08-30-2016, 04:42 AM
I went and checked out the 12" Macson this afternoon. I was able to get some browny points by doing a task for my mother-in-law on the way so that put some credit in the account to start with 
I wasn't able to power it up, but turned it over by hand. It turned over smoothly in each gear. I could not detect any slop in the ram with it fully extended. The clapper has no slop in any direction. The ways don't appear to be scored on any of the parts that are visible with the ram fully in or out. All of the parts appear to be there, i.e. ratchet / feed mechanism and such. The feedscrew looks straight to the eye. It has a 3hp 3-phase motor so my convertor will run it easy-peasy. The only fault I could detect with it is that there is some movement in the pinion gear that engages with the bull gear- I realised on the way home that I didn't pay attention to whether this gear is the gearbox output or is an idler. This gear and the bull gear are helical toothed, not sure if that is common or not but I liked it.
The upshot of all this is that I have bought the shaper
I think I may finally have bought a machine that I can do more work WITH than ON.
The seller offered to sell me a vice with the machine but it is not the original vice and is, I think, a very large milling vice of French make, would not mount properly to the table, so I passed it up. I have a second 6" mill vice that will do for most tasks I think. And yes it will need a table extension to mount the dividing head for splining jobs but heck, what would life be without projects?
Sadly I have to finish another little task before I can pick the shaper up- I had my tandem trailer sandblasted and painted just before we went away and I'm halfway through rewiring it and installing new lights, also have to replace the brake master cylinder. Was working on that today but jet-lag is making me even less productive than usual. Next day off is next Monday, hopefully get the trailer finished then and pick up the shaper Tuesday.
pics from the ad:
I wasn't able to power it up, but turned it over by hand. It turned over smoothly in each gear. I could not detect any slop in the ram with it fully extended. The clapper has no slop in any direction. The ways don't appear to be scored on any of the parts that are visible with the ram fully in or out. All of the parts appear to be there, i.e. ratchet / feed mechanism and such. The feedscrew looks straight to the eye. It has a 3hp 3-phase motor so my convertor will run it easy-peasy. The only fault I could detect with it is that there is some movement in the pinion gear that engages with the bull gear- I realised on the way home that I didn't pay attention to whether this gear is the gearbox output or is an idler. This gear and the bull gear are helical toothed, not sure if that is common or not but I liked it.
The upshot of all this is that I have bought the shaper
I think I may finally have bought a machine that I can do more work WITH than ON.
The seller offered to sell me a vice with the machine but it is not the original vice and is, I think, a very large milling vice of French make, would not mount properly to the table, so I passed it up. I have a second 6" mill vice that will do for most tasks I think. And yes it will need a table extension to mount the dividing head for splining jobs but heck, what would life be without projects?
Sadly I have to finish another little task before I can pick the shaper up- I had my tandem trailer sandblasted and painted just before we went away and I'm halfway through rewiring it and installing new lights, also have to replace the brake master cylinder. Was working on that today but jet-lag is making me even less productive than usual. Next day off is next Monday, hopefully get the trailer finished then and pick up the shaper Tuesday.
pics from the ad:
Lathe (n); a machine tool used in the production of milling machine components.
Milling Machine (n); a machine tool used in the production of lathe components.
Milling Machine (n); a machine tool used in the production of lathe components.