On Mon, 13 May 2013 19:28:00 -0500, "Lloyd E. Sponenburgh"
lloydspinsidemindspring.com wrote:

John B. fired this volley in
:

Err... the basic difference between planers and shapers is that a
planer table moves and the tool is stationary while shapers are quite
the opposite. Nothing that I've seen restricts one, or the other to
any specific type of cut.

Exactly. And the machine that was described had a moving tool. But no
one ever seems to reads the OP. They just re-word the problem to their
solution.

Lloyd

Lloyd, here's what the OP said:

I know of one specific place that uses shapers not mills - they have
several, with long travels (30 feet) - the cutter travels on a bridge
like affair - they make press brake dies with them - they have bins of
blue curly swarf from the tool steel die material - very impressive machines.

Where have you ever seen a shaper with a 30 foot travel?

I figure the OP just got confused over which part was travelling.

There were some planers with travelling gantries, but I don't think
any were made in the US like that. They were late entrants, from those
Eastern European countries that made all kinds of special, enormous
machines, and they were used for work on huge stationary and marine
engines. I saw photos of them when I was at American Machinist but I
never saw one in the US.

--
Ed Huntress