Bought a Panel Router... What it used for?

[Keith Weber]

I ended up buying a Delta Invicta shaper the other day at an online auction. Since I would be making the 90-minute road trip soon to pick it up anyway, I decided to bid on a Her-Saf 188 Panel Router as well. I'm sure that I have no use for a panel router (I don't even know what they're used for.) But, it looked a lot like a panel saw -- only with a router instead of a saw. Now a panel saw... that I could use! So I basically bought the panel router to convert into a panel saw. I'll just fabricate/mill an exchangeable plate to accept my Milwaukee circular saw and put a real nice blade on it. Should work good enough to take the headaches of crosscutting a full 4x8 sheet away. I could always mount the 3-1/2 hp PC router in my router table and keep my little Bosch out for hand use.

So, my question (before I get my hands on this panel router and rob it of its parts)... What exactly does one do with a panel router that you couldn't do with a dado blade on a table saw or a router table?

Keith

[Larry Edgerton]

I have a SSC panel router I use for dadoing case goods from time to time. There are time when you want the dado to be the same depth but the material has a bow to it that makes it hard to do on the slide saw, and this is where this comes it. The router rides on the plywood through its bow to deliver a uniform depth dado/rabbit.

Why install a saw? A 3 1/2HP PC will cut plywood. Just a thought. If you still want to go the saw route I have an old Porter Cable SpeedMatic from the days when the saw took minutes to coast down, but the switch is bad and they are no longer available. Would be perfect for that, extremely accurate and you would not need the switch anyway. Heavier than a dead cow, but no problem for that use. I'll make you a deal on that 3 1/4 hp Porter cable too.......

Larry

[Richard Wolf]

They work great for dados and rabbits for cabinets.

[J.R. Rutter]

Stopped dados, in addition to the above, are not so easy to do on a table saw.

Nice score on the shaper, too!

[Van Huskey]

Unless you plan to cut a LOT of ply I am with Larry. Just use the router to cut the plywood and have all the other benefits intact as well.

[John McClanahan]

I have one of those SpeedMatics with a bad switch, too. Sure wish I could find something that would work as a replacement switch.

[Keith Weber]

Interesting insights! I must admit, I never even thought about using the router to cut the plywood. I just thought it would go through router bits really fast hogging 1/2" through-cuts through 3/4" ply. It would definitely leave a nice clean cut, though. The new shop I'm building now is long (48') and narrow (11' 5"), and this thing is going to sit on the back narrow wall (the only place I'll have room), so it will never get used for rip cuts -- just cross cuts.

The Exaktor slider on my cabinet saw works great for crosscuts up to 30" deep, so long as the length of the sheet is not over 6 feet (then I hit the left wall of my shop due to the narrowness of the shop. Any sheet over 30" in width, or over 6 feet long becomes a PITA on the cabinet saw due to the confines of the shop. I just really need a better way than the present saw horse/circular saw combo to get the sheets down to a manageable size. The panel router might just do that job for me the way it is. I'll give it a shot and see how I like it. I'm also going to be building a set of kitchen/bathroom cabinets in about a year or so, so this thing might come in handy building the cases.

JR, I've been looking for a good deal on a used shaper for a long, long while. I've been looking at the SCMI shapers at auctions, but the ones close to me seem to go for a premium, and the good deals seem to always happen when timing/logistics make it impossible for me to bid. It was a last minute decision to go for this Delta Invicta. It sure is an ugly thing compared to the SCMI shapers, but at $1525, it was half price or less of what I would have had to pay for an SMCI. I can also pick this one up nearby, so that beats having to pay to get something palletized and shipped via freight. It comes with both the 3/4" and 1-1/4" spindles as well, which is a plus.

Sorry for the crappy auction site pics. It's all I've got.

Keith

227286227287

[Jeff Duncan]

Check with the manufacturer, they may have plates for saws available already. I used the have a Saw Trax and you could buy different plates for saws and routers. No sense in fabricating something you may be able to buy for a few bucks.

