commerce website there? Ebay? Here in Romania we have olx.ro

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

For this kind of thing mostly ebay but people do list on Facebook Marketplace because there are no fees, but also few viewers.
(for higher volume items like clothes several competing sites have recently grown which is why ebay has removed fees for private sellers.)

People do also use the sales sections of this and several other forums in order to target the more likely customers.

[Sonic EscapeParticipant @sonicescape38234]

I’m looking for a nice machine for the next restoration project. Something smaller this time. I have a friend who will come from UK in December so maybe he will have to carry some iron 🙂

[not done it yetParticipant @notdoneityet]

I’m a bit bemused by IanT referencing ‘horizontal’ as ‘headroom’.

Horizontal is adjustable depending on where the handle pivot is positioned?

Headroom could be changed by raising the cutter casting from the machine base.

I would never give €600, nor even €400.  If in good working order, perhaps €150.  Adept shapers often fetch exorbitant prices, IMO.

They are, indeed, hard work.  They can provide a very flat surface – better than many mini mills when operated within their usable window.

A fully working Alexander on epay, back in August, was sold ‘by offer’, but no sale price shown.  That was listed at £500.  I like mine, but is now too much like hard work even with a small workpiece.

[IanTParticipant @iant]

Of course I meant Vertical SoD – I was on the way out the door at the time and in a bit of a rush.

That’s my excuse anyway…  🙂

 

IanT

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

E400? Totally over optimistic, IMO

Hope that the seller has good storage, they will need it!

I bought an Adept No2, at a club sale, in good working condition, for £30. (Bargain!)

Graduated the Handwheels and made a vice for it.

Nice machine, but sadly it sees little or no work.

Howard

[Howard Lewis]

On Howard Lewis Said:

E400? Totally over optimistic, IMO

Hope that the seller has good storage, they will need it!

I bought an Adept No2, at a club sale, in good working condition, for £30. (Bargain!)

Graduated the Handwheels and made a vice for it.

Nice machine, but sadly it sees little or no work.

Howard

There’s one just popped up on ebay for £350, which is £100 more than I paid for a working Boxford 8″

Bill

[bernard towersParticipant @bernardtowers37738]

Paid the same as Bill for an Elliot 10m and use it which is more than you will do with alittle hand jobby, had one of those for sale for 5 years and was just about to scrap it when it went to a little museum in the midlands.

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