"John" wrote in message
...





Iggy, I think you can figure this one out for yourself. Shapers were
obsolete by 1970. Since then, most of them have been scrapped or
gathered dust. And it wasn't CNC that killed them off. It was their
slow part-to-part production speed.

As I said, I've seen two actually operating in commercial shops since
1974. Both were squaring up mold bases, which is a traditional job for
them.

For a hobbyist, the cheap tooling is an attraction. So is cutting
square-cornered internal holes, if you make falling-block rifles or
valve gear for historical steam engines -- hobby work.



What other machine could you use to cut an internal keyway in a blind
hole?



I use a VMC with the spindle locked in oriented position but the same can be
done on a lathe...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArRQhpHGtro