One time I was making a batch of 10 inch diameter 4 grove cable sheaves "pullies' out of UHMW I had ground a cutter to cut all 4 groves at once. Just lock the bore of the 3 inch thick round blank on an arbor and plunge as hard or as fast as you dared while shooting 4 60 to 100 ft long 1/2inch wide streamers all the way across the shop It wasn't uncommon for me to fill a 4 yard dumpster in a single night with swarth from those sheaves. My wife tried to time it so she could bundle up an arm load and drag them out while I was changing out a finished part with a new blank
Never try to tell me it can't be done
When I have to paint I use KBS products
https://safetyrisk.net/workplace-saf...y-don-merrell/
I have one on my office pin-board (old school tech), as a reminder not to 'look the other way'.
Yes, it's a Lewis shaper. They were sold as kits of castings, and machined by the folks who wanted them between the 1920's and 1957. That photo was taken the day I bought it, as I was getting ready to unload it. It had belonged to our friend Dale Smith, who passed away before he could get it running. My friend Bill Hinkle, who has also passed now, bought it from Dale's wife, and sold it to me for a ridiculously low price, and offered to let me pay for it as I could.
SWMBO graciously allowed me to steal grocery money to pay for it, and I've been spending much of my spare shop time cleaning it up and collecting stuff to make it run again. Repeatedly interrupted by many and varied events. It had sat outside in the rain for several months when I got it, a year or so after Dale's passing, so needed a lot of work, and I didn't have a lot of time or money to spend on it.
A bit over a year (maybe 2) ago, I found a commercial 3phase 1/2HP gearmotor for it, got a matching VFD from Ebay, and got the motor running. I've been trying to get the motor mount arranged for quite some time. I had once fired it up with a normal 1725rpm 1ph motor and pulley system, and it worked but the (I thought) heavy-duty file cabinet I was going to use for a stand turned out to be a LOT more flexible than I thought. So it went back on a welded angle-iron frame I'd gotten with a band saw I bought. The new motor mount spent about 2 years clamped in place with a set of visegrips.
I've been refurbishing the original motor mount stuff & countershaft stuff I got with it. I made it a new countershaft, but now I'm searching the shop for the arbor that shaft goes in. It needs new bearings. So I'm sort of stuck until I find that. Bill H. had a Lewis shaper also, and I have photos of how his was set up. I'm going for something more like his was than what mine had when I got it. It's going to need some more rust removal, and some bits and pieces rebuilt. I'm hoping to have it finished by the time school lets out. Which I found out yesterday is late next week. So I also need to work on the shop more and get a couple more machines placed where I can use them so I have access to lathes and such this summer.
Bill
Last edited by WmRMeyers; May 7, 2021 at 04:22 PM.
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