I am perhaps unreasonably fond of the metal shaper. It is the most biomorphic of the machine tools. Lathes are beautiful and elegant, but no part of an animal rotates. Not without reason the shaper was once called, after its inventor, "Nasmyth's Iron Arm."
This present Notebook for the most part simply indexes information which is elsewhere; it reprints very little. (That's why so many of the boxes which normally contain linking icons are blank white squares on this page - when I reprint something, I like to put a thumbnail image of its cover in the link, but when I'm just referring to something elsewhere I don't want to pretend that it is here.) There is actually quite a bit of shaper information available, both online and in print, but it is scattered and difficult to locate. I've discovered a lot of it once, with considerable effort. These are just my notes to help me find it all again.
(The last time I did a search of the net for Shaper literature was April 2012; online items from after that won't necessarily be indexed here.)
These notes have, however, become a fairly long web page. If you're hasty, all you really need to know is:
But, then again, if you're hasty you probably shouldn't be using a shaper in the first place.
Groups and general repositories of information:
Individual shaper owners' sites:
Suggested Unit Course in Shaper Work. (1944)
University of the State of New York, State Education Dept., Bureau of Industrial and Technical Education. Suggested Unit Course in Shaper Work for Beginners in Machine Shop Practice. (Albany, NY: New York State Education Department, 1944.) This is the single best work on using the metal shaper ever written.
The primary thing I'd note as a warning is simply that safety standards have improved since 1944; this work depicts, for example, the operation of the shaper without wearing safety glasses. This should never be done. Work safely to modern standards, and always wear your safety glasses.
But in terms of the operatations it describes, this volume is excellent. In particular, it is the only work I've ever seen which fully describes cutting to an inside shoulder (using a corner tool (as described in Brown; see below) with the method of feeler gauges (omitted by Brown)). About the only major operation it doesn't cover is the cutting of dovetail slides (for more on that subject, see the section on Dovetail Slide References, below).
This course was developed at the Curriculum Construction Laboratory of the Seneca Vocational High School in Buffalo, NY at public expense as a part of the (WWII) war effort, and it credits explicitly the many teachers and staff members at various public schools which enabled it.
This work has passed into the public domain due to the non-renewal and expiration of its copyright. It has been scanned and is presented chapter-by-chapter at the New England Model Engineering Society (NEMES) Shaper Books page at http://neme-s.org/Shaper Books/Michael_Moore/PMKnowYourShaper.pdf (there is a space in "Shaper Books"). Click on the link for "Shaper Work" in the first table of books.
This work was reprinted in 1950 by Delmar Publishers (Albany, NY) in 1950. The reprint does acknowledge the NY State Education Department for permission to reprint, but omits the material crediting the many people in the public school system responsible for its creation. It has minor editorial changes, and is typeset (the 1944 work was reproduced from a typescript), but is otherwise identical. A partial digitization of this 1950 reprint is also available at the NEMES Shaper Books page (clickon the link for "Shaper Work Delmar"). This digitization is incomplete, however, as it goes only through p. 258 (the original should go through p. 326).
Since this work is in the public domain, and since it is so good, I've made single-file PDF versions of both the 1944 and 1950 editions of it from the NEMES copies. The first icon above links to the 1944 NY State Education Dept. version, while the second links to the 1950 Delmar version.
Sam Brown. "Know Your Metal Shaper."
Brown, Sam. "Know Your Metal Shaper." Popular Mechanics. Vol. 101, No. 2 (February, 1954): 234-239. This is the best short piece on the shaper.
I believe that this article is still in copyright at this time ( Popular Mechanics was very active in renewing its copyrights). It may be viewed online via Google Books, presumably in arrangement with Popular Mechanics. Go to the Google Advanced Book Search page at http://books.google.com/advanced_book_search and search on title "popular mechanics" and exact phrase "know your metal shaper".
At the present time this article is also online as a single PDF on Michael Moore's "EuroSpares.com" site at http://www.eurospares.com/graphics/Tools/shapers/PMKnowYourShaper.pdf. This PDF is mirrored on the New England Model Engineering Society Shaper Books page at http://neme-s.org/Shaper Books/Michael_Moore/PMKnowYourShaper.pdf (there is a space in "Shaper Books").
A re-typeset transcription (with color scans of the illustrations) is also online on Dale Wentz' site: http://www.wentztech.com/metalworking/equipment/altas-shaper/ ("Know your Shaper - Details on the Atlas Shaper by Sam Brown"). [Note: "altas" in this URL, not "atlas".]
Burghardt (1922)
Burghardt, Henry D. Machine Tool Operation. 2 Vols. "Part II: Drilling Machine, Shaper and Planer, Milling and Grinding Machines, Spur Gears and Bevel Gears." (NY: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1922 [for vol. 2; vol. 1 was 1919]) and Burghardt, Henry D. Machine Tool Operation Instruction Sheets. (NY: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1928). Burghardt's book became one of the standard 20th century machine shop textbooks. Note, however, that this first edition dates from a period where forged tools were still common.
The first edition of Burghardt is is in the public domain due to the expiration of all possible copyright in the US. It has been scanned by Google Books and is available online. There is also a print-on-demand version offered for sale online; I presume that this is just a printout of the freely available scan. Later editions of Burghardt are all still in copyright. See Burghardt, 3rd Ed. (1954), below for more information.
Both Part II and the "Instruction Sheets" were scanned by Google Books from the Univ. of Wisconsin copy. The version here is from the scans as presented by The Hathi Trust, Hathi identifiers wu.89053846598 and wu.89089662167. The Google scan of the "Instruction Sheets" is imperfect, and cuts off the text on some pages. The PDF I've assembled for re-presentation here contains only the shaper sections.
ICS Shaper and Slotter Work
The International Correspondence School (which is still in existence) published many good works on machine shop operation in the very late 19th and the early 20th centuries. These were issued as individual booklets, and then often compiled into books (usually under the "International Textbook Company") imprint. Sometimes an individual article ended up in more than one compilation. In any given compilation, the date of the book might not be given but each individual article would have all of its own copyright dates listed.
One such compilation is No. 181B, Shaper, Slotter, and Boring-Mill Work (Scranton, PA: International Textbook Company, circa 1927). It comprises the sections "Shaper and Slotter Work" (1927), "Boring-Mill Work" (1927), and "Working Chilled Iron" (1915). This material is quite useful, but it differs from that generally used by the home shop machinist in two ways: (1) it is concerned more with larger shapers appropriate for the big shop, and (2) it comes from an era when forged tools were more common than toolbits (and high-speed steel rare).
