Shaper is commonly used to produce flat surfaces can be horizontal, vertical or inclined by machining with the help of a reciprocating tool. Due to its limited length of its ram stroke, shaper is conveniently adapted to smaller jobs. However it’s a slow machine and is only considered suitable only for unit or batch production rather than mass production. It is even preferred to other quick metal cutting machines with even multiple teeth cutters because it can give all kinds of surface finish on this single machine along with ease of machining varieties of surfaces with minimum change over time since the set up time for a shaper is much less for most of the jobs

Working Principle:

• On a shaper machine, job is fixed on the work table and the tool cuts while reciprocating over the job.
• The tool is mounted on a reciprocating ram and the table which supports the job is fed normal to the tool motion at each stroke of the ram.
• The tool cuts only in the forward stroke of the ram except for a draw-cut shaper in which the tool cuts in the backward stroke of the ram. The other stroke in both the cases remains idle.
• The job may be indexed in horizontal or vertical direction.

Advantages:

• Shaper tools are simple and cheap.
• Intricate fixtures are replaced by simple holding devices.
• In comparison to a planner, for shorter cuts, shaper cost less to buy, consumes less power, occupies less floor space and is easier to operate.
• Shaper is one third quicker in action than a planner.

Principal Parts:

• Base: It’s a heavy cast iron structure supporting all the other parts and assembly and bolted down to the shop floor through foundation bolts.
• Column: A cast iron box structure housing the operating mechanism. It provides support for other parts f the machine such as ram, cross rails, etc.
• Cross rails: It is mounted on the front two vertical guide ways of the column.
• Saddle: It moves on the cross rail block and carries the table on it such that it can be moved sideways withers by power or by hand using a cross feed screw.
• Table: It is firmly attached to the saddle. It gets its sideways motion from the saddle.
• Ram: It is a reciprocating member with the tool head mounted on it.
• Tool head: It is mounted on the front end of the ram and has the provision of being swiveled in any direction for shaping angular surfaces. The vertical feed may be given with tool feed handle.

Note: For a 10 mark question elaborate more the principal parts also state types of shapers and the quick return mechanism used in a shaper.