Thread: Need to make a shaper tool

I'm making a few metal hand planes and I need to make a shaper tool to broach a thru hole for the mouths. I saw a post a while back of someone that was selling some shaper tooling that he made for doing this type of work, but searches have come up empty. Anyone have a pic or a reference to how to grind and mount a tool that can be used to broach a hole thru a part?

That is exactly what I made the rightmost tool in the photo for. Uses a (lathe) parting blade. FWIW, I mill the bed and let the end mill peck through. Then finish the slot to both edges with the shaper tool straight in (perpendicular to the sole). Then file- finish any small details in the very corner matching the milled bed bevel out to the edges Some might open the whole aperature with a file with a safe face file agains the bed, but there is actually quite a bit of metal to remove and I use the shaper.



I also use these tools for more dainty work though have not specifically used on planes, yet.





Different holder, similar tooling:





My planes all have adjustable throats, but there is still some slotter work at the edges, and in the aperature above where the toe piece is fit in.



smt

Thanks a bunch! That's exactly what I am looking for. Did you have one of those collet holder affairs for sale a while back? I'm going to need to make something simular to hold a broaching tool. I'm thinking of using a drill rod or an old endmill for the cutter. The pics give me a great starting point.

Stephen,

Neat tooling. Would love to see more pictures of the planes and a bit of description on making them.

~TW~

Nice work Stephen, very classy. Regards Tyrone.

Thanks for the nice words, guys!

I've posted most of this stuff multiple times, so there are some who are not commenting who are probably getting tired of seeing it (What happens is the metal working drop box has changed once, and then recently moved, so the links get broken in old posts. I just look for an excuse to drag them up again. )

Leigh, I still have a spare ER25 collet body left. ehmcofab at g mail dot com

Tommy, here are a few construction shots from a few years back



This is what the throat plate looks like, (still under construction, obviously) but this one was a special order that I will never do again. It has micrometer control with a hardened, lapped screw, and take up compensation for end play and thread wear. The "usual" ones are merely pushed in or out with a finger, like on a Stanley block plane. Everything is scrape fitted. The T-bolt clamp is common to all of them, but the T-slot is a bit longer in the "normal" ones without an aluminum bronze nut.









Oh, one more. The planes are referred to a "loopies" due to both the construction, and the loopiness of the idea in the first place. (They started as a joke about a dozen years ago). More recently, a couple years ago my wife asked me to get in her beehives to check some things (we had robbed them that day). I never get stung, but somehow that evening I got drilled at least a dozen times, think it may have been 14. Well, I finally got a sense of why the bee inspector always made a point of how much he was stung when he was in them and how "happy" he always seemed about it. Hmmm....it does make you loopy!

For some reason that night when I got cleaned up, it seemed like a good idea (under the influence of all the bee stings) to stage the "planes" recently finished at the time, landing and taking off on one of my "aircraft carrier" jointers and write a shaggy dog story about it over on OWWM. To add to the loopiness.



smt

Stephen,

Absolutely lovely little planes.Thanks for posting them. Care to elaborate on the joinery technique between sides and sole?

The "plane ops" are a hoot. Bet that big ole jointer is capable of "catapulting" most anything you'd like!

~TW~

It is always good to see good work posted again.You take an awful lot of trouble making those adjustable mouths ! Anti backlash nuts!! I'm slowly making some Norris type parts. Blade adjustment screws,40 TPI. Made a special tap for their nuts. They will be adjustable for backlash,too,like the late model originals. I made the screws 40 thd. as I am considering making micrometer dials on the knobs. This refining could go on forever,though!! I made the cap screws special acme (sort of) threads like some 19th.C. originals,and a tap for them also.

Steve,
That’s some fine work on the tooling. On the square broaches, are they flat or convex? I just got my first shaper and need to make some tooling for it, especially for broaching rifle actions. What steel are you using? I was thinking S-7. Thanks again for posting the pic’s. Earl.

I'm interested in the tool geometry and any tricks that you used to grind them.

The broaches are pretty simple to make as long as a surface grinder (or tool & cutter grinder) is available. I use a cheap import spindex, and put shims under the back edge on the magnet to tilt it forward about 1-1/2 to 2 degrees for the clearance angle on the sides of the tool. A little more might not hurt, might make it freer cutting, but the tool gets skinny quickly behind the cutting edge. Also, when the shim pack get too thick on the magnet, the spindex gets a little less secure. I block it with scrap metal or magnetic parallels on each side.* I use a 46 grit, J or I hardness wheel to grind the shapes, letting the edge degrade a little at the end to make radius transitions for a little more strength. There are many who would use 60 grit for a slightly finer finish, but if you dress the wheel well, 46 will be about as good and grind cooler. I hone the flats with a fine hard india stone before use.

I try to envision any given tool for the purpose so as to keep as much metal in the shank as possible. That is why the hex tool in one of the photos only has 2 cutting edges, and is round behind it. It allows just enough extra metal in the shank, to enter a give size hole, to have an advantage in small sizes though it is a little harder to
grind.