Michael Moore (EuroSpares) has page scans (collected as a ZIP file) of extracts from the Shaper and Slotter sections of this book. See: http://www.eurospares.com/shapers.htm (file "ITCshaperslotter.zip" at http://www.eurospares.com/graphics/Tools/shapers/ITCshaperslotter.zip)
The NEMES Shaper Books page at http://www.neme-s.org/Shaper Books/shaper_book_page.htm has the entire book as a PDF, but the scans are not as good as those on Moore's site.
Chamberland. "How to Use a Bench Shaper."
Chamberland, H. J. "How to Use a Bench Shaper." Popular Mechanics. Vol. 77, No. 6 (June 1942): 146-152. This is really just a general overview of the shaper. It does not really present detailed operating instructions in the same way that Sam Brown's "Know Your Metal Shaper" does. The "bench" shaper referred to is merely a small power shaper (an Atlas is illustrated).
A Shaper Tutorial
This one is a bit of a mystery to me. There is a file on Michael Moore's "EuroSpares.com" site under the link name "An introduction to shaper operation" (down in the copies of external items near the end of his page). The file itself is "AShaperTutorial.pdf". It's a general introduction to the shaper (although it could be used as a practical guide, there are other, better ones).
As presented on Moore's site (and also in several other locations online, including the Yahoo! Metal_Shapers group), this document is nameless and anonymous. Its actual origin and identity remain a mystery to me. (Even plugging phrases from it into Google Books turns up nothing.) It is clearly a scan of a section of a vocational training course (witness phrases such as "You will be given a demonstration of this skill before you attempt Practical Competency 2." But what course? The only clue I've been able to uncover is that the exclamation mark icon used in it is the same as one used in the "Wood Processing Study Guides" prepared by the Wood Manufacturing Council of Canada under the "Wood LINKS" name and used in the US by WoodLINKS USA, http://woodlinksusa.org. But its chapter on the "shaper" is on the woodworking shaper. So this may be a red herring - anyone might have used the same set of clipart.
Bradley. The Shaping Machine
Bradley, Ian. The Shaping Machine. (Kings Langley, England: Model and Allied Publications Ltd., 1973.) ISBN: 0-85242-323-3. A general introduction to the small shaper for the model engineer. It covers not only small power machines such as the Acorn (i.e., Atlas) but also English hand-operated shapers not generally familiar to the American machine shop enthusiast. It also has an interesting chapter on shop-made accessories and improvements for machines such as the Acorn/Atlas.
This book is still in copyright in England and the US. A scan is online on the NEMES Shaper Books page: http://www.neme-s.org/Shaper Books/shaper_book_page.htm (there is a space in "Shaper Books" and there are underscores in "shaper_book_page").
"Set Up and Cut"
Michael Moore's "EuroSpares.com" site has a document under the heading 'A South Bend "set up and cut" shaper pamphlet.' Despite this attribution, and despite the fact that it is illustrated with photographs by South Bend, I do not think that it is in fact a South Bend publication. Rather, it seems to be an extract from a general shop textbook, as-yet unidentified.
[planing chapter from Machining Fundamentals]
What would apper to be a scan of Chapter 11, "Planing Machines," from the 4th edition of John R. Walker's Machining Fundamentals (South Holland, IL: The Goodheart-Willcox Company, Inc., 1989) is online on NEMES Shaper Books page at http://www.neme-s.org/Shaper Books/shaper_book_page.htm. (Its filename is "Shaper Chapter fromm Manufacturing Technology.pdf", which would seem to be a misattribution.) It is a very brief, and not very useful, general survey of horizontal and vertical shaping and broaching machines.
[A Setup Test Page]
The Sheldon Shapers Parts List has a useful "Test Page" for recording the measured accuracy of alignment of various shaper components (with standard Sheldon values for comparison).
Shaper Set-Up Check List
The Files section of the Yahoo! Metal_Shapers group has a "Shaper Set-up Check List" (file "Shaper Setup ChkLst-Yahoo.txt"). It's actually a combination of a brief checklist and some instruction. I prefer a more detailed approach.
Logan Shaper Checklist (CircuitousRoot)
This is the "Per-Setup Review List" that I use for my Logan shaper. It's a bit more elaborate than a simple checklist, covering everything that it is necessary to understand in a set-up for this machine, without attempting to instruct.
The world would be a duller place without Lindsay Publications. Treat them like Pokemon and get them all!
Shaper Job Operations (1937, 2009)
Shaper Job Operations. (Bradley, IL: Lindsay Publications, 2009). ISBN: 1-55918-103-6, Lindsay catalog no. 21036. This is the only printed book which has information which adds significantly to that presented in Suggested Unit Course in Shaper Operation (see above). That having been said, its perspective is different than that of the average home shop machinist - much of the first lesson, for example, is more comprehensible when you realize that they assume you'll need a crane to lift the vise onto the shaper! Still, its presentation in single-job units is very useful.
This 2009 publication is a reprint by Lindsay Publications of the shaper chapter of a marvellous work by J. W. Barritt and E. T. Larson, Machine Shop Operations (Chicago: American Technical Society, 1937). I do have the original, and it would be easy enough to scan - but so long as Lindsay has it in print in one of his beautifully produced volumes, I've got a lot of better ways to occupy my time than this. So (as long as it's in print), support Lindsay (a worthy cause) and buy a book. (Do people do that anymore? Books are so 15th century.)
South Bend (1954, reprinted)
How to Run a Metal Working Shaper and Drill Press. (Bradley, IL: Lindsay Publications, n.d. [1998?]) ISBN: 1-55918-213-X, Lindsay catalog no. 22130. The shaper part of this is a short (25 page), and correspondingly abbreviated in content, practical introduction to using the small bench shaper. It's just enough to get you going with the brand new South Bend shaper you just bought.
The shaper portion of this book is the Lindsay Publications reprint of the 1854 3rd edition of How to Run a Metalworking Shaper by the South Bend Lathe Works.
Stieri. Shapers. (1942, 1994)
Stieri, Emanuele. Shapers. (Bradley, IL: Lindsay Publications, 1994) ISBN: 1-55918-146-X. A good, simply written introduction to shaper operation. The focus is on larger floor-mounted (not bench) shapers, although of course to a great degree the operations are the same regardless of the size of the machine (save that the lovely universal tables on some floor-standing shapers are not common on bench models).
The shaper portion of this book is the Lindsay Publications reprint of the 1942 edition (NY: Essential Books) of the same title. Regrettably, even the Lindsay reprint is now out of print.
