MetalworkingFun Forum

The down feed dial on this one is as hopeless as the Logan.


One revolution is .125 how are you supposed to read that while the ram is going back and forth?
Plan to make a new one somewhere around 3 inches in dia, a readable size. 
Can anyone see a reason not to make the dial out of aluminum? Would be much easier to engrave deep graduations that could be visible.

That little bitty ring under the crank? How you supposed to read it when the ram is stopped? Anyway the only drawback I see to aluminum is it getting dinged up but I'd prolly still go with aluminum anyway.

(10-15-2015, 08:50 PM)Vinny Wrote: [ -> ]That little bitty ring under the crank?  How you supposed to read it when the ram is stopped?  Anyway the only drawback I see to aluminum is it getting dinged up but I'd prolly still go with aluminum anyway.

Thats simple I put a 6 inch DRO on mine with a remote readout

that's way there's a clutch  

The first time I ran my shaper I was looking for yellow chips and clapping noises. Everything was a blur. That's not how you run a shaper. You can't read the dial and the clapping pounds the compound down deeper into the work than you might want.. Setting the speed to where you can read the compound feed dial works a whole lot better. All of a sudden, you're its master.

Decided to go with a steel dial, chemically blue it then polish off the surface hopefully leaving the lines blued.
Got the blank made, thats the original dial on top.


Tried to figure out the indexing head to cut the required 125 divisions. Works out that I need a 25 division plate, of course I don't have one, looked into compound indexing in the machinist handbook, decided it would be a whole lot easier to make a 50 decision plate using the 15 division one.

The new plate worked.



Now to stamp the numbers.

Nice job (as always) Greg.

One option would be to use an oil-based paint and rub the paint into the division marks/numbers with a soft rag, wiping off the excess. That is what I did with the identification rings on the drawbars that I made.

(10-17-2015, 11:16 PM)f350ca Wrote: [ -> ]The new plate worked.

Looks good as well

DaveH

Each division on mine represents .005", something I discovered the hard way.
I think it had an axe in the family tree.