What's new
What's new

South Bend Shaper

texasgeartrain

Titanium
Joined
Feb 23, 2016
Location
Houston, TX
Thinking of pavt's thread on a South Bend Milling Machine, made me think of some other stuff South Bend made. His thread with the mill here:
SB Mill for sale

In looking around there's actually a few shapers around for sale. While they are on the small side, I think the cabinet makes for a nice, neat total package, really pleasant. Perfect in a small shop. For actual use, for me they'd be best suited for cutting internal key slots in gears, hubs, or couplings. A mill being better at external items.

A link for one for sale:
South Bend 7" Shaper Original Base Cabinet Vise w/ Tools Dealer Owned Light Use | eBay

I stole some pics from the link, for thread interest and posterity. :D

108.jpg 109.jpg 110.jpg 111.jpg 112.jpg
 
I love the looks of those shapers , kinda from the art-deco era . I have a Atlas tool post grinder that I rescued from a trash pile that
has the same deco slots in the belt cover pulse a couple of other decorative details . watching a shaper can put ya to sleep & when ya wake up you could be runnin around as a chicken . they say ya can make anything with ah shaper but money !
animal
 
Thinking of pavt's thread on a South Bend Milling Machine, made me think of some other stuff South Bend made. His thread with the mill here:
SB Mill for sale

In looking around there's actually a few shapers around for sale. While they are on the small side, I think the cabinet makes for a nice, neat total package, really pleasant. Perfect in a small shop. For actual use, for me they'd be best suited for cutting internal key slots in gears, hubs, or couplings. A mill being better at external items.

A link for one for sale:
South Bend 7" Shaper Original Base Cabinet Vise w/ Tools Dealer Owned Light Use | eBay

I stole some pics from the link, for thread interest and posterity. :D

View attachment 301711 View attachment 301712 View attachment 301713 View attachment 301714 View attachment 301715

I would love to have one of those too! There is a large chance that we will end up retiring to the mainland and if it happens this will be on my shortlist. Radial arm drill is way up there too!
 
That guy is trying to sell a family hireling with a "I don't want to sell" price. That one is nice though.

There's several versions of the SBL shaper they built over the years. Try to find one that has the lubrication pump and piping, it will have the lessor amount of wear if it was taken care of.

Ken
 
Afaik there are at least two models of the SB shapers. The one shown in the pictures is the early model since it has the narrow front base that the table support foot rides on. And again afaik those narrow front bases pre date SB's addition of the built in oil pump. They apparently changed that base casting shape and added the oil pump at the same time. When I bought mine I didn't know any of this but happened to get lucky and mine is the later model. Sometime between 1954 and 1956 was the approximate date of that casting/oil pump change. If it were me I'd always want the later model because of that simple built in oil pump and larger area for the tables vertical support foot. The first picture in the second set of pictures clearly shows that support foot over hanging the ground casting area it rides on and why SB changed that casting shape. While that one appears to to be complete, there asking price imo is about twice what it's really worth, although the supply of these shapers is quickly drying up. Prices for parts and original accessories for these shapers are now approaching insane levels. It's not unusual to see prices up to $450 for there vices and small rotary tables and $700 -$750 for the SB indexing attachment. I've been watching those prices for the SB shapers and accessories climb every year since I bought mine. It's likely most of these shapers saw little use by most owners including all the high schools that had them. So anything I bought I'd go into it expecting to at least do a full disassembly, part cleaning and reassembly at the minimum. This series of videos would be helpful about what that job might entail. EVALUATING THE SOUTH BEND SHAPER Tips #671 tubalcain pt 2 - YouTube
 
I too have a warm-spot in my heart for little shapers as I own an Atlas 7B shaper.
(I also like the really big ones too!).
That South Bend looks really nice and I think you should snag it. I don't see these
little shapers come up for sale very often.

Not to get off-topic, here's an HD video I produced on my Atlas 7B Metal Shaper. It does not
have any kind of oiling system. The only thing I can think of that a shaper would excel at
would be broaching keyways. Try that with a vertical mill!