Moltrecht. Machine Shop Practice. (1981)
Moltrecht, K. H. Machine Shop Practice. 2 vols. (NY: Industrial Press, 1981). This might well be the last general machine shop text to have a good section on shaper work. Moltrecht is a pretty good overall machine shop textbook. The material on the shaper is in Volume 2 (ISBN: 0-8311-1132-1).
All editions of Moltrecht are in copyright. At the time of writing (2012), Barnes & Noble list both 1981 volumes as being in print.
Burghardt, 3rd Ed. (1954)
Burghardt, Henry D. and Aaron Axelrod. Machine Tool Operation. 2 vols. 3rd ed. (NY: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1954.) A good general machine shop text. Through at least the third edition (1954), Vol. 2 had a decent section on shaper operation. The material on dovetail calculations, though, is simply incomprehensible.
The second and later editions of Burghardt are out of print but in copyright (renewed 1981). The first editions (done without Axelrod) date from 1919 (v. 1) and 1922 (v.2) and are therefore in the public domain. See Burghardt (1922), above for more information.
Colvin. Planing, Shaping & Slotting (1943, 1988)
Colvin, Fred H. Planing, Shaping & Slotting. (Bradley, IL: Lindsay Publications, 1988). ISBN: 0-917914-98-8. This is a general overview of the reciprocating machine tools. It is good for what it is, but it is really a text designed to tell an engineer what real machine tools are rather than a book of instruction in their use.
This is a Lindsay Publications reprint of the book of this title published by McGraw-Hill in 1943. Regrettably, even the Lindsay reprint is now out of print.
Note that this book is not the same as the planing/shaping/slotting chapters of Colvin, Fred H. and Frank A. Stanley, Drilling and Surfacing Practice: Drilling, Reaming, Tapping, Planing, Shaping, Slotting, Milling and Broaching . (NY: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1943.) That Colvin could manage to write two books, in the same year, at the age of 76, during a major war, on similar topics but in different words is really quite impressive.
Production Shaping
Production Shaping. (Bradley, IL: Lindsay Publications, 1999). ISBN: 1-55918-225-3.
This is a collection of reprints of articles which appeared originally in Machinery magazine. The emphasis is on large and unusual work. The articles are:
Modern Metalworking. (1981)
Walker, John R. Modern Metalworking (1981) has a section on the shaper (his later book, Machining Fundamentals (1989), does not).
Michael Moore's "EuroSpares.com" site has a link, "How to use a shaper," which goes to a page which no longer exists on the former Geocities service: http://www.geocities.com/euxineseaweed/shaper.html. Looking for this page in The Internet Archive's "Wayback Machine" gives its text, but no illustrations. Plugging snippets of the text into Google Books reveals that this was simply material transcribed from this book. All of which simply illustrates how the Web makes it easy to find nothing, when formerly one had to trouble oneself with a trip to an actual bookstore or library to find something.
Artful Bodger's Shaper Tools
"The Artful Bodger." http://www.artfulbodger.net/docs/shaper/dovetail/index.html This shows only two tools: a roughing cutter and a finishing cutter. But the finishing cutter is very nice indeed.
The same author has another page which shows this tool in use, machining a large flat casting: http://www.artfulbodger.net/docs/shaper/xslide/index.html
Setups on Cincinnati Rigid Shapers
The booklet Setups on Cincinnati Rigid Shapers, which is in the Files section of the Yahoo! Metal_Shapers group contains a drawing of suggested shaper tool angles often reprinted in the general literature.
[A Shear Tool In Use]
This is a single photograph of a shear tool shown in use. It's being used on a planer, but its use on a shaper would be equivalent. The file itself is at http://www.metalworking.com/dropbox/smt_planertooling26.jpg, and the posting to the Yahoo! Metal_Shapers group about it is at http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/Metal_Shapers/message/19956
[Two Shaper Tool Holders]
In a thread on the "Home Shop Machinist" forum, two users ("Tin Falcon" and "Tinkerer") posted dimensioned drawings of shaper toolholders: http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/showthread.php?t=20565
Practical Ideas (American Machinist)
American Machinist, ed. Practical Ideas for Metalworking Operations, Tooling, and Maintenance. (Clevland, OH: Penton Publishing, Inc., 1968). This is a nice compilation of tips and devices collected from American Machinist magazine. Shapers form only a small part of it.
Michael Moore has obtained permission to reprint the sections relevant to shapers, and has done so on his EuroSpares shaper site, http://www.eurospares.com/shapers.htm The pieces include: Surface Gage Spindle, Geared Center for Shapers, Roller Tool Support, Improved Accuracy for Tapers, Sawing in the Shaper, Shaper Toolholder Provides Unusual Positioning, Planer Clamp, Micrometer Head Added to Planer Gage, Heavy-Duty Clamps, Hinge Lifts Planer Tool Clear of Deep Slots, Shaper Doubles as Punch Press, Machining to Eliminate Scraping, Improved Hold-Downs for Planer, Planer Tool for Undercuts, Leveling Bar Aids Shaper Setup, Roller Lifts Planer Tool on Return Stroke, Toolholder for the Shaper [for internal work].
Adjustable Planer Vise (1922)
Romig, J. V. "Adjustable Planer Vise." Popular Mechanics. Vol. 37, No. 3 (March, 1922): 462. This is a planer vise (which could work on the shaper as well) which allows rapid adjustment while using only a short screw.
This article is in the public domain due to the expiration of all possible copyright. It has been scanned by Google Books from the University of Wisconsin copy. The icon above left links to a single-page PDF extracted (by me) from that scan. Here is a PNG version of the illustration, extracted from the Google Books PDF and rendered from JPEG2000 to PNG. This is the highest resolution version presently (2012) available without securing an original printed copy. The entire digitization of this volume may also be downloaded from Google Books. This is most easily done via their Advanced Search page: http://books.google.com/advanced_book_search.
This article may be viewed in two other ways. First, it is also available, in a different digitization, via Google Books in their arrangement with the publishers of Popular Mechanics. Second, a scan of the image with an OCR version of the text was prepared by the late Art Volz and put online in the Files section of the Yahoo! group "Power_Hacksaw" (this vise could of course also be adapted to a power hacksaw). As of May 2012 it was still present there. However, that group looks to be migrating to the VintageMachinery.org and OWWM.org sites.
Hold Down, After Starrett No. 54
The www.metalworking.com site has a file in the "retired files" section of its "dropbox" which is a dimensioned drawing of a Hold Down based on the Starrett No. 54C 6-inch long Hold Down. See: http://www.metalworking.com/dropbox/_2004_retired_files/Starrett_54_Hold_Down2.jpg
The Files section of the Yahoo! Metal_Shapers group has a PDF copy of this which has been slightly cropped (inadvertently, I'm sure; the 0.012 Radius dimension is missing) and annotated with dimensions for a 4-inch (No. 54A) version. See file "hold down0001.pdf", uploaded 2010-10-14 by user "ammcoman2".
