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Thread: Shaper near miss-- what did I do wrong?

  1. #16
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    Toronto Ontario
    Posts
    11,247
    Hi Roger, as others have said you need a lead in ramp on a pattern and a MAN rated cutter.

    Also make sure that your cutter speed is in excess of 40m/s to avoid kick back. For hand fed work you should be closer to the high end of permissible cutter speeds unless you have burning issues................Regards, Rod.

  2. #17
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Location
    Ouray Colorado
    Posts
    1,392
    PMs sent about the shaper workshops.

    Peter, thanks for posting the ramp video. That a a great idea for a low cost shop made setup. We used starting pins for years but happy to get away from that. They quit supplying starting pins some time ago on Euro shapers.

    That cutter looks like a 3 hole Euro block. The geometry on those is pretty blunt and they will have a lot of back pressure when hand feeding. Even the ones with limiters. One thing I do if using a cutter I have never used for curves is to set it up with the fence and hand feed a piece just to get a idea of the backpressure and how much bite to take.

    Joe

  3. #18
    Thanks for that video Peter. Very interesting technique.

    I'm going to go listen to 99 Luftballoons now.

    Edwin

  4. #19
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Location
    Putney, Vermont
    Posts
    1,042
    That cutterhead should never be used for any kind of hand held operation in my opinion.
    A cutter with a helical cutting edge and at least 4 cutting edges to the diameter of the cutter, like an endmill would be appropriate for what you wanted to do.

  5. #20
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Location
    Dickinson, Texas
    Posts
    7,655
    Blog Entries
    1
    When using a shaper or planer, I always sneak up on the cut.

    It is really important on end grain. I have a shaper and it terrifies me. I watch my fingers, wear safety glasses and feed slowly.
    Last edited by lowell holmes; 12-20-2017 at 3:11 PM.

  6. #21
    Join Date
    Apr 2016
    Location
    Tasmania
    Posts
    2,162
    Roger, this qualifies as a suicide set up. Don't do it again please! Joe's pictures and advice show the way it should be done. I also second JR, Peter and Michael's comments. It is really important to get some training and then you will be able to do some good work. The shaper is a delight to use if used correctly. As you found out, incorrect use causes catastrophe before you know it. I have had 3 colleagues lose significant parts of their hands through incorrect shaper use in the days before serious safety regulations were enforced. The first one I ever used had the switch hear the floor. When I asked why, the foreman said "So you can duck below the plane of the knives if they come out when you start it up...!" It was a place to always wear brown trousers, if you get my drift. I really, really appreciate the advances in industrial safety. Cheers
    Every construction obeys the laws of physics. Whether we like or understand the result is of no interest to the universe.

  7. #22
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    Beantown
    Posts
    2,831
    You've gotten some good feedback on what likely went wrong. Also some good advice on how to avoid it in the future. One additional piece of advice I haven't seen yet but can be very useful is the use of one of the spiral carbide insert heads. They're not great for hogging material, (which you really don't want to do on those types of cuts anyway), but they are good as they won't overfeed like the cutter your using. I use one for those operations and have probably gotten a little too aggressive with it and it's not "grabby" at all. Also pretty reasonably priced for how useful they are IMO.

    I'm pretty crazy with work right now, but going forward if you want to run a particular operation your not sure of let me know as I'm not too far from you. I'm no shaper expert by any means, but have a few years experience getting things done without removing limbs

    good luck,
    JeffD

  8. #23
    Join Date
    Sep 2013
    Location
    Wayland, MA
    Posts
    3,655
    A most generous offer, thanks!

  9. #24
    Others have really helped you out Roger. I use the shaper and a pin router a lot in my shop. On curvaceous pieces, grain direction changes galore, like guitar bodies for example. 3/16" is a cut depth I reserve for straight line work on the rarest of occasions. On curvy work I am likely removing 0.030" to 0.0625" at a time and I will actually wrap my guide pin or bushing with vinyl tape and remove it a couple of rounds at time for a whisper thin cut on the final passes. End grain and router/shapers equals finesse! Good luck.

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