Sheldon shaper

Nope, not broken. I'd pay no more than $150.

GWE

Agreed. With shapers, the bigger they are the cheaper they are on the used market.

John Martin

I third that...far over priced...even if it wasn't broken. The only other thing to consider is the vice. Figure that's worth more than half the cost of the rest of the shaper. No vice or bad vice, shaper value goes way down. Good vice and it may have value as a seperate item, even if the rest of the machine is a boat anchor.

Koz

I don't get it. What's so special about a shaper vise? How is it different from a good milling vise?

Force between the jaws is carried in tension on a shaper vise - no problem with the screw buckling.

Not all. However, they also sit low for their width, useful on a shaper. Plus there's just the scarcity factor. Everyone with a shaper needs workholding, and there's nothing as handy as a vise designed specifically for your shaper. Some small shapers don't have T slots, and so benefit from a vise which already fits their bolt hole pattern.

Pete Keillor

IRRC..that arm is cast iron. So a new one would likely need to be fabricated from scratch. Which is no easy task and getting a chunk of suitable steel big enough to machine into shape is not going to be cheap.

Gunner

"The importance of morality is that people behave themselves even if nobody's watching. There are not enough cops and laws to replace personal morality as a means to produce a civilized society. Indeed, the police and criminal justice system are the last desperate line of defense for a civilized society. Unfortunately, too many of us see police, laws and the criminal justice system as society's first line of defense." --Walter Williams