OT found Altas 7B shaper for sale

[lugnut]

I don't have room of a shaper, but one of you on the west coast might have a need and a spot for a Atlas Shaper. There is a Atlas 7B shaper on Craig's List for sale.

http://corvallis.craigslist.org/tls/1350741647.html

I have no connection with it, I just thought someone might like to look.
Mel

[Mark Hockett]

Did you see the reason he is selling it and taking a loss? It's the same reason I sold mine, once you start using it you realize how useless those small shapers really are. When you get up into the 12" and larger size you have a machine that will cut steel with little effort, my 7" would just stall when making a cut in steel that I would consider a reasonable depth for that machine. My 16" will take a 3/8" DOC with no problem. For what he is asking you can probably find a nice larger shaper and still have money in your pocket for tooling.

[rockrat]

I would agree and disagree with the idea that the smaller shapers are useless. Yes, they cant take a big depth of cut but they can cut. It does indeed take more time on a smaller shaper to do anything but many things can still be done.

I guess that my advise on such a machine would be, if you cant find anything bigger, closer, less expensive, easier to move and time is on your side then go get it. A collector of small machines might well buy it.

rock~

[gregl]

I think small shapers do have a use. It just depends on what you want to do. I used mine to machine the surfaces of my live steamer cylinder blocks for the slide valves and got a much nicer finish than I would have in my vertical mill. Also, I was able to cut a large radius on a part by bopping the head over with my fist after each stroke. Here's a photo:



The part is the smokebox saddle. I was cutting the radius that you can see on the top of the casting. The "bonk" method involves hitting the screw on the C-clamp at the end of each stroke to move the cutting head. Obviously, the part must be carefully placed so the radius is cut right. Worked just fine!

Yes, I'd like a larger shaper, but there is a limit to my shop size, and larger machines are impossible to find around here.

[Optics Curmudgeon]

Two observations. First, IMHO he's asking on the high side, and clearly paid too much himself. He may have had too high an expectation of the machine to begin with. Second, all machinery performs within its capabilities, based on size and construction. Sure, my 7B takes "only" a 1/8" cut in steel, and a 16" will do 3/8", and that's nearly in direct proportion to their sizes. My shop is filled with small machines, I work on small parts and have a need to be able to move the machines myself when needed. Most of my parts would look pretty silly in the vise of a 16" shaper, and I very rarely find myself wishing I had something bigger. Same for the mill and lathe. When I do, I have friends that have large shops that let me use their machinery. Happens maybe once or twice a year. But for those that work on larger parts, the 7B would be the poorer choice. Everything in proportion.

Joe

[dp]

Two observations. First, IMHO he's asking on the high side, and clearly paid too much himself.
Joe

I paid $850 for mine and would do it again in a blink - they're not all the common in the Pacific North Wet so finding one in excellent condition is a treat.

[Mcgyver]

, once you start using it you realize how useless those small shapers really are. When you get up into the 12" and larger size you have a machine that will cut steel with little effort, my .

you could say the same about any machine tool, bigger is better.....but they are far from useless and do a great job cutting steel. It's the same reason someone buys a myford rather than a DSG, it'll fit down the basement stairs and go into a smaller sized workshop. Me, I'd like the DSG and would cram it in the garage somehow, but that doesn't make a myford useless.

[Bmyers]

i sold my 16" shaper because small parts dont work well on the large machine and it took up tons of room. My 7" Atlas works well for me.

[The Artful Bodger]

I have not yet found my shaper to be too small and it is a little Adept Nr 2 (powered version), if needs be I can even put my arms around it and carry it across the shop!



It is a cute little shaper..

[John Stevenson]

Can't give the damn things away over here.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Alba-1A-Shaper_W0QQitemZ120462649373

In the last 5 years I have scrapped two 14" shapers, one in decent condition and one that literally had only done 8 hours work from new.

Tried all over to sell them or even give them away, but no takers.

.

[Mike Nash]

Can't give the damn things away over here.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Alba-1A-Shaper_W0QQitemZ120462649373

In the last 5 years I have scrapped two 14" shapers, one in decent condition and one that literally had only done 8 hours work from new.

