Another shaper....but it's not my fault!!!

[Jeff Duncan]

It's not that I needed another shaper, or that I could afford it, and forget about having the room for it, but I just had to place a bid on it full well knowing I'd never get it for my measly lowball bid of $1275. Imagine my surprise when nobody increased the bid.....a whopping $1124 for a Martin shaper with power feed included:confused:

How does that happen? I see smaller SCM T-110's sell for twice that at auction on a fairly regular basis!

Well all I can say is it's not my fault. I would have done a disservice to myself if I didn't buy it for that amount! So yes I'm broke, and yes I'm a bit more crowded, but I'm now the happy owner of 2 Martin shapers:D

http://i762.photobucket.com/albums/xx268/JDWoodworking/IMG_2342.jpg

My new T-21, 7-1/2HP (I think, can't get in far enough to confirm), with a 2 speed motor and 2 additional speeds available via belt change. Just cleaned her up this morning and fired her up....purrs like a kitten;)

As for aesthetics....you be the judge?
JeffD

[Sam Murdoch]

You are running on full power now Mr. Man :D What a super find. Good for you!

[Van Huskey]

Ummm...YOU SUCK!!!! That was a great deal, worst case senario flip it and buy something you need more.

[J.R. Rutter]

Buy a feeder and get a shaper for free. Good find Jeff! Fence or no fence?

[Todd Burch]

I'll arm wrestle you for it! That's a deal!

Was the auction local to you?

[David Kumm]

Best deal I've ever seen if the bearings are good. Still good if work needs to be done. You are now tops in the circle of life. dave

[Van Huskey]

You do know you could have gotten a Grizzly G1026 for just $170 more shipped and without that pesky feeder mounted on it!!! That is some perspective...

[frank shic]

that looks like it'll raise a panel in one swipe :)

[David Kumm]

Jeff, I keep coming back and looking. My choices are to either become your best friend or hate you forever. Dave

[Larry Edgerton]

Ya, you suck!

I have been looking for a T130 used and can't even find junk for that price. What is the largest cutter that thing can run?

Thing is, if I had found that auction, we would have been bidding against each other, so now that you are out of the way maybe I will get lucky!

Larry

[Peter Quinn]

Wow, nice score. Thats a color green I could grow to love. So if you find its in your way just write and I'll come get it out of there for you. Honestly, I could leave now for instance..........:D. Enjoy that, and kudos to you for giving that other German shaper a buddy to hang with.

[Van Huskey]

Thats a color green I could grow to love.

It is funny how quality makes a color much more palatable!

[Joe Calhoon]

Nice score Jeff!! Looks like a Univer feeder as well?

Joe

[Rod Sheridan]

You do know you could have gotten a Grizzly G1026 for just $170 more shipped and without that pesky feeder mounted on it!!! That is some perspective...

Exactly, and you would have owned a named brand instead of a Martin.

Martin, Martin who? Anyone ever heard of him?

Regards, Rod.

[Jeff Duncan]

Well I'd be lying if I said I hadn't been tempted by a Grizzly, though it was a used one with the ultra wide table and 7-1/2hp motor. I thought it wasn't bad for $2k, just didn't pull the trigger....glad I didn't now:D

JR, it did come with the fence, I just hadn't pulled it out yet.

So a couple other things to answer, not necessarily in order....

Bearings sound pretty good so far. I was very pleasantly surprised to find this is still one of the open oil bearing machines. I've been told this is pretty much the best type of bearing for these machines, but at some point Martin went to either a greased or a sealed bearing setup. I bid on it figuring it had bearings that I would likely need to replace, but I spent some time flushing the old oil out and re-filling yesterday and they seem OK so far. From experience I know replacing them would cost about $600 and close to a full day, so still not bad.

Not sure of the largest cutter it will handle, but much larger than anything I currently own! The larger table opening is 12" and the 1-1/8" spindle will handle a bit over 5" under the nut. My other shaper with a 1-1/4" spindle will handle about 6-1/2" under the nut. These were made with tenoning in mind so they're about as beefy as you could ever want.

The feeder is a Steff and seems to work fine. The original rubber wheels are junk, but Western Roller will be able to help me out there.

Dave, if it helps your welcome to test drive it if your ever in the neighborhood!

This auction was in New York so about 4 hours drive for me. So in reality with gas and truck rental included my total investment is now up around $1600 or so. It was a very short auction and I almost missed it myself. I think it was only up for a little over a week.

Jeff

[Jeff Duncan]

Oh and forgot to mention, I also came home with a nice supply of veneer....curly mahogany, curly walnut, elm burls, rosewood, and some other goodies for very short money.

It was a good day;)

[David Kumm]

Jeff, it keeps getting better and better. Yes, the oil cup bearings are the pick of the litter. A machine is always worth more to me if they are still in place. If never run dry they last forever. Probably uses a pretty light spindle oil. Dave

[Jeff Duncan]

Martin actually uses an integral pump to push the oil up to the top bearings, where gravity takes over to transport it back down to the bottom bearings. Not sure which is a better design as if the pump does fail....game over:eek: Whereas an oil cup is pretty basic. Then again the oil pump design is pretty basic too....so maybe a toss-up?

I'm using Mobil Medium Weight Spindle Oil in both machines now.
JeffD