This drawing is of a cross section of the item. It is easy to interpret once you know what a Hold Down looks like. Here's a catalog entry for the Starrett No. 54 from the 1942 Charles A. Strelinger catalog (Catalog No. 58; scanned by me):
Volz Mechatronic Toolholder
The Files section of the Yahoo! Metal_Shapers group has a well executed drawing by the late Art Volz of a shaper toolholder. File "holder1.jpg"
[Extension Tool Holder for Internal Keyways]
Woodson, C. W. "Extension Tool Holder for Small Shaper: Cuts Internal Keyways and Splines." Popular Science. Vol. 140, No. 2 (February, 1942): 174-175. Viewable online via Google Books.
Gould & Eberhardt Tool Lifter
In a thread on the "Practical Machinist" forum in 2007, Michael Edwards describes a shop-made tool lifter that he built for his Gould & Eberhardt shaper.
Planer Tool Lifter (1922)
"Planer Tool Lifter." Popular Mechanics. Vol. 37, No. 3 (March, 1922): 464. A variation on the standard "hinged" tool lifter.
This article is in the public domain due to the expiration of all possible copyright. It has been scanned by Google Books from the University of Wisconsin copy. The icon above left links to a single-page PDF extracted (by me) from that scan. Here is a PNG version of the illustration, extracted from the Google Books PDF and rendered from JPEG2000 to PNG. This is the highest resolution version presently (2012) available without securing an original printed copy. The entire digitization of this volume may also be downloaded from Google Books. This is most easily done via their Advanced Search page: http://books.google.com/advanced_book_search.
This article may be viewed in a different digitization, via Google Books in their arrangement with the publishers of Popular Mechanics.
[Toolpost Grinder for the Shaper]
There is a brief piece, the title of which is illegible in the Google Books scan, in Popular Mechanics, Vol. 12, No. 3 (March, 1964), p. 179, which describes adding a toolpost grinder to a shaper to turn it into a sort of inverted surface grinder.
Tools for an Elliott
Michael Moore's "EuroSpares.com" site hosts several files of an Elliot [sic] Model 14M shaper. These are particularly interesting because three of them are of toolholders for the shaper.
[Armstrong and Williams shaper tools]
Michael Moore's "EuroSpares.com" site has a PDF of photocopies of pages from two un-named tool catalogs showing shaper tools by Armstrong Bros. Tool Co. and by Williams ("Armstrong shaper and planer tools pamphlet.")
Harprit Sandhu's Indexer
Harpit Sandhu has designed and built an indexing center attachment for the Atlas S7 shaper (it would work with any small shaper). See http://www.harpritsan.com/indexer.html. Although this web pages makes reference to drawings for the project in the Yahoo! Metal Shapers group Files section, I have been unable to find them there. There are photographs of an original Atlas S7 indexer in the Yahoo! "Metal_Shapers_Pix" group's Photos section.
N.B., See the South Bend Shaper for a different style of indexer ("indexing center").
Sam Brown. "Contour Work with a Metal Shaper."
Brown, Sam. "Contour Work with a Metal Shaper." Popular Mechanics. Vol. 110, No. 4 (October, 1958): 218-221.
I believe that this article is still in copyright at this time. It may be viewed online via Google Books, presumably in arrangement with Popular Mechanics. Go to the Google Advanced Book Search page at http://books.google.com/advanced_book_search and search on title "popular mechanics" and exact phrase "contour work with a metal shaper".
At the present time this article is also online at the Knucklebuster motorcycle repair site: http://www.knucklebusterinc.com/features/2011/04/13/contour-work-with-a-metal-shaper/
A re-typeset transcription (with monochrome scans of the illustrations) is also online on Dale Wentz' site: http://www.wentztech.com/metalworking/equipment/altas-shaper/ ("Contour Cutting with the Atlas Shaper by Sam Brown"). [Note: "altas" in this URL, not "atlas".]
An unattributed version of the same article (but probably from a book source, as the pagination differs (pp. 90-93) and the tints for the illustrations are different) is online in the Yahoo! Metal_Shapers group (as JPEG images in "some more manuals").
"Base Circle [pseudonym]" "Gear Cutting with the Shaper." (1950)
"Base Circle [pseudonym" "Gear Cutting with the Shaper." Model Engineer (Sept. 14, 1950): 401-404.
A scan of this article is online on Michael Moore's "EuroSpares.com" site (as "Another 'gear cutting with shaper' article from Model Engineering [sic] magazine"). This same file is also in the "Files" section of the Yahoo! Multimachine group.
Bamford. "Shaper-Cut Gears." (1989)
Bamford, C. "Shaper-Cut Gears." Model Engineer (20 January 1989): 110-113 and (17 February 1989): 238-239.
A scan of this article is online on Michael Moore's "EuroSpares.com" site (as "A 'gear cutting with whaper' article from Model Engineering [sic] magazine").
[spiral grooves on a planer]
Michael Moore's "EuroSpares.com" site has a PDF of what seems to be a scan and a re-typing of a short article from some unidentified trade journal on using a planer to cut long spiral grooves in a roller. ("A page showing a sprial groove being cut on a planer.")
I have only two shapers, a Logan ES8 (working) and a 14" [I think] Steptoe (a long-term restoration project). Still, I think it very useful to read through the literature for other shapers. There is much to be learned from studying various approaches.
Made by Delta and sold both under their name and by the Automotive Maintenance Machinery Company (AMMCO).
No. 27-100 Delta-Milwaukee 7" Precision Shaper for Metalworking: Operating and Maintenance Instructions . PM-1737, 1950-10-20 is online at Don Kinzer's website: http://www.kinzers.com/don/MachineTools/techman/AMMCO-27-100.pdf It includes an illustrated parts list. A different file containing the same scan is in the Files section of the Yahoo! Metal_Shapers group as "Ammco27-100.pdf" (in Manuals).
A slightly later, and different, version of the manual for the same basic machine, No 27-100 - 7" Metal Shaper: Operating and Maintenance Instructions . PM-1737, Revised 12-20-55 (Delta Rockwell Power Tools, 1955) is online at the NEMES Shaper Books page at http://www.neme-s.org/Shaper Books/shaper_book_page.htm. The same document, in a different, black-and-white, lower-resolution scan is also at the Yahoo! Metal_Shapers group Files section ("7 in. operating manual reduced.pdf" in "some more manuals").
