Minimax CU300 Shaper Ring Insert Removal

[Frank Martin]

I have used the shaper on my combo machine several times by removing couple of the rings. I tried to remove the very last one shown in the picture below and have not been able to do so. Which made me think perhaps the last one is not removable. Is that the case or do I need to resort to some brute force to remove it?

440702

[Mel Fulks]

I've never seen a ring of that type that wasn't removable . But I guess you could use a mirror to see what the bottom
looks like. Rings are made of pretty soft stuff, you have to be careful with them. Some of us have seen some with hundreds of wrench or hammer dings. Many commercial shop foremen under pressure from above will ignore such
nuttiness

[Rod Sheridan]

I can't see that insert not being removable.

Try to gently pull it up with a slide hammer.

I waxed mine so they come apart easier............Rod.

[Mike Kees]

I have a Minimax T 50 shaper that looks exactly like that . The rings are tight. It does come out,once it is out clean it and the ledge with lacquer thinner. I pull up on it with my hands alternating sides till I get movement. When I re- install it I tap it in with a rubber mallet.

[Erik Loza]

Frank, I remember this being a "thing" with those rings. The Felders can be tight, too. They don't want them to rattle, so the machining tolerances are snug. What I would do is lower the spindle all the way down and see if you can tap it out with a rubber mallet from the inside edge. Use the handle as a lever and tap on the head with a hammer. Or perhaps a small ball peen hammer from underneath, tapping lightly. You could make a poor man's slide hammer out of a stick of wood and a dowel. Yank it sharply from above. What I have done in the past is dress the inside and outside edges of those rings with some emery paper afterward. I like Rod's idea about the wax. Hope this helps,

Erik

[Warren Lake]

many shapers have a lever arm front or back you have to move that arm to loosen the insert. is there a lever front or back?

[Erik Loza]

many shapers have a lever arm front or back you have to move that arm to loosen the insert. is there a lever front or back?

Unfortunately, not on these types of machines.

Erik

[Jim Becker]

The hammer method seems viable, but I'd use a plastic coated dead blow or a brass head hammer rather than a steel head hammer for the required "persuasion".

[Frank Martin]

Thanks for all the ideas. Tried the hammer method and it is not moving at all. Put some oil around the outer edge (where the insert meets the cast iron top) to see if it helps loosen things up, but no luck so far.

I am thinking about heating with a heat gun to see it if helps.

[Erik Loza]

Those aluminum rings aren't anodized, so get a white cakey oxidation if they are in a humid shop. After it has soaked in Kroil or whatever, you might try setting small pieces of dry ice all around the ring. Or, rent a wheel puller from Autozone, flip the jaws, and center it with a piece of wood on top of the spindle.

Erik

[Warren Lake]

you have to be perfectly parallel when you come up or they will jam

If there is a way you can take advantage of the spindle and some blocking and turning it up then you can crank that and put force on it from below. I had one cutter head that used to jam so I raised it up put wood blocks on the top table then lowered the spindle on top of it and it came off instantly, otherwise impossible. Just a lock edge head that someone had put a sleeve in and was off a hair too tight. my machines are old ive never seen aluminum used before.

[Erik Loza]

...If there is a way you can take advantage of the spindle and some blocking and turning it up then you can crank that and put force on it from below. I had one cutter head that used to jam so I raised it up put wood blocks on the top table then lowered the spindle on top of it and it came off instantly...

That's an awesome idea! I would try it.

Erik

[Richard Coers]

Thanks for all the ideas. Tried the hammer method and it is not moving at all. Put some oil around the outer edge (where the insert meets the cast iron top) to see if it helps loosen things up, but no luck so far.

I am thinking about heating with a heat gun to see it if helps.
I'd suggest that heat will tighten the insert even more as it would expand.

[Frank Martin]

you have to be perfectly parallel when you come up or they will jam

If there is a way you can take advantage of the spindle and some blocking and turning it up then you can crank that and put force on it from below. I had one cutter head that used to jam so I raised it up put wood blocks on the top table then lowered the spindle on top of it and it came off instantly, otherwise impossible. Just a lock edge head that someone had put a sleeve in and was off a hair too tight. my machines are old ive never seen aluminum used before.

This ended up being very effective after significant amount of tapping with a ball peen hammer from under the insert.

Thank you for the great idea, Warren!

I ended up sanding the edges of the largest insert quite a bit for it to fit easier. Also waxed all the inserts to avoid future problems.

[Warren Lake]

Hi Frank

glad that worked. I tend to polish stuff with Scotchbrite burgundy a fair bit as things will get more smooth and shine but not change dimensions too much.

I also do some filing. Depending on the machine there are sometimes some sort of sharp edges on things, say done at the factory but they are on a time frame and if we give a bit of attention to breaking those sort of sharp edges and it makes no difference to how things work then ill lightly tweak those. Ill also file outside table edges and more, some brands can use it more than others. I enjoy the filing if I had a good sharp file.

[Frank Martin]

Hi Warren,

Great ideas. I have done some TLC on this machine recently as I could not use it while waiting for new dust ports, etc. One of the things I did was to replace black steel screws that tend to rust with stainless steel screws. This was Erik's suggestion. Similar to you, he suggested deburring, polishing some other parts. As I find time in the future, I will go through these to make it a smoother, easier to use.