Atlas 7B Shaper Movie (Revised) - YouTube

PMc

BTW, it is missing a belt guard on one side.
 
Not to derail topic from those sweet small South Bend shapers but
here is a good video from Abom79 machining straight edges using both a horizontal mill and shaper. I would love to have both a horizontal and a shaper however my garage won’t fit any more machine tools especially a Cinci #2. [emoji3]


SNS 322 Machining Rucker Straight Edge - YouTube


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
One more video from Abom79 showing the usefulness of a shaper for odd work pieces. Granted the South Bend does not have the stroke of the G&E but this shows how even small shapers can be utilized.


<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dtRCmCWfuPE" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Not to derail topic from those sweet small South Bend shapers but
here is a good video from Abom79 machining straight edges using both a horizontal mill and shaper. I would love to have both a horizontal and a shaper however my garage won’t fit any more machine tools especially a Cinci #2. [emoji3]

I agree; that is a really good shaper video. I've watched it many times.
I really like this guy's machines!

PMc
 
I thought about adding a shaper to my small shop...
Seems everywhere I asked, the answer was that they're mostly outdated in that most of their ops can be done more efficiently on a mill (especially these small shapers) and those that own them rarely use them.

The prices are really crazy for what they are on the small ones like SB or Atlas. One can buy a REAL shaper like this 24" G&E- refurbed- for the same price as one of the small toy ones. Problem is having the real estate for it (which is why most sell them, combined with the rare use).

Metal Shaper, | eBay

To me, a shaper is in the same class as a surface grinder. Yeah, sure- I'd love to have one, but...
 
The prices are really crazy for what they are on the small ones like SB or Atlas. One can buy a REAL shaper like this 24" G&E- refurbed- for the same price as one of the small toy ones. Problem is having the real estate for it (which is why most sell them, combined with the rare use).

To me, a shaper is in the same class as a surface grinder. Yeah, sure- I'd love to have one, but...

I'd really like a 24" Rockford or Cincinnati. Prices are not terrible usually when they pop up, but the shipping cost. . .

A couple years ago I bought a Smith & Mills shaper, its a 14" or 16". Its on my machine "to do" list. :D

Its really old though, guessing 100 years plus. Would have been powered with an overhead belt system. Looking at the VM website. I found a catalog from 1919, and what I have looks older. :D The link from VM:
Smith & Mills Co. - Publication Reprints - The Smith & Mills Company Shapers Exclusively | VintageMachinery.org

A pic from that catalog:

393.jpg

The one I got:

390.jpg 389.jpg

Somewhere in its life someone converted it from overhead belt system. They installed a vehicle transmission to substitute step pulley. And an electric motor to drive the trans. Its actually super quiet when it runs.

391.jpg 392.jpg

When I get to tearing it down I'll post it in the Antique section.

Surface grinders are a bit more useful. I use it more than you might think. I'd say a solid #4 after drill press, lathe and mill. Grinders can handle hardened steel nicer than a lathe or mill, but much smaller doc.
 
I think that automobile transmission is ingenious; seems to fit perfectly!
Great old machine.

Personally, I rarely use my shaper; it's more a vintage museum piece (a lot like myself)
than anything else. I usually always keep it covered. Takes up very little room.
Reminds me that it needs a good oiling.

PMc
 
I recently purchased a great condition South Bend 7B Shaper and it arrived via UPS Freight laying down in the truck off of the pallet with the oil all leaked out and several parts damaged. Very sad. While the insurance claims roll on I am starting to identify broken parts and plans to source / fabricate. I'm a beginner so this will be a trial-by-fire.

One of the pieces that cracked in a few places is the cast aluminum motor pulley guard (PT5087S1). One area that broke off of the guard is the attachment bracket that hangs over the 5/16"-8 cap screw on the motor cradle. I've attached images of that damage. Can someone with a unmolested motor pulley guard post an image of that bracket so I can understand the geometry before I attempt the fix?