An eight page color brochure advertising the AMMCO 7" Precision Shaper is in the Files section of the Yahoo! Metal_Shapers group. This also shows the wooden Portable Cabinet on wheels (see below for a parts catalog for it).
A single page scan from an unspecified AMMCO catalog, showing isometric parts drawings of a Portable BaseCabinet (No. 27-860), the Feed Mechanism, and the Drive Unit is on Michael Moore's "EuroSpares.com" site at http://www.eurospares.com/graphics/Tools/shapers/AMMCO Shaper Cabinet Isometric Drawing PDF.pdf (there are spaces in "AMMCO Shaper Cabinet Isometric Drawing PDF.pdf"); this file is also on the NEMES copy of some Michael Moore material: http://www.neme-s.org/Shaper Books/shaper_book_page.htm (note that there is a space in "Shaper Books").
A modern CAD drawing of an AMMCO shaper vise is on Michael Moore's "EuroSpares.com" site at http://www.eurospares.com/graphics/Tools/shapers/ShaperVise.pdf; this file is also on the NEMES copy of some Michael Moore material: http://www.neme-s.org/Shaper Books/shaper_book_page.htm (note that there is a space in "Shaper Books").
Measured drawings of the AMMCO Brass Rocker Arm Shoe are on the Yahoo! Metal_Shapers group Files section, in four formats (DWG, DXF, and PDF conversions of both).
A 7-inch shaper manufactured from 1937 to 1961. Sold by Sears under the Craftsman label. Sold in the UK as the Acorn.
Dale Wentz has an extremely good collection of Atlas shaper information on his site. Certainly it is the best place to start. http://www.wentztech.com/metalworking/equipment/altas-shaper/ [Note: "altas" in this URL, not "atlas".] His site includes at least the following documents (but it has a lot more, too):
The Hardwood Machine Cabinets document is also in the Files section of the Yahoo! Metal_Shapers group.
A two-page catalog extract from 1937 for "The New Atlas Shaper" is online at Michael Moore's "EuroSpares.com" site at: http://www.eurospares.com/graphics/Tools/shapers/Atlas 1937-Shaper.pdf (there is a space in "Atlas 1937-Shaper.pdf"). This is the same scan that is online at Dale Wentz' site (see above), although, curiously, its file is two bytes longer.
The Repair Parts List for Atlas 7" Metal Shapers [Catalog No. 7B, Shaper Bulletin S7B-5, August 1953] (Kalamazoo, MI: Atlas Press Company, 1953.) is online it at least two locations:
Despite the document's title, it also contains brief operating instructions. Both versions are the same file (byte-for-byte identical).
A set of reasonably high-resolution scans of the parts list illustrations for the Atlas 7B shaper is online at The Virtual Bar and Grill (a motorcycle enthusiasts' site): http://thevirtualbarandgrill.com/machinery/atlas7b/manual/ The same site also has a nice page on building a clapper box for it: http://thevirtualbarandgrill.com/machinery/atlas7b/clapper/
Pete Albrecht's Atlas Mill and Shaper page, http://www.petealbrecht.com/atlasmillshaper/atlasmillshaper.htm has, addition to other material, a history/timeline of the Atlas Press Co. by Richard Stines, http://www.petealbrecht.com/atlasmillshaper/atlashistory.htm").
The NEMES Shaper Books page at http://www.neme-s.org/Shaper Books/shaper_book_page.htm has a copy of Operators Handbook for the Box-Ford [sic] 8" Shaping Machine. The same file is also online in the Files section of the Yahoo! Metal_Shapers group.
There are three Cincinnati shaper documents in the Yahoo! Metal_Shapers group file section:
The "Setups" document is generally applicable to all shapers, and contains the set of suggested cutting tool angles for shaper tools so often reprinted in the general literature.
Engineering drawings for the Denford Viceroy Royal 250 Shaper are online at the manufacturer's (now Denford Software & Machines) website: http://www.denfordata.com/bb/viewforum.php?f=50
Tony Griffiths' http://www.lathes.co.uk/douglasshaper/ site indicates that the Douglas was an Australian machine made from the 1950s through 1984 (when it was acquired by Hercus (an Australian manufacturer of small lathes) and offered under their name).
An illustrated parts listfor the Douglas 11" Stroke (10 1/2" Cut" shaper has been posted to the "Metal Illness" forum, at: http://www.bbssystem.com/viewtopic.php?t=614 The same file is also hosted on Michael Moore's "EuroSpares.com" site ('11" Douglas shaper brochure and parts list").
The Operators Instruction Handbook for the Elliott 10M High Speed Shaping Machines (with Component Parts List) is online on the NEMES Shaper Books page: http://www.neme-s.org/Shaper Books/shaper_book_page.htm (there is a space in "Shaper Books").
The Operators Instruction Handbook fo rthe Elliott High Speed Shaping Machines , Models 14M, 18M and 24M, is online in a partly-scanned and partly-re-set version at what seems to be an anonymous site at: http://users.beagle.com.au/lathefan/
Ludwig Gack, Germany. Active in the 1950s, at least.
Michael Moore's "EuroSpares.com" site reprints a six page sales brochure for the Gack Model H20.
Hugh Sparks has a Gack K-150A Travelling-Head Shaper. He has some information about this machine, and other Gacks, online at: http://www.csparks.com/Gack/index.xhtml
General Engineering and Manufacturing Co., St. Louis, Missouri.
The 16 page catalog GC-11, GEMCO Multi-Purpose Crank Shapers is in the Files section of the Yahoo! Metal_Shapers group (Manuals section).
The Yahoo! Metal_Shapers group file section contains a file entitled "G&E Shaper.pdf" which is in fact the US Army Technical Manual TM 9-3418-204-14&P, Operator's, Organizational, Direct Support and General Support Maintenance Manual Including Repair Parts List for Shaper NSN 3418-00-412-4506 (Mitts & Merrill Inc.) (June 1981). This suggests that by this date Mitts & Merrill had acquired Gould & Eberhardt. This same file is online as a Mitts & Merrill manual at Michael Moore's EuroSpares.com" site.
The Files section of the Yahoo! Metal_Shapers group also contains a single page scan from an unidentified brochure (in the "Gould & Eberhardt 16 Speed" folder, as "Shaper brochure scan1.pdf") which advertises the hard chrome V-ways on all "Mitts and Merrill - G&E Shapers," again suggesting that they were at this time made by the same firm. A "G&E" shaper is illustrated.