For instance, in a square shape in a small deep hole it can be even more dramatic. Here are 2 options for making a tool, the upper can have more metal in the shank (depending on radius chosen, it could more nearly fill the hole than drawn) and a larger diameter. Since stiffness increases geometrically with diameter increase, a little can make a significant difference.



After making the intended shape, I spin the shank or grind any reductions needed behind the cutting end as necessary for clearance. Don't make the tool any longer than necessary, and keep the shanks as large as possible while still permitting easy access and free cutting

To sharpen the shapes, I spin (tool still in spindex) them against a small lollipop in a die grinder clamped to the tool head, or a small (3") cup wheel on the tool & cutter or surface grinder, approached from the edge. A smaller radius wheel makes a more acute (freer cutting) edge, but the edge will not be quite as durable as one that is less acute. From a geometry standpoint, the hollow grind, combined with the back relief, changes the cutting edge (generated form in the work) to a more or less small arc. For my work, the convenience, freer cutting attributes, and practicality (quick to do accurately) of the method negate any very small changes in form. For tools that are critical, however, I will only grind the minimum complement of working edges, and grind them straight across with maybe 4 - 5 degrees of positive rake. It is all a trade off. This is also one of the reasons I keep the side clearance under a couple degrees. The effect does not occur with no side relief, but the tool won't cut well and will skid on the surface. With "excess" side relief it will cut freely, but the contour change of the generated form will be greater.

I used to use busted endmills where possible for tools, still do if they are long enough. But now also order M2 tool steel rounds (toolbits) to have on hand for longer cutters and for convenience. I sometimes use 5% cobalt tools.

*Re: my cheapskate methods with shims and an import spindex. I have sine chucks (magnets) and Suburban equipment including a beautiful grindmate (earlier master grind). I just hate to get out the "good stuff" and clean and oil it when done & worry about scratching it, when the cheap $49 5c collet spindex works fine and is fast and convenient.

If the hole is big, it does not require a fancy tool. Just use something big with one sharp edge ground straight across with 2-3 degrees of clearance and 3 - 5 degrees of rake Mostly the tool gets a little complex when trying to fit as much shank as possible along with a cutting edge and some clearance down a small bore.

smt

Originally Posted by stephen thomas

Wow, those look nice. Do you scrape the bottoms? That looks awesome!

George, from your experience and background I always take a supportive word from you as very high praise indeed! I do have to tease you a little: Micrometer dial on the knobs just sounds so non-traditional for you; but I approve.

I use a differential thread (Norris was stupid and used a compound thread) The threads on the 4140 steel stems are lapped in a set of (shop made) CI thread laps, so the fit is close, and the aluminum bronze nuts can be taken up as can be seen.
The stem threads on the aluminum bronze pivot are closely sized a bit tight, and then selectively fitted. The effective thread ratio is 72. Of course the bugbear of differential screws is how much space they take up and how much displacement between the parts occurs for a small overall displacement of the nut. In my system, the adjuster is just that, a fine adjuster. The gross positioning of the blade occurs with a fitting on the cap iron. Also, mine works in the "correct" direction: sccrew it in, the blade goes down. Screw it back, the blade retracts. Push right, the top of the blade swivels right, etc. Norris completely bolloxed that system up, too. They put the cup way down where there is no leverage and too fast a swing for good control. Mine pivots high up on the bed (see previous construction photo) to maximize leverage point on the iron, and then the traveler is set very close to the pivot to maximise leverage ratio of the lever compounding the overall leverage further.



Good idea on the modified square thread, that is what I use. I made the taps for a 5° modified square thread. Then after the first 1/2 dozen lever caps, got complacent and mixed up my fingers on the on/off switch while power tapping and ran the long one straight through into the table. Now i have a rougher and finisher, lol. At least the pieces are still useful.



Tommy: to the point of the original discussion, there is a slotting operation at the top between the boob like shapes I did it for crispness/definition, and to make it harder to cnc. Basically you machine everything close (can't talk about it here, most of the machining including slotting between circles for the side plates is done on a mill-drill with shop made fixtures and tooling). It's just like a traditional dovetail infill smoother, except the joints are better. Peening dovetails to close them up tends to spread the plates, though obviously it has worked for nearly a couple centuries. Peening these joints acts like swaging rivets and draws things tight. After the parts are pounded into submission, the machining of the complete body commences in stages. At the end, the sides are ground off (freehand on the belt sander) until fair and the hammer marks removed.

It might not be clear, but part of the joke in conception of these, is that all the traditional planes of this type are dovetailed. The joint I used was originally developed as a late 19th c machine made drawer joint ("Knapp" joint), as an attempt to speed up the operation over dovetailing. It makes a pretty, but actually lousy wood joint due to all the short grain sections that often split out in the rings over time, and poor glue effectiveness on end grain surfaces. Conversely, due to the rivet effect, it is an excellent connection for metal.

Traditional, yes, they are hand scraped. Thanks!

smt

Really inspiring work on the plane, especially the bell collet inserts.

Its off topic I know, but there are just two details missing I would really like to see pictures of.

The chipbreaker, and the blade.