I've had mine for 3 or 4 months. I don't have a mill so I make pretty good use of it. Shapers were well and truly gone when I started my apprenticeship, so when I saw this one in my buddies shop I was pretty stoked and ended up trading my hydraulic hose press for it.
I just re-read the manual and it looks like this has a 18" stroke. I haven't ran it longer than 14" so far.
I just found the gib screws for the upper table cross ways. After tightening them it's a lot better ram alignment to table. Before the front of the table was sagging down around .010" so I would have to lower the table onto the table support before to get it true.
My one has power down feed option, clutch and swiveling table.
I also have a manual for the 2s and 4s scanned if anyone needs it.
The down feed on my one has quite a bit of backlash feeding manually, so you can dial a cut on and push the tool down an 1/8" if the gib screw isn't locked. This caught me out once cutting a slot I got some chatter and then bang it pulled the tool even deeper in.. It doesn't seem to be an issue with power down feed, and can leave the gib screw loose.
The finished - sans scraping- straight edge. I am used to milling machines. This would be twisted to hell. I get a kick out of how little distortion there is the shaper.
There's still a lot of frosting left on it assuming its original. I think it is though. My buddies business owned it for a long time, maybe since new I am not sure. My buddy said I've used it more than anyone else had at his shop.