Operator Manual for 8" Stroke [Model B] Shape-Rite Shaper. Bulletin 8-60. (St. Paul, MN: Havir Manufacturing Co., [presumably] 1960) is online at Don Kinzer's website: http://www.kinzers.com/don/MachineTools/techman/Shape-Rite.pdf It includes an illustrated parts list.
Hency 12-Inch High-Speed Crank Shaper. (Torrington, CT: The Hendey Machine Company, [date illegible in scan; 1938 or 1958?]) A 10 page catalog. Michael Moore's "EuroSpares.com" site has this as '12" Hendey shaper brochure".
The Logan Engineering Company purchased this design from Porter-Cable. The earliest Logan shaper serial number recorded on the Logan Actuator site dates from 1953, but a search through Popular Mechanics using Google Books returns Logan advertisements from as early as October 1946 for the Logan catalog with "complete, illustrated descriptions of Logan Lathes, Shapers and Accessories." Initially produced as a 7-inch shaper, it was re-engineered into an 8-inch shaper.
Tony Griffiths' http://www.lathes.co.uk/loganshaper/index.html site indicates that Logan sold the shaper line to Brodhead-Garrett, and that they sold an improved version as their "J-Line."
Reproductions of original literature about the Logan shaper are available from the Logan Actuator Company (the family firm which continued after the Logan Engineering lathe business was sold). It is well worth obtaining if you have a Logan shaper. See http://www.loganact.com/ for their main website, and http://www.lathe.com/ for their online store. Two documents are available.
One is a Parts List & Instructions for Logan 8" Shaper (30 pp). In addition to the operating instructions and illustrated parts list, this document also includes a reproduction (in color) of a brochure 'Announcing ... Porter-Cable 7" Shaper [Model AS-7]' (this is the same brochure posted to the Yahoo! Metal_Shapers group's Files section), a reproduction of a brochure (in greyscale) about the "Logan 7 Inch Shaper [Model AS-7]," a reproduction of a brochure (in greyscale) about the "Logan 7 Inch Shaper [Model DS-7]," and a reproduction (in color) of a section of Logan Catalog 15 about the 'Logan 8" Shaper [Model ES8].'
(What would appear to be either a different or a processed version of one page on the Logan 8" Shaper from Logan Catalog 15 is on the is in the Files section of the Yahoo! Metal_Shapers group as "ShaperCat1.pdf". Likewise the file "Shaper_Sales_lit_7.pdf is some version of the same material as the two 7 Inch shaper brochures in the Logan offering.)
The other document is Dimensioned Drawing Set for Logan 8" Shaper (118 pp). This contains 84 sheets of engineering drawings. These are drawings prepared by the Logan Actuator Company in the early 1990s; they are not 1940s-1960s vintage Logan Engineering drawings. This document also contains the same Operating Instructions and illustrated parts list, brochure 'Announcing ... Porter-Cable 7" Shaper" (in color) "Logan 7 Inch Shaper [Model AS-7]" brochure, "Logan 7 Inch Shaper [Model DS-7]" brochure, and section (in color) of Logan Catalog 15 about the 'Logan 8" Shaper [Model ES8]' which are also reproduced in the Parts List & Instructions for Logan 8" Shaper. (In other words, it contains everything that is in the "Parts List & Instructions" document, so if you buy this "Dimensioned Drawing Set," you don't really need to buy the "Parts List & Instructions." The Logan site isn't entirely clear about this.)
Note that the documents available from Logan Actuator have changed slightly over the years. I have a 16 page (including cover) velo-bound black-and-white copy of a reprint entitled " Logan 8 Inch Shaper Operation Instructions and Parts List"; this contains the same material as the currently available Parts List & Instructions for Logan 8" Shaper, less the three brochures and the catalog section. I also have an 84 sheet velo-bound collection of black-and-white photocopies of engineering drawings for the Logan Shaper; this contains the same material as the currently available Dimensioned Drawing Set for Logan 8" Shaper, less the operating instructions, parts list, three brochures, and catalog section. I purchased both from Scott Logan of Logan Actuator some years ago.
A list of Logan lathe and shaper serial numbers is available on the Logan Actuator sales site, at http://www.lathe.com/ser-no.htm. They indicate a production of this shaper through 1966.
Mike Fendley has done several useful drawings and writeups on the Logan. These are online on Michael Moore's "EuroSpares.com" site:
Several Logan shaper owners have interesting web pages devoted to their machines:
See also the Logan ES8 Shaper at CircuitousRoot.
This was a small hand-powered shaper designed by S. N. Malterner and manufactured by the Burke Machinery Company, Cleveland (better known for their milling machines). For what little I know of it, see the Malterner Shaper entry in the Burke Horizontal Milling Machines Notebook .
Miner, S. S. "Metal Shaper for Your Shop." Popular Mechanics. Vol. 104, No. 4 (October, 1955): 227-231.
This is a construction article, with dimensioned plans, for building a hand-powered 3-inch stroke metal shaper using bar and plate stock (no castings).
I believe that this article is still in copyright at this time ( Popular Mechanics was very active in renewing its copyrights). It may be viewed online via Google Books, presumably in arrangement with Popular Mechanics. Go to the Google Advanced Book Search page at http://books.google.com/advanced_book_search.
There is a copy of this article, with scanned images (in black and white) and reformatted text, online at http://www.vintageprojects.com/machine-shop/shaper-metal-plans.html
There is a copy of this article, with scanned photographs and reformatted text, but also re-drawn drawings, on Michael Moore's "EuroSpares.com" site at: http://www.eurospares.com/graphics/Tools/shapers/3inshaper1.pdf This same file is also in the "Files" section of the Yahoo! Multimachine group.
US Army Technical Manual TM 9-3418-204-14&P, Operator's, Organizational, Direct Support and General Support Maintenance Manual Including Repair Parts List for Shaper NSN 3418-00-412-4506 (Mitts & Merrill Inc.) (June 1981) is online in at:
This same document (identical file) is in the Files section of the Yahoo! Metal_Shapers group as a manual for the Gould & Eberhardt shaper ("G & E Shaper.pdf"), suggesting that Mitts & Merrill by this date had acquired Gould & Eberhardt.
The Files section of the Yahoo! Metal_Shapers group also contains a single page scan from an unidentified brochure (in the "Gould & Eberhardt 16 Speed" folder, as "Shaper brochure scan1.pdf") which advertises the hard chrome V-ways on all "Mitts and Merrill - G&E Shapers," again suggesting that they were at this time made by the same firm. A "G&E" shaper is illustrated.
