Molder help, please?

[John Hollaway]

For some time I have been considering the purchase of a molder. I'm somewhat familiar with the Woodmaster, and I've studied a bit on the W&H and its clones. Jet also makes a molder that would fit my need. Now I would like to hear comments from fellow creekers who own and/or use this class of machine - likes, dislikes and such. Thanks.

John Hollaway

[David Kumm]

John, I use a woodmaster but the system -I think- is unique to me. We modified the planer head to accept 60 degree corregated back knives similar to what a shaper uses. Any machine you get should have an easy way to index the knives, not only side to side but up and down. W and H are really the standard. When I bought my woodmaster variable speed was not available on WH but it is now. I think variable speed is important. Moulders don't make great planers due to the clearance necessary from the head to the rollers and lack of chipbreaker so I would not do a dual purpose unless you only have room for one machine. Two knife systems are much better than one. I make my own molding for the flexibility but it is time consuming and not particularly efficient. Running through the molder is the easy part. Making all the stock the same width and thickness, and paying attention to which side to mold and which side to back cut make you appreciate why molding sells for a premium. One benefit of a woodmaster type is the ability to mount the cutters and back cutters at the same time but it is more important that the mounting system be really rigid and chatter free. Dave

[Greg Portland]

I make my own molding for the flexibility but it is time consuming and not particularly efficient. Running through the molder is the easy part. Making all the stock the same width and thickness, and paying attention to which side to mold and which side to back cut make you appreciate why molding sells for a premium.+1. I used my Woodmaster to make a bunch of walnut moulding and it was not trivial to dial in the setup. IMO a shaper + inset tooling + power feeder is going to be the best option. The larger head gives results in a better cutting angle and smoother result.

[Peter Quinn]

I have a shop fox mini molder and it produces a reasonable product for the money. It is not a 5 head thru molder, it is not a professional curved molding machine, you will wind up sanding some. But it gives pretty good flexibility and results you can use for short money. IMO variable feed speed is essential. Running a W&H style molder at the stock speed of around 18LF/min is verging on crazy. At that speed it is all chatter and snipe, just too much for the motor with anything much past a panel mold. Slow it down to 6LF/min and it does a reasonable job on 4-5" casings and similar, for deep crowns you will need to remove material using a TS and dado first.

Compare these results to a thru molder running at 45LF/min, and you have a hard time competing. It makes sense to run your own moldings in some cases, like:

1) You have to color/grain match a species no readily available from a local millwork shop, or use some really special stock you have.

2) You need a short run of a custom profile, such as for restoration work, you can't substitute a similar profile for authenticity sake, and the run is too small to justify the knife charge and setup costs of a big molder at a millwork shop.

3) You just really like making moldings, to hell with economics, you enjoy it!

For larger runs, most stock moldings, regular species, it often makes more sense to just buy them then make them with a small machine. Most millwork shops have hundreds to thousands of profiles available, and if you can pick something they run regularly, you may skip a set up charge even for a custom species. I guess you have to evaluate your needs and intentions to pick the right machine or option.

If you go with a w&H or shop fox most knife grinding shops have "combo knife stock" which is corrugated back stock with w&H knife hole patterns also, so you can run the same profile on either the mini molder or a shaper with an insert head. You could run straight runs of narrow moldings easier on a shaper but use these same knives to do curves or elliptical work easier and safer on the molder. This can be a very flexible option depending on hat you are making.

I haven't used the woodmaster, but a guy I work with that has used both wood master and W&H molders likes the wood master heads and tails better for straight work, but the W&H better for curves and elliptical stuff. Personally I have always wanted a logosol molder!

[David Kumm]

The woodmaster people are pretty good to work with and used to run truckload sales in regional areas that cut way down on shipping. I don't know what system they use now so talk to them. Besides variable speed, the key is a really solid balanced head with good rollers. The molding can't compete with a 5 head big time molder- if they ran them a little slower but it will compete very favorably to what you actually can buy. Just time consuming. I have a big felder shaper and a four wheel powerfeeder and that is not and easy proposition either. Running 3.5 inch casing vertically is tough because you have to build a jig to support the piece after it is molded on the outfeed end or chatter gets you. Running horizontally means a 10"+ head which is pretty scary and takes a BIG shaper. With all the negatives I still find myself doing my own thing for myself. Not economically feasible on a bigger scale than restoration or using special wood you don't want screwed up. Dave

[John Hollaway]

Dave, Greg and Pete, thanks very much for your help. That's exactly what I was looking for.

John