Another shaper to think about and a few questions

[f350ca]

Pete, bigger is better but the 12 inch sounds like its in nice shape. I would think 12 inch would be getting into a more industrial machine than the 7 ind 8 inch ones. I went from an 8 inch Logan to an 18 inch Peerless. Absolute night and day. No chatter cutting keyways but you have to watch the feed rate, too much of a cut and the cutter snaps with no hesitation. Never had that happen on the Logan.
Give the oilers a shot and see how it runs, I had to take mine after just rolling it over by hand, but the price could be recouped in scrap if there were major problems.
Extend the ram and look for scoring on the ways. With it extended check for up and down slop. Might be able to adjust with the gibbs if the wear isn't local from a lot of short strokes.