Thanks much.

south bend 7b shaper motor pulley guard.jpg

shaper in truck.jpg
 
That friggin sucks! Nothing like being excitedly to have a “new” machine delivered and see it on it’s side damaged.

I would try looking on VintageMachinery.org | Welcome to see if there are any pics and or manuals of your shaper. A lot of the South Bend machinery has good, searchable documentation. One of the many reasons to stick to name brand iron I guess.[emoji3]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Send me a p/m and will be happy to provide any help I can
Also there is a Io group that has a lot of information
Yes that sucks shipper could have invested in a hunk of plywood and a couple of ratchet straps and you would have been,ok
 
Well that is really a damn shame...and it was so easily preventable!!! That bothers me to no end!
I know from personal experience that these shapers are extremely top heavy. Mine is up high
on very skinny legs, and on steel rollers no less. I have a warning on the machine about it being
top-heavy and to move very slowly.

Long time ago, the left side of the table got cracked somehow. I took it to a machine shop and they brazed
yje crack and surface ground most of the side flat.

Sorry to hear that; the driver should be fired.

PMc
 
I have an Aamco/Delta Shaper that I bought from Joe Bergamo at Plaza Tool, a bunch of years back.

Have owned a South Bend one too, before I gave it to a friend. Figured that was a fair deal, as it had come to me free for removing it.

I think the SB is actually a little better than the Aamco, as it uses acme threads for the table motions, and runs an oil pump too.

I actually scored s deal on an Aamco indexer with the built in bolt to mount it to the table, on ebay, by pure luck. Almost broke my fingernails when the seller asked if he could hacksaw off that bolt to save space for shipping it, I was typing so fast! LOL!

One day I may even stumble across a Rotary table for it.
 
I recently purchased a great condition South Bend 7B Shaper and it arrived via UPS Freight laying down in the truck off of the pallet with the oil all leaked out and several parts damaged. Very sad. While the insurance claims roll on I am starting to identify broken parts and plans to source / fabricate. I'm a beginner so this will be a trial-by-fire.

One of the pieces that cracked in a few places is the cast aluminum motor pulley guard (PT5087S1). One area that broke off of the guard is the attachment bracket that hangs over the 5/16"-8 cap screw on the motor cradle. I've attached images of that damage. Can someone with a unmolested motor pulley guard post an image of that bracket so I can understand the geometry before I attempt the fix?

Thanks much.

View attachment 303284

View attachment 303285

If this is all that's broken, you're lucky. I got a South Bend shaper with vise for $200, largely because someone had brutally taken it out of a school, pulling off everything he could to lighten it and throwing the pieces into boxes. In the process, he lost all the gibs, the P-shaped leadscrew nut that moves the table, and the small gear for the motor shaft. (Fortunately, he couldn't get the bull gear off -- he might have lost that too). Worse, someone later put the ram back in while the gib was missing, crushing the tube that carried oil to the gib side of the ram. But I was able to repair all this, with a lot of help from the Metal Shapers and Planers group at groups.io

But my motor pulley guard was OK. Here's some pictures of it:

20211030_162527.jpg - Google Drive

Here's a view straight down: 20211030_162540.jpg - Google Drive

The bracket that broke on your pulley guard only has to hold it so it won't rub on the pulleys (and the geometry of it isn't exact, because I had to fiddle with mine to get it not to rub). If I had yours, I think I'd saw off the old bracket and make a new bracket out of steel angle iron or something similar, then fasten the new one onto the inside of the guard with flathead screws and epoxy. You could countersink the screws from the outside, drilling and tapping the steel to hold them, then use filler to cover the slots of the screws. After this is painted, it wouldn't look very different from the original. (Another way would be to fasten a piece of steel behind the current broken bracket, then build out the broken place on the bracket with aluminum. But that seems more complicated).

Mike Taglieri
 








 
Back
Top