Shapers | MACHINIST CORNER | Forum

It's true- shapers can use broken old bits of M-2 HSS that cost alot less than carbide cutters. I have been told repeatedly you can't use carbide on a shaper because the impact of the tool striking the work will chip the carbide. Yes and No. If you're not too greedy, you can get very good cuts even on hardened material using carbide cutters. With HSS on mild steel, I can definately hog out alot of material in short order (~.060 x .030). With the carbide I wouldn't go over 10 or 15 thousandths at a time.
I was using carbide to re-cut a die that I didn't want to have to heat treat again.

My machine is a 3hp 14" Varnamo. If ONLY I had this thing 10 years ago when I built my Kinyon~!

Hi Lewis,
It's all manual labor on that radius. We've all done this with a grinder, right? I manually controlled the table motion left and right while keeping a hand on the downfeed. yes- it still needed clean-up with a grinder but the majority of material was out of the way.

The shaper head is just like the cross-slide on a lathe but it's mounted vertically on the shaper. It's true- you definately want to keep your hands out of the way. Lot's of old stories how the slow movement of the shaper lulls you into thinking you can brush away chips with your fingers, etc. I was told it's the most powerful machine in the shop and you DON'T want to get caught in between it and your work. Let's keep the woodworkers as the missing digit crowd:devil:!

JNewman;4333 wrote: A shaper is definately cheaper to use and probably better for things like dovetails. If I had room in my shop one would be on my list of tools to pick up. But a Bridgeport type mill especially one with a DRO is a much more versatile tool. I can drill and tap hole patterns on the mill and then drill the matching part, all without any layout. I can mill out pockets or bore out bushings, with a rotary table I can cut smooth arcs. I use my mill far more often than I would use a shaper.
There are special uses that a shaper can do like cutting splines or internal keyways that a mill will not do but the one time I needed a long keyway cut I subbed it out for not a lot of money.

I think there is the conception that shapers can't do anything other than flat surfaces, keyways or dovetails. I thought the same until I came across this article on one of the shaper sites; with a rotory table one can indeed cut smooth arcs on a shaper as well- see article below. I haven't gone there with mine yet but nice to know it could.
Also included a couple of photos from the weekend's work making a new slide-on tooling holder for the press. Cleaned up a ratty flame cut edge in little over one pass. Total machine time about 1.5hrs