I have been using my Douglas shaper more frequently of late mainly due to the neat finish it imparts. Neat finish is one thing, accuracy's another and it was lacking. The shaper would cut a taper on anything held in its vice, about a thou in two inches. So with accuracy being more important than cosmetics I did something about it.

The table top face was not square to the x axis so I recut its surface.

IMG_20181220_172934513 (Large).jpg IMG_20181221_111839851 (Large).jpg

The vice base when checked with an indicator, had three roughly equally spaced high points. Clamped at those points onto a faceplate, I cleaned up the bottom face of the base with a HSS cutter. Then I used the boring head in its facing mode to clean up the upper surface.

IMG_20181218_150228056 (Large).jpg IMG_20181218_151507697 (Large).jpg IMG_20181218_154121732 (Large).jpg IMG_20181219_120614796 (Large).jpg IMG_20181219_120915878 (Large).jpg IMG_20181219_153447866 (Large).jpg

With the base cleaned up I was able to "survey" the vice which revealed a drop of around 0.0035" in one corner and a slight hollow in the middle of its ways. There was considerable damage to the ways directly in front of the fixed jaw and to remove it I had to cut to a depth of around 0.010". In the process, I neglected to lock the downfeed on the shaper's head and it auto fed itself into the narrow section of the bed casting. I "fixed" the mess up on the mill.

IMG_20181222_124325439 (Large).jpg IMG_20181222_130130421 (Large).jpg IMG_20181222_130124317 (Large).jpg

The lowering of the ways resulted in some variation in the thickness of the way edge or lip. I used an endmill to carefully recut the underside of the lip.

IMG_20181222_152047205 (Large).jpg IMG_20181222_152841459 (Large).jpg IMG_20181222_155250553 (Large).jpg IMG_20181222_155319064 (Large).jpg IMG_20181222_163414230 (Large).jpg

The reduction in lip thickness also required modification to the sliding jaw. Before I could work on the sliding jaw the fixed jaw had to be cut down to the sliding jaw's height to enable the vice to be clamped upside down on the mill's table.

IMG_20181223_105609102 (Large).jpg IMG_20181223_110606549 (Large).jpg IMG_20181223_121229726 (Large).jpg IMG_20181223_123414297 (Large).jpg

With the modifications completed and the vice reassembled there is no discernible needle movement on a 0.01mm indicator when traversed along a 6" parallel resting on the vice ways.

IMG_20181223_142809896 (Large).jpg IMG_20181223_143813416 (Large).jpg

Worth the effort.

Bob.
Attached Images




Read the full thread at metalworkforums.com...