New shaper :-))

[MuellerNick]

Hi!
Yesterday, I took home my new-to-me shaper with the help of a friend. Came home 3 in the morning, had a few beer to get tired, and today invited a bunch for grilling and to show off my shaper. They were all jealous. But none (including me) really know wether the would really need one. Anyhow, it is an incredible pleasure just to watch it working.

Here's the adverticement of the one I bought. http://www.maschinensucher.de/ma2/A576114.html

I'll post pictures and will make a video, so you can watch the weird kinematics.

There is a story behind that shaper.
I bought it in the former GDR. There, private businesses were not allowed, but a few exceptions. One was the one man shop who specialized in punching tools for the watch industry. He was the only one able to make the tools for pointers, even the most complex ones. He even was in the position to accept or reject jobs when he didn't like them.
After the fall of the wall, he no longer got jobs from the now gone factories and no longer was competitive with shops that had EDM. So '94 he gave up (and he already was old enough to retire). Now he is dement and can't answer any question. His complete shop now is being sold, and I got that diamond for 350€.

I'll find tasks for the shaper and keep him in honor. Maybe I'll even start making punches...


Nick

[Allen Hunt]

That is nice! Is it a vertical shaper? I was expecting to see a fairly simple shaper, but this one looks unusual to say the least!

Allen

[Deja Vu]

But none (including me) really know wether the would really need one. Anyhow, it is an incredible pleasure just to watch it working.

Ah yes! I love bringing mechanisms home too just to fiddle with and appreciate the actions....with hopes to find uses for. Usually I take them all apart to get understanding and bring them back to their near new glorious appearance. Have fun!

[willmac]

Nick -

In words from Star trek, "A shaper Jim, but not as we know it". That looks like a superb machine, but I will need to see a video to understand how it works. I assume the cutter is moving vertically, like a slotter?

Bill

[MuellerNick]

That looks like a superb machine, but I will need to see a video to understand how it works. I assume the cutter is moving vertically, like a slotter?

Yes, that shaper is working vertically. The interesting thing is, that the bit makes a radius at the end of the stroke. And it even cuts in the radius. That's why it is especially useful for making punches. It makes an radius at the "foot" of the punch to reduce stress in the tool.
Also note the microscope in the picture. You get a perfect picture where the tool cuts. Remember the fine work! I got two microscopes for it. And a lifetime supply of bits! A lot of special jigs and of course the included rotary table.

The kinematics can't be explained by words. There are so many levers ... nuts!
We really had to let it run to understand how it works. An old steam engine -as impressive as it is to watch all the levers- is like a kids birthday compared to this. I am already completely satisfied by the fact that I just own this shaper. Even if I would never use it, it will always be a joy to watch. Call me crazy, but I fell in love with here.

Only the manual was lost, I'll have to hunt for one.


Nick

[TGTool]

<snip>
The kinematics can't be explained by words. There are so many levers ... nuts!
<snip>
Only the manual was lost, I'll have to hunt for one.

Nick

The manual was probably confiscated by the security police. Anyone who could understand the machine might be a real threat. Keep watching behind you.

[Elninio]

That is nice! Is it a vertical shaper? I was expecting to see a fairly simple shaper, but this one looks unusual to say the least!

Allen

It's a vertical gear shaper - you stack a bunch of gear blanks like coins and cut them all at once (faster than one at a time, right?). IMO it's more useful than a regular shaper (for the industry i mean, not for us HSM guys).

[MuellerNick]

No, it is not a gear shaper. It lacks a connection between rotary axis and traversal feed. It is a punch shaper, as I already said.

The obtainable results are similar to the Gack K150 shaper: http://www.csparks.com/Gack/index.xhtml. But the Gack is horizontal and has a way more modern design of the body. My Rula is the follow up of the Thiel (can't find the type right now) that was pre-WW-II. The Thiel was then sold under the name Ruhla by the GDR. Ruhla is a city in the ex-GDR.


Nick

[Too_Many_Tools]

Hi!
Yesterday, I took home my new-to-me shaper with the help of a friend. Came home 3 in the morning, had a few beer to get tired, and today invited a bunch for grilling and to show off my shaper. They were all jealous. But none (including me) really know wether the would really need one. Anyhow, it is an incredible pleasure just to watch it working.

Here's the adverticement of the one I bought. http://www.maschinensucher.de/ma2/A576114.html

I'll post pictures and will make a video, so you can watch the weird kinematics.

There is a story behind that shaper.
I bought it in the former GDR. There, private businesses were not allowed, but a few exceptions. One was the one man shop who specialized in punching tools for the watch industry. He was the only one able to make the tools for pointers, even the most complex ones. He even was in the position to accept or reject jobs when he didn't like them.
After the fall of the wall, he no longer got jobs from the now gone factories and no longer was competitive with shops that had EDM. So '94 he gave up (and he already was old enough to retire). Now he is dement and can't answer any question. His complete shop now is being sold, and I got that diamond for 350€.

I'll find tasks for the shaper and keep him in honor. Maybe I'll even start making punches...


Nick

Congrats ...looking for forward to the pictures and video.

TMT

[MuellerNick]

Here are two pictures of work samples:
http://motor-manufaktur.de/werkstatt...ics/h20-10.jpg
http://motor-manufaktur.de/werkstatt...ics/h20-05.jpg

Note the fillet at the base of the punches. They are the special feature of my shaper and of the Gack K150 or extremely rare variants of the Gack H-20


Nick

[willmac]

Nick -

I'm highly impressed; that is a very interesting machine, well worth preserving.
I didn't realise that Thiel (Ruhla) made this type of machine. I have a Thiel 159 (West German, Kassel) and although it is a distant cousin to your machine, if the quality is similar you have a really good machine.

[TGTool]

It's a vertical gear shaper - you stack a bunch of gear blanks like coins and cut them all at once (faster than one at a time, right?). IMO it's more useful than a regular shaper (for the industry i mean, not for us HSM guys).

On this machine you'd need to use a single tooth cutter shaped like the space between teeth and index the gear blanks just as you might doing it in a mill.

A gear shaper, by contrast, rotates the cutter and the workpiece synchronously and "generates" the tooth profile which is not the direct inverse of the cutter shape. If you can visualize the action of a gear hob you can transfer the essentials to a gear shaper.

[Elninio]

Here are two pictures of work samples:
http://motor-manufaktur.de/werkstatt...ics/h20-10.jpg
http://motor-manufaktur.de/werkstatt...ics/h20-05.jpg

Note the fillet at the base of the punches. They are the special feature of my shaper and of the Gack K150 or extremely rare variants of the Gack H-20


Nick

Ah! those kind of punches ... I didn't know they made them all the way back then ...

[MuellerNick]

Here is a short video, just to give you an impression.
I'll make a better one, you bet!


Nick

[willmac]

Nick -

Fascinating. I have never seen anything like that before.