Tried all over to sell them or even give them away, but no takers.

.

Maybe it's just me, but the "shaper thong" links on those ebay pages may be siphoning away the available mad money.

[kendall]

Can't give the damn things away over here.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Alba-1A-Shaper_W0QQitemZ120462649373

In the last 5 years I have scrapped two 14" shapers, one in decent condition and one that literally had only done 8 hours work from new.

Tried all over to sell them or even give them away, but no takers.

.

Should try throwing in free shipping....

[JRouche]

I agree, there is not such thing as a tool that is too small. Every toll has its purpose. A guy planing ten foot castings may think the puny 16" shaper is useless, yeah, for his needs, on that job yup.

A watch maker may say a 10" lathe is too large for him. He likes to get all close and personal with his work.

I like my lil 7" logan. And for the stroke its really a pretty solid machine. But no way in hell am I gonna take a 3/8" DOC. Really? That dude hogs that much, what a beast.

Gotta love shapers. They are slow, but there are versatile too. And for the home shop machinist they are perfect, we arent concerned with production. But versatility of the machines that take up all that limited floor space.

No way would I personally pay 1200 bucks for one. But if you can pick one up for 50 bucks its a nice addition the the stable. Mine was 50 bucks so I had to grab it. The floor space it consumes is actually worth 933 bucks, so its living the good life LOL JR

[Mark Hockett]

I would like to comment on why I made the statement I did. I have six friends who all have 7"-8" shapers in their shops. I also had a 7" Ammco shaper at one time. Out of the six guys I know only one of them can show a project that was actually done on the shaper, the shaper he has is a 8" Logan. The 8" Logan is actually a very capable small shaper. The guy who has the Logan has many completed projects from the shaper and uses it regularly. The other five guys never use theirs except to make a cut to watch it make chips, not one can show a completed project from the shaper and I would bet this is the norm for shops with small shapers. I bought mine hoping to use it to cut internal key ways. I was never able to get it to cut anything much larger than a 1/6" wide key way in steel without the flat belt slipping. I found I could cut an internal key way on my lathe feeding the carriage by hand faster than the shaper would cut it. Also the lack of rigidity caused it to be terribly inaccurate, feed .030" and maybe get .026" DOC. I have my machines to get work done so it was very frustrating to use the small shaper. I have long since gotten over the fascination of watching machines make chips although I must admit that my shaper is my favorite tool in the shop to use, for therapeutic reasons.

With the insane prices small shapers were selling for I sold it and made enough to buy a mint 16" Gemco with the universal table and power down feed. I have had no problems doing very small work on the 16" shaper as it will cut at about 200 strokes per minute and feed at a very fine rate. But it is very nice to get a big, poorly cut slab of 316L stainless, throw it in the shaper and square it up in no time at all without tearing up $75 worth of inserts on the CNC mill. It's will also rip out 3/8" wide key ways in steel like it was cutting plastic. I know most small shops don't have the room for a 5000lb 16" shaper but a 10"- 12" shaper doesn't take up much more room than a 7" and it will preform much better.

I know some people have a fascination with collecting machine tools and think its cool to have a small shaper sitting in their shop and thats fine if thats what floats your boat. The main arguments for owning a shaper are the ability to cut metal with a low cost cutter and the ability the cut internal shapes that are difficult to do on a milling machine. My small shaper would do neither of these well or at a rate even close to what I could do with other machines in my shop. My 5hp 16" shaper will remove metal from a flat surface at about the same rate or faster than my BP size mill will and it will cut internal key ways faster than I can do it on the lathe so it has earned a place in my shop as a working machine not just a display, or I should say its earned a place in the new shop as it been in storage for a couple of years because I don't even have enough room for an Adept shaper in my shop now. Heres a picture of the beast in my old shop,


I would love to see pictures of projects that members have completed on their small shapers. And it would be interesting to take a survey of how many members here own small shapers and out of those how many use them regularly to machine projects and not just watch them make chips cutting a flat surface for no reason, be honest. gregl posted a good example of a small shaper in use on a project.

[Bmyers]

Latest use for my 7" Atlas:
rounding over cylinder for my Cracker Locomotive.
I am too cheap to buy round over cutters: