The Home Machinist!

I recently bought a Logan 8" shaper and have started doing projects on it as well as accessories for it. The shaper came with a 1/2" square broached handle made from a balanced crank hande. It didn't fit very well on the knee raising shaft and interfered with the feed ratchet if left on during operation. I decided to make up a couple of handles so that I didn't have to shift it around as much.

I started with a piece of a casting I had laying around. It was a grey cast iron with 45ksi yield and 65ksi ultimate strength. It had been fully annealed and cut easily.

The first step was to saw the cast iron chunk into suitable blanks.

A little more bandsaw work.

Drilled 15/32 for the square.

Setup on the shaper for the 1/2 square. I made a tool holder that held a 5/16 square lathe bit that was inclined down at 5 degrees. The only challenge was feeding sideways. It wanted to cut going down in a plunge, so I first enlarged a cross shaped hole and then fed down from the side bars of the cross to clean out the corners. Next time I will grind some side clearance on the tool. I also had to substitute a 5/16 dog point socket head screw for the square toolpost screw to get enough clearance to pass throught the hole with the tip of the tool without hitting the shank of the handle with the top of the toolpost.

Next I turned the handle. This one rotates on a 3/8 filister head slotted screw. The hole through the handle was 25/64 with a 9/16 counterbore for the screw head. The body of the turning handle was free handed with the crossfeed screw with the carriage feed under power feed. It isn't perfect, but it's smooth and has a reasonable shape.

Next came shaping a taper into the shank of the handle. Before the shaping I drilled and tapped the 3/8 threaded hole and put a pin through it to set on top of the shaper vise jaws. That way the knob end came out balanced. The angle was set by touching off the top of the handle at the knob end as it rested on the pin. Then the shaper knee was moved across to the corner of the boss with the 1/2 square hole. The cutting tool was brought down the amount of the taper and the handle was held against the tool while the vise was tightened. Then the sides were shaped.

Finally the knob end of the handle ws rounded, edges were radiused and it was painted. The knob was then screwed on loose enough for the knob to spin and then the screw was staked on the back side of the handle. This one will stay on the ram positioning clamp screw on the Logan shaper.

All done but the screaming.

Very nicely done, Jim!

Harold

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Wise people talk because they have something to say. Fools talk because they have to say something.

Flea market... $3.00, Reid Tool... $25.00, Owner built... $priceless$.

Plus extra points for using material on hand and hardly recognizable as the finished part. Without a vision, no part.

Great job on the handle and the presentation, Thank you!

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A guy never has to come down out of the clouds if he keeps filling the valleys with peaks. S.Stube

Two thumbs up! Awesome work. --Doozer

Excellent Job! Thanks for taking the time and effort to post and share it with us. This is exactly the kind of thinking I'm trying to figure out how to pass down to my grandson. Just like how you saw that part inside those pieces of cast iron from the beginning!!! There isn't a day goes by working that I don't contemplate how (or if) you can teach that vision to another person.

Enjoy your shaper!
Greg