Quote Originally Posted by Carlos B View Post
Wow now i'm jealous, 7b Atlas shaper. I have wanted a shaper ever since I new what a shaper was. I am always keeping my eyes open for one but they are rare and expensive. Recently saw a 7" South Bend on Toronto Kijiji, there were parts missing and the guy wanted almost 2 grand, just couldn't do it. If I can find the time to devote to it I might try a version of D. Gingery's shaper one day.

Carlos
It really was dumb luck. I'd seen a shaper on the local Craigslist for $500, but had no idea what it was. I did a search was still confused so I asked my brother who is a machinist. I was a mechanic and the machine tools I used were not the lathe and mill. He told me some of the things a shaper was good for and when I compared to the pictures on eBay I realized the local news I saw were always missing important parts like pulley covers, ratchet boxes, tool holders and vices. So it became an idle interest as they almost never turn up for sale here on the left coast.

This was more of a rescue as it was partially buried in a barn sale and when I saw it had all its parts I asked one of the relatives of the estate sale how much and he looked at it and scoffed, $125. I knew I couldn't walk away. It was filthy and there were several bent and miss adjusted parts. It has been quite a lesson in how this particular shaper works. It was also interesting to see that shaper in the original vid with the belts switching back and forth to extend and retract the ram.

I'm curious why you have always wanted a shaper? Most folks, like the relative who gave me the price seem to regard them as obsolete and worthless. I wonder if a lot of them were scrapped?