Material: Cast Iron (Castings) and Steel Units: (in)
This set of vintage plans was loaned to me by a friend who has had them for many (30+) years. The plans are for a "Six Inch Stroke Bench Crank Shaper" from the Pootatuck Corporation of Stratford Connecticut. However, I can’t seem to find any information about them online. The plans are old enough that I believe they are no longer protected under copyright. If this is not the case, please let me know and I will remove them.
Also, if anyone has any information about this shaper, including pictures or videos of a completed version of this shaper, please post them to the forum.
One more thing, it looks as though someone used to supply castings for this shaper. If anyone is still supplying castings, please let us know by posting the information to the forum. If not, this might be a good casting project for the furnace my friend Barry is building. Also, if you’d be interested in buying castings for the shaper, please leave a comment on the forum.
UPDATE: Tom sent me a scan of an original Pootatuck catalogue – it looks like the Pootatuck Corperation had more than a few products. Here's the catalogue. Thanks Tom!
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The pdf is incomplete page 2 is only half there, I would be interested in a set of castings, but with you in WA and me in MI I think shipping would be cost too much.
Tyler many thanks for the very interesting set of plans in such good condition. The design is very close to "The Metal Shaper" by David J.Gingery .He has a book called "Build Your Own Metal Shaper " which includes drawings and complete instructions available from "Lindsley Publications". Well worth a look.
The pdf is incomplete page 2 is only half there, I would be interested in a set of castings, but with you in WA and me in MI I think shipping would be cost too much.
Mike
Hi Mike, I just checked the PDF and it downloaded fine (including page 2). Are you still having trouble? As far as shipping castings are concerned, I bet they'd fit in a flat rate box from USPS. I think their larger box is $10 for up to 75lbs. The bigger issue might be convincing Barry to try his hand at casting iron. But I think it there's enough interest he can be pursuaded.
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Tyler many thanks for the very interesting set of plans in such good condition. The design is very close to "The Metal Shaper" by David J.Gingery .He has a book called "Build Your Own Metal Shaper " which includes drawings and complete instructions available from "Lindsley Publications". Well worth a look.
Regards
brad.roger
Hi Brad, (or do you prefer brad.roger?) I had forgotten about Gingery's shaper. I have a copy of his series out in my shop. I'll have to go take a look to see how it compares. As far as the plans go, the fact that they are in such good condition after so long is precisely why I wanted to share them. My hope is that someone will make one (or already has) and share some images or video. I'd like to see what this little shaper can do!
If you get a chance, remember to introduce yourself by starting a new thread in the "New Members" forum. It would be nice to know where you guys hail from and what your background is.
And thanks for joining the forum. I hope this will be a better way to communicate than the old comments section of the site.
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I'm having problems with the download myself on pages 2 and 4.
Rick
Hi Rick,
I'm sorry you're having trouble. A few other people have been having issues because they were using an older version of Adobe Reader. Try updating Adobe and re-downloading. If that doesn't work, send me a private message with your e-mail and I'll try sending the plans to you.
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Post edited 1:33 PM – March 7, 2010 by pvtimberfaller@hotmail.com
Hi Ya'll If anyone is looking for small castings drop me a line. I can do small gray iron (55#), brass, bronze (100#), zinc (?) & alum (40#+). and have sources for gray & ductile iron up to 400#.
I also build forges, furnaces & small foundry set up and have small quantity's of most common foundry supplies including coke.
Hi Ross, thanks for letting me know that the PDF is working. I think the others that were having trouble probably had an old version of Adobe.
As far as the castings go, do you have pictures of anything you've cast? Or do you have castings that you're selling right now? I know a friend of mine was looking for the castings for a Quorn kit, but I think he finally found the last casting that he needed.
What part of Oregon are you from? I travel the entire state of WA from Portland/Vancouver to Yakima a few times a month. Occassionaly I drop down through OR on my way to visit family in ID. Depending on where you live I might like to stop by and see your foundry setup sometime, if you're willing to show it off.
I've considered doing a roadshow of sorts visiting metalworkers in the NW and writing about their shops on my site. If you're interested maybe we could kick off that part of the site with your shop.
Anyway, welcome to the site.
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You wouldn't happen to have a price on the castings for this project would you? I have been look ing for a shaper and it would be cool to build my own.
I'm not sure. Hopefully Ross from above remembered to subscribe to this post. It might be worth PM'ing him with your question. He would probably be able to give you an estimate. I'll ask Barry the next time I see him if he's interested in making the wooden blanks for this and casting up a few sets. If several people were interested in castings it might make it worth doing.
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I'll add another vote for castings. What's your background? Do you have any recent projects that you'd like to share pictures of?
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Thanks for the welcome Tyler. I am a home machinist, amateur knifemaker, beginning leather worker. The one large project that I have completed is a KMG grinder clone. I also have a lot of unfinished projects laying around. :(
I have a forge and burner experiment that I have to get back to. As soon as I can get/scrounge the materials, I want to make an electric heat treat oven.
I have only an unfinished photo of the clone. I attempted to upload it. Hope it shows up.
I'd never seen a KMG before. I assume yours turned out like the one in this video?
Seems like a pretty versitile little grinder. Where did you find the plans for it?
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It works very well. Mine is powered by a 3 HP, 3phase motor through a VFD. It is a beast. The only reason I went to such a powerful motor is that I got it for free. I just tracked down the bearings for the small wheel adapter and will be making ne soon.
Sorry I have been busy moving & helping a friend build a house at the same time. I would look into pouing some shaper castings, price kinda depends on raw meterials market, on small ferrous stuff coke price usually dictates pricing, bigger pours are actually cheaper (better fuel to metal ratio) Let Me know when ya'll get the patterns done.
On the Quorn parts, I ran into a fella at the GEARS show in PDX a couple years ago that had some very nice castings set ( and a hand shaper as well) I think the Quorn is still under patents so that would be the best way to go, If I find his card I will post the info.
Found a set of drawings on vintageplans.com for a 4″ slotter Cool!
Found an ad in a 1952 Popular mechanics magazine for the Pootatuck Corporation, apparently the also had drawing for a 2 lathes, 3 mills (horz. I think) and the shaper. I would love to find the rest.
Ty I live 10 miles north of Baker City OR. when I get set up better this summer feel free to stop by. Ross
Hey Fred, I swear I replied to your two posts a few days ago, but the reply seems to have dissappeared. I'm not sure what happened. Sorry about that. Maybe I replied in a different place. Did you send me a PM? Maybe that's where I replied and explained how to post pictures, etc. If not, let me know and I'll reply a second time.
Ross, I drive through Baker all the time on my way down to Idaho to visit my family. I'd love to stop by sometime on my way through and take a few pictures of your setup for the site. Maybe we can coordinate a pour and I can film it. Not that there aren't hundreds of Youtube videos of people pouring hot metal … but still it would be a fun excuse to cast something. I'll talk to Barry about making patterns and see what he thinks. Might be a fun project.
It's funny you mention GEARS, I went there for the first time last year and it was a wonderful show. There was a guy there selling Quorn castings (probably the same guy) and I think Barry got the last piece he needed from him, but I'm not sure.
As far as the ad goes, did you have a PM from back then or did you find a scan online? I'd like to have a copy of the add to attach to the post. That woudl be fun to have.
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Post edited 12:20 PM – March 22, 2010 by Pelallito
Tyler,
This is the second time I try to respond to your last post to me. It got lost also. The black hole has apparently taken up residence here for now.:)
I had trouble posting photos from photobucket. From my computer, it worked fine, except I had problems finding some of them. They were hiding in another file-OOps.
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