On Michael Moore's "EuroSpares.com" site he uses an image of an Ohio shaper to identify the parts of the shaper: http://www.eurospares.com/graphics/Tools/shapers/partsofashaper.jpg
The paper original of this image is in Charles Bradford Cole's book Tool Making (Chicago: American Technical Society: 1939 [reprinted 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943). It's a nice illustration, but the scan is a little on the low-res side (650x588). Since it's in the public domain, I've done another scan of it from my copy of this book (2636x2488 in the version you get when you click through on the image below; it is a 14 Megabyte PNG image file):
This was a kit of castings one could buy to machine one's own shaper. Tony Griffiths' site indicates that the Pootatuck company operated in the early 1950s and that it evolved into the David Jones Machine Company (also selling castings for build-it-yourself machine tools): http://www.lathes.co.uk/jones/index.html
A scan of a brochure/catalog, "Build Your Own Machine Tools / Castings / We Supply The / Lathes - Shapers - Milling Machines" [sic; it is typographically misguided] is online on Michael Moore's "EuroSpares.com" site at: http://www.eurospares.com/graphics/Tools/shapers/Pootatuck_Catalog.pdf The NEMES Shaper Books page has a copy of this scan: http://www.neme-s.org/Shaper Books/shaper_book_page.htm (note that there is a space in "Shaper Books").
Nicely scanned dimensioned plans have been reprinted on the "Projects In Metal" website/forum: http://www.projectsinmetal.com/category/vintage-plans/
(These same plans are on the Files section of the Yahoo! Metal_Shapers group as four JPEG images in the "Pootatuck 6 inch shaper" folder, but the scans aren't as nice as those on Projects In Metal.)
"Shapeaholic" has a web page which shows some original Pootatuck castings (along with modern castings made to replace missing ones): http://www.angelfire.com/sc3/shapeaholic/Pshaper.html.
In message no. 11339 (2005-06-09) in the Yahoo! groups Metal_Shapers group, http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/Metal_Shapers user "eng4turns" reported the following history for the Porter-Cable shaper: "The machine was introduced early in 1941. Strangely the entire design was purchased from Brandt Ford who at the time was a shop superintendent, not part of their engineering department at all. Porter-Cable had been big in the metal grinding and finishing market since the early twenties but had sold their lathe business to W. C. Lipe Company in 1938 so they were no longer in the metal cutting business. The shaper did not fit their market and shortly after the war the business was sold, as you know."
A search through Popular Mechanics using Google Books returns advertisements for the Porter-Cable 7" chain-drive shaper from as early as July, 1942.
The earliest Logan shaper serial number recorded on the Logan Actuator site dates from 1953, but a search through Popular Mechanics using Google Books returns Logan advertisements from as early as October 1946 for the Logan catalog with "complete, illustrated descriptions of Logan Lathes, Shapers and Accessories."
A six page brochure for this shaper is in the "Files" section of the "Metal_Shapers" group on Yahoo!: http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/Metal_Shapers. The same file is also hosted on Michael Moore's "EuroSpares.com" site.
The distinctive feature of the Rhodes was the ability to mount a slotting head in place of the horizontal ram (a 4" slotter for the 8" shaper, and a 3.5" slotter for the 7" shaper).
Michael Moore's "EuroSpares.com" site has extensive material on the Rhodes Shaper, including original literature, photographs of his Rhodes, CAD drawings he's done of the Rhodes, and links to other Rhodes owners' sites. See: Michael Moore's "EuroSpares.com" site
The vise shown in the photos of Rick Montague's shaper is quite unusual for a shaper.
(Michael Moore's site also has quite a bit of other shaper information, and is well worth a detailed look.)
Rhodes Shaper/Slotter Patent
US patent 1,100,990. Issued 1914-06-23 to Leverett E. Rhodes. Filed 1911-11-22 as application serial number 661,732. "Metal Shaping Machine."
Michael Moore's site contains a PDF of Rhodes' patent for a combination shaper/slotter (a copy is in the Files section of the Yahoo! Metal_Shapers group as well), but for whatever reason that PDF isn't at the highest possible resolution. I've retrieved the images from the USPTO and assembled them into another PDF here. (Note: The images still aren't at a very high resolution. The USPTO scanned all of its old patents at 300 dpi black-and-white (not greyscale), which is an entirely insufficient resolution. They then destroyed the paper originals. So the file here is the best which exists unless a paper copy of the original patent printing survives.)
US Army Technical Manual TM 9-3418-201-14&P, Operator's, Organizational, Direct Support and General Support Maintenance Manual Including Repair Parts List for Shaper, Metal Cutting, Horizontal (Rockford Machine Tool Co.) (July 1981) is online in at:
The Yahoo! "Metal Shapers" Files also include a copy of has a copy of the 1984 US Military Specification for hydraulic (not crank) shapers, MIL-S-23375D of 1984-06-25 (the file in the "Rockford Hy-Draulic" folder is identical to the one in the main "Files" section). This was uploaded by the late Art Volz, and it suggests that he felt there was an association between this Mil Spec and this particular shaper.
Joe V. Romig wrote several articles with designs for shop-mage shapers.
"Sturdy Bench Shaper Cuts Production Costs." Popular Science Monthly (May, 1923): p. 84 and three subsequent pages. Describes a shop-built 6-inch bench shaper constructed without castings. A scan is online in the "Files" section of the Yahoo! Multimachine group.
"A 6-in Bench Shaper." Popular Mechanics. Vol. 50, No. 5 (November, 1928): 869-872. I believe that this article is still in copyright at this time ( Popular Mechanics was very active in renewing its copyrights). It may be viewed online via Google Books, presumably in arrangement with Popular Mechanics. Go to the Google Advanced Book Search page at http://books.google.com/advanced_book_search to search for it. A PDF made from the Google Books scan is online in the Yahoo! Multimachine group. Note that the filename for this PDF indicates that it is from the April 1924 number of Popular Mechanics, but this is in error; it is November 1928.
Walter, F. G. "P[opular]. M[echanics]. Shaper Makes Good Miller." Popular Mechanics. Vol. 53, No. 5 (May, 1930). Describes the conversion of Romig's 1928 6-inch shaper into a horizontal mill. I believe that this article is still in copyright at this time It may be viewed online via Google Books, presumably in arrangement with Popular Mechanics. Go to the Google Advanced Book Search page at http://books.google.com/advanced_book_search to search for it. A PDF made from the Google Books scan is online in the Yahoo! Multimachine group.
See also Adjustable Planer Vise, above.
An illustrated Sheldon Shapers Parts List is online in at least four locations:
All four versions are the same file (byte-for-byte identical). It contains a useful "Test Sheet" for recording the measured accuracy of a shaper (vs. the accuracy Sheldon specified).
The Files section of the Yahoo! Metal_Shapers group has an assembled three-page document with a few images from an unspecified brochure (or brochures) of the Sheldon. See the file "SheldonBrochureClip.pdf" in the Manuals section.
US Army Technical Manual TM 9-3418-200-14&P, Operator's, Organizational, Direct Support and General Support Maintenance Manual for Shaper, Metal Cutting, Horizontal Model CS100 ([made by] South Bend Lathe) (February, 1982) is online in at least three locations:
All four versions are the same file (byte-for-byte identical). It contains a description of the South Bend shaper, a few repair instructions, an illustrated parts list, and a brief introduction to shaper work. It really isn't a sufficient textbook on shaper work in itself, though.
The Files section of the Yahoo! Metal_Shapers group contains an undated (but "1963" in its filename), unattributed four-page sales "brochure" (or the material thereof) for the "7" South Bend Precision Bench Shaper" (file "1963_SB_7_SHAPER.pdf"). It must have come either from a catalog or possibly a magazine, since its page numbers are 78-81.
The Files section of the Yahoo! Metal_Shapers group contains a two page extract, scanned at low resolution and rather blurry, of South Bend Form 935D (1966-10-01), which is an illustrated parts list. It also contains a four-page scan of material from Form 936D (1966-10-01), also an illustrated parts list.
I do not believe that the 'South Bend "set up and cut" shaper pamphlet' (q.v.) is in fact by South Bend.
The Files section of the Yahoo! Metal_Shapers group contains an image (in the main "Files" section, not the "South Bend Shaper" folder, as file "SB Rotary Table and Indexing Centers Parts List.pdf") the Parts List for the Indexing Table (part code RTB-100) and Indexing Centers (part codes NDX-100X & NDX-101), South Bend Form 965A Section 3, 1957-06-15.
The Files section of the Yahoo! Metal_Shapers group contains an image (in the main "Files" section, not the "South Bend Shaper" folder), scanned from an unidentified source, which shows in a schematic way the pressure lubrication of a shaper. (The shaper is not identified in the image, but its filename, "SB-7-Force-Feed-Diagram.jpg", suggests that it is a South Bend.)
Operator's Handbook 4220-H
Operator's Handbook: Installation and Operation Instructions for Steptoe Shaper including Repair Parts List . (Holland, MI: Western Machine Tool Works, n.d.) Handbook No. 4220-H. This manual is not as extensive as the presumably later No. 4620-H (see below), but the scans of it (which I did from an original I own) are higher-resolution.
Here's a local copy of the PDF (83 Megabytes): steptoe-shaper-installation-operation-4220H-0600dpijpg.pdf
Operator's Handbook 4620-H
The Operator's Handbook[:] Installation and Operating Instructions for Steptoe Shapers[,] including Repair Parts List (Holland, MI: Western Machine Tool Works, n.d.), "Handbook No. 4620-H" is online via a link at the "Metal Illness" forum: http://www.bbssystem.com/viewtopic.php?t=602
See also the Steptoe Shaper restoration project at CircuitousRoot.
The Files section of the Yahoo! Metal_Shapers group has a parts manual, mostly in Swedish, for the Shapingmaskiner Typ EV manufactured by Värnamo Maskinaktiebolag in Sweden. (See file "Varnamo_Ev_Shaper_Manual.pdf" in the Manuals folder.)
The Virtual Bar and Grill, a motorcycle enthusiasts' site, has a set of photographs of a Whipp shaper at: http://thevirtualbarandgrill.com/machinery/whipp/
The Files section of the Yahoo! Metal_Shapers group has a copy of the 1984 US Military Specification for hydraulic (not crank) shapers, MIL-S-23375D of 1984-06-25. It's interesting that the military was updating its specifications for new shaper purchases at this late a date. Mostly it comes down to "buy a nice one." The file is "MilStdHydraulicShaper.pdf".
US Patent 305,520 (Juengst, 1884)
The Files section of the Yahoo! Metal_Shapers group contains a PDF of US patent 305,520, issued 1884-09-23 to George Juengst for a crank-driven shaper. The PDF contains images at the full resolution available from the USPTO.
One of the things the metal shaper does particularly well is the machining of dovetail slides (using cheap single-point tools rather than expensive dovetail milling cutters).
Finding detailed information on how to do this, though, is a bit harder than it should be. Here are some sources I've found useful:
Burghardt, Henry D. and Aaron Axelrod. Machine Tool Operation. Second Edition. Part II. (NY: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1954.)
This contains reasonably good sections on tongue-and-groove and dovetail cutting with the metal shaper. The description of measuring dovetails, however, omits at least one critical definition and is not comprehensible unless you already know it.
Colvin, Fred H. and Frank A. Stanley. American Machinists' Handbook. Seventh Edition (sixth impression). (NY: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1940.)
For the home shop machinist or model engineer, "Colvin and Stanley" is often much more useful than Machinery's Handbook; various editions are well worth acquiring. Their presentation of dovetail measurement is probably the best in any general handbook. Since it is in the public domain, here is an extract:
"The Artful Bodger." http://www.artfulbodger.net/docs/shaper/dovetail/index.html
A nicely illustrated web page showing the cutting of a dovetail slide.
Oberg, Erik and F. D. Jones, eds. Machinery's Handbook. Twelfth Edition. (NY: The Industrial Press, 1943.)
Older editions of Machinery's Handbook such as this one still contain a brief section on measuring dovetails. This information is no longer present in modern editions. It isn't as good as the treatment in "Colvin and Stanley," though.
The following works reprinted here were published in the US without copyright notice at a time when such notice was required to secure copyright. They therefore passed into the public domain upon initial publication: Steptoe Operator's Handbook 4220-H. This digital reprint remains in the public domain.
The following items reprinted here are in the public domain due to the expiration of all possible copyright in the US: Burghardt (1922). These digital reprints remain in the public domain.
The following items reprinted here are in the public domain due to the failure to renew copyright and the expiration of initial copyright: "Suggested Unit Course in Shaper Work" (1944), "Suggested Unit Course in Shaper Work" (1950), Chas. A. Strelinger Catalog No. 58 (1942), Cole. "Tool Making." (1939), Colvin & Stanley. "American Machinist's Handbook." (1940). These digital reprints remain in the public domain.
US patent specifications are in the public domain by law. These digital reprints remain in the public domain.
All portions of this document not noted otherwise are Copyright © 2012 by David M. MacMillan and Rollande Krandall.
Circuitous Root is a Registered Trademark of David M. MacMillan and Rollande Krandall.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons "Attribution - ShareAlike" license. See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ for its terms.
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