Thread: Show us your Shaper

Originally Posted by pipeclay

Its a 77 model.

Thanks for that clarification, Pipeclay, that makes more sense!
Cheers,
Joe

Woo hoo Joe.
Looks great. Fun days ahead....in therapy.

Phil

Hey Joe,

If it is of any use to you, I have a spare chrome plated Douglas badge you can have. The badge feels like plated lead. Soft and malleable. The threaded fixing studs have pulled out but you are resourceful enough to fix them. I will wire you some photos if you are interested.

BT

Hi Joe,
Welcome to the club.
Fired it up yet?

Stuart

Originally Posted by britannia

Well done woodlee.
I am the guy who was negotiating from Darwin & had to pass it up.
I damaged my back & could not take the chance of further damage. I did suggest to the owner that I may be able to contact someone who might be interested if the deal fell through.
That some was you as I knew from your posts you wanted one. I am pleased to see it went to a good home.
Did you also get the radial arm drill & Macson?

Cheers
Barry.

Barry,
Have known the new owner of the property for a number of years , he got in touch with me just before Xmas ,and I spent the whole Christmas break helping him clear the work shop out , and stripping the shaper to a more manageable size. He had offered the machinery to a number of people before he caught up with myself ( he reckoned I was a hard person to catch up with ,my number is is the book and I deal with his boss on a weekly basis. ) but no one seemed to be interested .
The lathe and the drill went to good homes , both still in Katherine. I believe the drill will eventually end up at the Katherine Museum after a clean up and restoration.
The lathe I believe is already operational .

Yes I have been after a shaper for some time , I had no idea this one had been sitting under my nose for so long , Im glad I was able to become the owner of it and give it a second chance at a new life. I reckon it's new life will be alot easier than its previous one , with no chance of it going under water ever again.

Kev.

Originally Posted by jhovel

Picked up my Douglas shaper today - yippee!
It looks in very good condition and seems complete, except for a vice an any tooling.
Anyway, its in my shed and I'll start cleaning it up tonight. I haven't had a very close look at ways and slides yet, but nothing looks worn from the outside.
The manifacturing year is a surprise to me though : 1938? it looks too "modern"....
Cheers,
Joe

Congratulations Joe and welcome to the shaper owners club.
That a nice looking machine and looks to be in good nick .
I'm considering getting a Douglas to pair up with my Alba.
You cant have too many shapers I reckon.

Kev.

Thanks everyone!

Bob, I'd love the Douglas badge! Thank you for the offer!

Well, I just came inside from playing with it.
Moved it to a better spot in the shed - after much rearranging of 'useful stuff'. Gave it a good bath with Lanox and a bit of a scrub of the slides and ways. Everything now moves the way it should.
There is almost no perceptible wear on any of the handle squares - a sign of lack of use. I cannot find any nicks, tight spots or unexpected clearances on any of the moving parts and have cycled all of them through their full range. The ram moves nicely and evenly and it's dovetails look perfect. I haven't unbolted anything yet, only loosened a few things to be able to see the ram dovetails.
Overall, I think its a good one!
I haven't fired it up yet as its 3-phase. I intend to fit a single phase motor tomorrow and then see what it can do - gently - after oiling and greasing everything as appropriate.
I think this is going to be an easy resto: So far it looks like it only needs a good clean and polish. Hardly any missing paint anywhere. A few dints in the chook cages - that's it.
I'll post pictures of the progress.
Cheers,
Joe

Good to see it turned up Joe, and no damage has to be a bonus.
When checking for wear on the ram, you will usually see it on bottom of the dove tail.
Under the gib is machined the same height as the dovetail base so you can pick it up pretty easy once you remove the gib. With any luck it will be like mine and only just run in.

Dave

Just a tip on the table gibs, they usually have some shims in them which is a wax paper type of material. Just be careful you don't rip them when dismantling. They are a red type colour.

Dave

Originally Posted by jhovel

Thanks everyone!

Bob, I'd love the Douglas badge! Thank you for the offer!

Well, I just came inside from playing with it.
Moved it to a better spot in the shed - after much rearranging of 'useful stuff'. Gave it a good bath with Lanox and a bit of a scrub of the slides and ways. Everything now moves the way it should.
There is almost no perceptible wear on any of the handle squares - a sign of lack of use. I cannot find any nicks, tight spots or unexpected clearances on any of the moving parts and have cycled all of them through their full range. The ram moves nicely and evenly and it's dovetails look perfect. I haven't unbolted anything yet, only loosened a few things to be able to see the ram dovetails.
Overall, I think its a good one!
I haven't fired it up yet as its 3-phase. I intend to fit a single phase motor tomorrow and then see what it can do - gently - after oiling and greasing everything as appropriate.
I think this is going to be an easy resto: So far it looks like it only needs a good clean and polish. Hardly any missing paint anywhere. A few dints in the chook cages - that's it.
I'll post pictures of the progress.
Cheers,
Joe

Good to see that's it's a good-un, you'll be up and running in no time and luckily they are so easy to put a single phase motor on. My Douglas is basically the same condition as yours, buggerall wear anywhere.

For that special touch I was thinking of getting the "chook cages" chromed.

Cheers.

If I'm not right, then I'm wrong, I'll just go bend some more bananas.

Er Joe; where's the rest of it ?????

Yesterday must have been the day of shaper deliveries as I picked the Macson beast up yesterday. Backed trailer into the big shed before the thunderstorms hit again.

Fa (insert the rest of the Graham Kennedy crow call here) it's big and heavy.
2 wheel trailer tyres are half flat with 40psi. I am guessing a good honest ton with a footprint of 900mm X 1500mm.

It looks a lot better in the light and out of that dark shed. No apparent wear and the rust is only surface. Most sliding surfaces are protected by grease (yes grease few oilers but mostly grease nipples unlike the Alba which is like a pommey car; total loss oil system.

And yes it did happen; rayg supplied the photo earlier.

Ken

Originally Posted by Toggy

And yes it did happen; rayg supplied the photo earlier.

Ken

Where Ken? I just skimmed the whole thread and couldn't find it. If it's in a different thread can you link it? Better still, take some freshies.

The Douglas moved tonight!
I removed the 3/4HP 415V 3-phase motor, as I have a 1HP single phase of similar vintage (well a couple of decades older) that will fit. Plugged that one in, as it hadn't run for more than 10 years. Big noise - no rotation. A closed look showed the starting capacitor completely disintegrated .
Spun by hand, it spins easily but the bearings are noisy and dead dry. I only replaced them 30 years ago.... what gives?
Next suitable motor for a test drive is 1/2HP. Plugged that in - click, darkness in the shed... earth leakage fault.... not going any further with that tonight.
Last candidate is a near new 1/3HP. It runs just fine, so it gets fitted to the Douglas.
Plugged in - nice and quiet! It will do to see if everything moves the way it should. Clutch engaged - look at that! sothing the nerves just sitting there going back and forth - even if it is going in reverse....
A quick video taken with the phone would be appreciated by at least one person her, right Phil? here you go
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPJcT0sCgew"]1977 Douglas Shaper - first test run - YouTube[/ame]

Bewdy mate!

Originally Posted by Toggy

Most sliding surfaces are protected by grease (yes grease few oilers but mostly grease nipples unlike the Alba which is like a pommey car; total loss oil system.


Ken

I myself reading the total loss comment!

Brings back memories of English motorcycles weeping oil from their vertically split crankcases. Still I suppose it kept the chain lubed.