This weekend, I rescued an old shaper from the scrappers. I knew almost nothing about them when I picked it up, but I knew it could cut keyways and gears, and that was enough for me!

Now I know they are basically tiny, slow mills, and I am just thrilled with my purchase.

It's a Dvorak 10" shaper, which, I can't seem to find anything about... The only other internet result was someone else posting on practical machinist looking for information on theirs... VWWM doesn't even list the company, let alone have information on the shaper.

Despite the rust, everything moves pretty easily by hand, and nothing is readily broken, except the up/down feed on the tool post was brazed back together... Which should hold long enough for me to make a new one on it :D

It's missing its motor, tool post, and vise. I have a shelf in my shop dedicated to salvaged motors, I'm thinking a 1HP 3 phase, but need to check fit yet. Between it, my lathe, and my drill press, I can probably make a vise for it. Though I will need to buy a tool post, as until I have the shaper up and running, I won't be able to cut the keyway in a lantern to put the tools in...

I'm planning on stripping it completely apart, cleaning it, painting it, and putting it back together. Though, it will be a little while before I can start...

Mine's a 7" Atlas, sits 99.9% of the time but can be the handiest tool in the shop

I currently lack a mill, and space to put one... The only tools I have to make things flat are my angle grinders. I don't have a 4 jaw independent chuck for my lathe yet, (and I might need to replace my lathe... I haven't gotten to look at it and see if I can adjust/fix it yet) so I can't make square things on it at this point.

This will do most of the opperations I've been wanting a mill for, albeit slowly, but also much more cheaply. Regrinding a toolpost tool is much cheaper than an end mill :3 It was worth getting for me just to cut keyways. That I can cut dovetails, and plane surfaces with it, will revolutionize my shop.... Slowly... lol

Also, how did you get your picture posted into a smaller thumbnail? The first time I put up pictures they filled several times my screen... lol

Good save, I hope you get get years of enjoyment from it.

I have to resize the pic for less than 250kpixels 640 by 480, they are 3meg from the phone/camera

Not familiar with that brand but it looks well built, good luck with it.

Quote from: gibsontool on September 03, 2018, 07:35:25 PM
Not familiar with that brand but it looks well built, good luck with it.

Apparently no one is... Even the folks over at Vintage Machinery had never heard of it.

I peaked inside the little inspection hatch... and it's astonishing how simple this machine is... it's just two gears with a motorcycle chain, the large gear attached to an eccentric to drive the ram... There are like 5 moving parts, not counting the cross slides on the front. The definition of simplicity.

Well, the weather here turned to winter sooner than I was hoping. I won't be able to paint my shaper, as my garage is not heated. So a complete restoration of the machine will have to wait until spring/summer...

I'm not willing to wait that long to have a running shaper, though, so yesterday I took apart what I had to clean in order to make it work, and it cleaned up magnificently! There are still marks on the ways from where it was hand-scraped in, the machine seems to have barely been used. I slapped it back together, gave the hand wheel a shove, and the ram moves with no effort at all.




Unfortunately, it seems to have barely been used because at some point early in its life, someone crashed it. The piece the clapper bolts to was brazed back together, I knew that. I figured I would use the shaper to make a new one, and all would be well. But, once I took that off to clean the dovetail, I realized the dovetail on the opposite part was broken off as well, and much more crudely repaired. I'm not sure how well this will hold up... I'm planning on backing the screws out, and cleaning both parts really well before adding a bit of JB Clear-Weld, and screwing it back together just to give it a bit more strength. I've used the clearweld + screws in the past with surprisingly durable results, but I'll always be scared to push my shaper with it this way, so I'll have to make a new one of these, too.

It doesn't look like the most difficult piece to make, should be very doable between my shaper and my lathe. and I'll make the dovetail have a little more meat on my part, there's very little keeping it on from the factory. Unfortunately, the head rotational index is stamped into this casting, and I don't have a ready means of replicating that, so I'll have to indicate everything in, or something...




I managed to finish getting it wired today! I'm aware it's running backwards, didn't know which way it would be running until I flipped the switch, I fixed it when I moved it to its permanent home. Sorry for the weird camera angles, I don't do this often...

https://youtu.be/lS0tsraq4eQ