Hello All,

It's been a while since I posted, and this may be a first from this account,
but ...

I bought my first real machine tool yesterday, a 7" Rhodes shaper in very
good condition The funny thing is, after looking for a cheap mill or
shaper for several years, I decided to build the Gingery shaper. I built
the lathe many years ago (1994-96?) after being inspired by this group, and
am about 6 patterns into the shaper when this fellow at work had a garage
sale which included the Rhodes. I bought it for $250 Canadian and it came
with a reasonable vice, a nice rotary table, and a small (8" or so) bench
center with two dividing plates ! You can still see the flake marks on the
ways, everything seems to be there, the machine runs smooth as silk and the
auto-feed aparatus works perfectly. There is hardly a chip out of the paint
! OK, so maybe I should have included the word 'gloat' in the subject line
....

Now I have some newbie-Rhodes owner questions. After some searching I could
not find any references to manuals on-line. I checked the FAQ and googled a
bit, but nothing. Wasn't there a fellow with a web site that had a large
collection of manuals and sells reproductions ? Or is there a fellow Rhodes
shaper owner who would be willing to copy the manual and mail it out (I'd be
willing to compensate for time and costs etc) ? Next, as Dave Gingery says,
"OK, now you have a shaper, you're gonna need a manual". Is it just me or
has the selection of titles at Lindsay Books gone down ? Or does their
website not list all titles ? Anyway, does anyone have a recommendation for
some shaper operations books ?

Of course I still have to get the machine home, but I think it will be
manageable. According to the specs I found in the drop box, the thing
weighs 650 lbs complete. I'm hoping that the shaper will be manageable by
four men after removing it from the base, and taking off the table. Maybe
even under 300 lbs ??? The base etc should be no problem, I'm assuming it's
a bit lighter than the shaper. Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

I will take a few pictures of my new old beast and pop them into the drop
box, now that I have a digital camera. Maybe I'll even take a few of the
lathe if anyone is interested (it's good to see a few people around here
planning to build Gingery machines, it's a very rewarding undertaking).
Lastly, if anyone is interested in building a Gingery shaper, I am willing
to part with my patterns for the price of shipping. It would be easier if
someone in Canada wants them, but maybe sending a little parcel like this
(I got them into a shoebox) to the USA would not be so bad. Let me know, my
reply email should only have one 'w' in 'shaww', and it's '.ca' not '.ceh'


Dave (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada)