clinton Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 I have a line on a South Bend metal shaper it is a 7 inch shaper advertised as having little use, the seller is asking $1100 for the shaper and stand. Does any one have any thoughts on this? Is it a good deal, it is in central CA, they do not come up too often, I have seen a few but not this nice. No tooling is mentioned What kind of projects can you do with this size tool? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 Tooling is cheap and easy to make yourself. One fellow I know loved his shaper as he used a lot of heavy steel and so could buy the nastiest rusty chunks from the scrap yard and then set them up and the shaper would clean them up without anyone spending time watching it. As to how useful it would be for you---well what do you do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clinton Posted March 14, 2011 Author Share Posted March 14, 2011 Well I know that it would be useful to true up and surface blocks, I will be making more dies for my power hammer. Can you cut dovetails with this type of machine? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knots Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 I found a a really nice 12" shaper with universal table last fall. The universal table tilts. I really wanted that machine because they are so versatile. It required a footprint of 39" x 42", fairly compact for that size machine. The cost was only $700 . The only reason that I didn't buy it was that I just couldn't fit it into my small shop. I would buy one in a NY minute if I had room. But I would look for something a larger than a 7" tabletop machine. However if you want it for small stuff only the 7" may be ok for you. There is a shaper forum on Yahoo. Go there and ask them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeatGuy Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 Well I know that it would be useful to true up and surface blocks, I will be making more dies for my power hammer. Can you cut dovetails with this type of machine? I have a small 7" atlas shaper. Shapers are great for cutting dovetails. I think that the price for the shaper you are looking at is a little steep given the size; if you look around you can find a larger one for much less or free. brad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clinton Posted March 14, 2011 Author Share Posted March 14, 2011 Ya I think the price is a little high and being laid off right now does not help matters, if I can get back to work this week I may offer him $800, a small machine is all I can fit in my shop and I will have to shoe horn it in as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fciron Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 The small 7" benchtop shapers by south bend and Atlas fetch a premium price with the home shop/ hobby machinists because they fit easily in the garage or basement. Larger floor machines are often cheaper, but they to take up some space, remember that the ram sticks out behind the machine on the backstroke. $1,100 still sounds high, they're usually 7-800 in the midwest and you could have it shipped and still come out ahead. It seems like a 7" would be just big enough to make hammer dies for a small hammer, but running a machine at it's limits means you'll have to work slower and still risk losing accuracy and excessive wear on the machine. How many dovetails could you pay for at that price? You could buy three sets of dies from Little Giant or the whole quick change set for that money. I'd drop six hundred for a larger shaper in a second, but you've already said you don't have the space. If you only need one or two dies, it hardly seems worth $800 and if you'll use it a lot then you're gonna want a bigger machine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thingmaker3 Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 They'll cut dovetails, tee-slots, convex curves, concave curves, ridges, profiles, gears, sprockets, keyways and more. They'll do most of what a milling machine will do and some of what a lathe will do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clinton Posted March 15, 2011 Author Share Posted March 15, 2011 Hmmm, thanks for the response guys, kind of a mixed bag but I do appreciate the input, if I get back to work I think that I will make an offer on this machine but $800 is about all I can do, I think that is a fair price Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGGUNDOCTOR Posted March 15, 2011 Share Posted March 15, 2011 Shapers in general have a working envelope which is the size of the stroke IE; 7"x7"x7". That price sounds high considering I paid $350 for a rebuilt 16" G&E at a school auction. A friend had a 24" hydraulic one given to him, and they walked away from it a couple of years ago when they lost the lease on the building. If you have limited space, you may want to consider a milling machine. I have seen Bridgeports, and it's copies go for $1,000, and one of those will give you far more capabilities than that little shaper will. A mill will have a larger working envelope, probably more HP compared to that shaper, and you can also drill, or bore with it. Don't get me wrong, shapers are nice, but if I had to choose, I would go with a milling machine. Shapers really come in handy for dovetails, big internal keyways, and cleaning up rough stock since the tooling is just a HSS lathe toolbit. Now a 7" shaper isn't going to have enough oomph to really hog some material, but it will get the job done. To drop that much on a small shaper while being out of work you should have a bunch of work stacked up to justify it in my opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Alford Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 I have one and love it, but can't say that I've made anything with it that relates to blacksmithing. They way it worked for me, I got a SB9 lathe. Got it running easily because it was in pretty good shape. Got the SB shaper in a little worse shape. The lathe made a few parts for the shaper, mostly missing knobs and such. The shaper has also made some parts for the lathe. And both have made parts for an ongoing refurb of a Bridgeport clone. Sometimes people ask if I'm ever going to make anything... The thing I like about the shaper is the cost of tooling especially for jobs like dovetails and internal keyways. But that's what people always talk about as far as advantages of a shaper. My #1 reason for wanting and liking the shaper is just that I like it. I like to watch it work, the sound as it works, and I like the thought process of setting it up to do its thing. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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