Surface grinding on a shaper?

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John - 02 May 2008 15:11 GMT

I recently bought a book on tool room grinding published by the
Carborundum Company. It's quite old but makes interesting reading.
One picture is of a shaper with a grinding attachment being used as a
surface grinder. Now that started me thinking. I've got a shaper
that's rarely used and I want a surface grinder. Obvoiusly I will
need a tool post grinder and a magnetic table. Both can be had
relatively cheaply. Also, using the shaper in a dual role will save
valuable workshop space. A suitable toolpost grinder could also be
used in the lathe making it even more useful.

Does anyone have any experience of using a shaper for this sort of
work?

Any thoughts?

John

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bugbear - 02 May 2008 16:55 GMT

> I recently bought a book on tool room grinding published by the
> Carborundum Company. It's quite old but makes interesting reading.
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
> Does anyone have any experience of using a shaper for this sort of
> work?

Like most grinding attachments to <anything> it's a good
way of spraying abrasive over <anything>, which is never good.

That said, as long as your shaper has enough traversable
area for the grinding you need - why not?

BugBear

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dave sanderson - 02 May 2008 18:18 GMT

> I recently bought a book on tool room grinding published by the
> Carborundum Company. It's quite old but makes interesting reading.
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
>
> John

Im sure someone (maybe nick or mark rand) attached an angle grinder to
one.

Dave

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Mark Rand - 02 May 2008 19:46 GMT

>Im sure someone (maybe nick or mark rand) attached an angle grinder to
>one.
>:)
>
>Dave

Father, I Can Not Tell a Lie, I cut the welds down..

I patched up the various dings, holes and crash sites on the table of the
drill press that I got from JS. I used MIG for the job and intended to cut the
whole thing back to flat with brazed carbide cutters in the shaper. Didn't
work at all. So I drilled a bit of 5/8 square bar to bolt onto the 4 1/2"
angle grinder in place of the side handle. Said bar got clamped in the tool
holder of the shaper.

It did a very good job of restoring the drill press table but... As people
have intimated. It gets grit everywhere and will _without doubt_ destroy the
shaper. The only way to avoid destruction would be to fit bellows over the ram
and the cross rail and to completely seal the body. I did it once, but would
not do it again.

Because of their mode of operation, shapers are even more vulnerable to damage
with a toolpost grinder than lathes are. I wouldn't stop anyone from doing it,
but I would suggest it as an option last resort only.

Having said that, I do now have a surface grinder, and it's a very useful
tool. You don't realise how useful they can be until you get one.

Mark Rand
RTFM

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John - 03 May 2008 08:05 GMT

Thanks for the replies, they've given me food for thought.
As I say, I would like a surface grinder but space is an issue.
There's also some things I don't understand about them but that's
probably best in another thread.

John

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Model Forum / General / Models / May 2008

Surface grinding on a shaper?