New tools coming soon *LINK*

Here are your pics 

Dan Donaldson

>

The other one 

Dan Donaldson

>

Mixing Things Up

Doug Evans

>Boy... there seems to be a lot more interest in this stuff than we expected.

We took an astounding 17,000 hits on our site yesterday, only to be followed by 28,000 today.

Funny thing... we were talking about postponing the run last week.

Cheers,

Doug

Re: New tools coming soon

Lyn J. Mangiameli

>Doug sent me several photos last night that included those. These look like a lot of fun, and I think Shepherd is in a good position to offer something like this. If they can find enough to kit on these, I think they will be nice for those of us who prefer wood to metal work and should function as well as any. Personally, I'd vote for a choice of angles (I'd really like to see some at 60 degrees), but I don't know if this will come to pass.

Re: New tools coming soon

Doug Evans

>Hi Lyn:

In this case, it may not be all that difficult for us to do.

One of the advanatges of the way I set up the passes for this product is that, common tool paths are done at different depths. You may note from he tool marks on the lower half of the escapement side that I am facing off the depths. I almost didnt begin this project because of inventory limitations. The way this is set up, I can run a 3/4" behind a 1 1/4" pair. Deeper cuts but, material cost is not the issue here. This allows me to run to Order rather than run to Stock - something Robin Lee and I talked about last year (the I word). A variety of angles in this case is actually much easier to adjust for.

BTW, Ernie, that's another reason I looked at the the CNC over a moulding head and cut to length.

Right now... we have to focus on getting this into kit-buildable format.

Cheers,

Doug

Why not make...

Scott Burr Ben Lomond,CA

>skewed ones? You have the CNC so milling bodies or blades should not be a problem. Sure would work a lot better in the wood we work today.

Re: Why not make...

Doug Evans

>It is a good point, Scott. The problem, is that we are working with a 3-Axis machine right now and we would have to fixture to do this.

If you think about it, the body would have to be fixtured at an angle (a fixture set-up and operation) to cut the lower escapement. The plane would have to be held at 90 degrees to cut the skewed wedge mortise (another fixture set-up and operation). We are now at about 2 1/2 - 3 times the run time on machines that vary between $60 and $100 an hour...

In addition, the floats, etc. would become quit a bit more complicated.

I suspect that the increased machining time would drive us into a significantly different price range - ie. why not just buy finished?

Yet another aspect is how many field failures would this extra complication produce?

I am not saying we would not attempt it some day. I would like to try a five axis machine sometime for some other projects,as well. Then again, perhaps we would choose a different saw-off point as to what we provide the customer with to begin - for now though we have yet to complete our first plane.

The Best,

Doug

Wacky idea for Doug

David Miller from Iowa

>I always thought it would be cool to have a set of molding planes all made from the same board � sorta like grain matching in fine furniture. Maybe package the kits up in lots if you get a really cool board�

C'est combien? (How much?)

Patrick Gibbons, mcgdogm, TX

>

Thanks for the explanation...

Scott Burr Ben Lomond,CA

>Make total sence with only a 3 axis machine.

Re: Wacky idea for Doug

Doug Evans

>That's not so wacky David. I fully intend to put these up on the machine in long boards.

Each of the nine pairs of planes is different in thickness at the base. If I were to run them from individual planks milled to each pair's thickness, I would have to over-run the inventory. For example, if the 1" planes had an overall thickness of 1 1/2" and I could get eleven out of a plank. Orders for 13 planes, would mean I would be carrying an inventory of nine extra's times nine pairs. I would rather pocket down for each thickness down the entire plank rather than do this (Lean Manufacturing principles).

One other kind of neat option is to run left hand escapements - a southpaw's set!

Cheers,

Doug

Re: C'est combien? (How much?)

Doug Evans

>We're aiming for sub-$US60 to $US100 a pair. I am not sure how much the NC profile grinding will be for the irons and how far I am going with the NC on the wood side. Next week will tell a great deal.

We are planning to use O1 on these and may have the customer harden them... I dont know and I havent really talked to Ben about this.

One good question would be "How 'bare bones' do folks want this?" Traditional methods should take about 12 - 14 hours. How much do we take out?

Cheers,

Doug

Re: Wacky idea for Doug

Patrick Gibbons, mcgdogm, TX

>For my preferences, for what they're worth, I don't want to have to harden the blades, I am a south paw, and the less work to do the better. There is probably a point where less work to do is not incrementally more expensive but geometrically.

You're inThe Majority

Doug Evans

>We have a e-mailing list of a couple of hundred people and in addition, I have contacted a few people who have built molders from scratch.

Even the folks who have built planes have suggested that we lean towards as complete a geometry as we can get and to harden the irons.

For the ones who have built molders, I have also asked them to compare the time it took them to build and how long they expect these kits to take, along with any ideas they might have. This has yielded much - I will be running another jig on the CNC, as a result.

In a way, there may be some shops that will benefit from our methods. For example, as Sam Simpson has suggested, we may be able to produce blanks and cutters for relatively rare profiles and profiles for moulds that do not lend themselves to a rotary cutter.

We are still assimilating all of the inputs, as we go.

Cheers,

Doug

Re: New tools coming soon

Mark Nowicki

>Hello Steve.

Are you in any way involved with Shepherd Tool Company?

Regards

Mark Nowicki

Re: New tools coming soon

Doug Evans

>Yes I am... did my obtuse email address give me away?

Doug

Re: New tools coming soon

Mark Nowicki

>Hello Doug

My question was addresed to Steve Kubien. Sorry if it appears to be in a wrong place.

Regards

Mark Nowicki

Re: Why not make...

paul womack

>One of my books (I'm away from my library whilst on line) states that skewed moulding (and by extension hollow and round) planes are undesirable.

They generate a side force (obviously) that makes tracking in a stright line more difficult. This is the last thing you need when using a H or R; keeping straight is hard enough already.

If the wood you're working neccessitates a skew cut, you may have to choose between tearout and difficult handling; but skewed cutters are NOT a "case-closed" benefit, even ignoring manufacturing cost.

BugBeasr

Re: New tools coming soon

Steve Kubien

>Hi Mark,

Neither my metal-working skills or my woodworking skills are up to scratch to be involved with Shepherd. I'm just a happy customer. Besides, there would be too many "meetings" for me to keep up with!

Warmest regards,

Steve Kubien

Ajax, Ontario