Personally I wouldn't want to use a router to do straight cuts in plywood sheets anymore than I'd use a half inch dado stack to cut sheets....just does't make any sense if you really think about it. If you can buy or make a plate for it, it will take you all of 2 minutes to switch from routing to cutting.

good luck,
JeffD

[John A langley]

Keith - That is a Her-Saf Panel Router. Phone: 805-455-1563. sales@hersaf.com www.herssaf.com
It is strictly dedicated to doing dados and rabbots. I would not try an conver it to anything other than that. You can get their manuel and their parts list from them and I think when I bought mine it was reasonable. It is a family-owned company and they are very helpful. The only two problems I see, if you are a hobbiest it takes up some space as a dedicated machine, if you are in the trade and do a lot of dadoing you will learn to love it. Second thing is, I think they are losing ground to the CNC machines. Mine I bought at auction too about 12 or 13 years ago. It's a whole lot easier to do your dado work on it than it is on a tablesaw and it is safer. PM me if you want to get into further detail. Good luck. And great shaper!!

[Van Huskey]

RE the shaper

YOU SUCK!

[Jack Vines]

I just had a mental image of the chip volume a router would throw making several cross-cuts in several sheets of 3/4" ply.

Anyway, it's not necessary to have only one or the other. IIRC, with a base for each, it would be a five-minute op to
switch back and forth between the router and a panel saw.

jack vines

[Dan Chouinard]

I have a small Safety Speed Cut C4 panel saw that was found on CL for $750 delivered. Wanted it to cut plywood down to managable size but found the 8' of clearance on either side of the blade just too much of a space hog in my shop. Before reselling I decided to find out if it could earn its keep as a panel router. Removed saw and its mounting plate and replaced it with a router mounting plate made from plywood. I already had a sheet of 3/4 mdf bolted to its small metal frame, which I installed to make ripping 8' ply less of a circus act, that a ledger could be fastened to at a comfortable working height. A couple of test cuts with 3/8" spiral bit and ledger was tweaked 90` to carriage. Toggle clamp fastened to ledger was not holding plywood flat enough for consistent depth of cut. This was overcome by fastening a small piece of prefinished ply of appropriate thickness to underside of mounting plate, pressing plywood to be dadoed flat to mdf as router passes thru. All that was left was to find a new spot in the shop for my slick dado producer and connect to dust collector.
Since it was no longer being used to rip plywood, a better location was found as now it only required 4' of clearance to each side of router. Made a final double thickness mounting plate with router of center just enough to mount a 4" dust port and bingo we have a winner.

[Neil Brooks]

It's really bizarre when somebody posts pics of their new gizmo, and -- not really even knowing what it is -- I immediately want one.

Yeah. You suck ;)

[Keith Weber]

LOL! It's a bit of a sickness, I'll admit. I can't pass up a deal. I really wanted a panel saw, but when I saw this thing, I thought that I could easily convert it into one. I looked up the Her Saf website and the new ones started at $4650 without the router motor (although, they look a little nicer than this one). With the end of the auction approaching and seeing that someone was going to get it for $200, I couldn't let it go for that (the router alone is worth more than that!)

I set my limit at $400, and started a back and forth thing with the other bidder. I got to my limit, but was outbid. By this time I wanted it more than I did 10 minutes earlier. I finally threw in $500 as my absolute limit and then walked away from the computer until the auction was over. I returned later to see if I'd won it or not. More than I wanted to pay, but if I've got everything I need to convert it. I figure that $500 is still a pretty good price for a panel saw and a 3-1/4 hp upgrade to my router table.

I think that my router table is the more excited than I am -- I think it's smiling!

Keith

[Neil Brooks]

That's a really nice RT.

You aren't sucking any less, with each successive post :)

[Keith Weber]

Thanks! It's the first thing I ever built when I got into woodworking 10 years ago. It's been a hard worker, having produced 2-1/2 miles of trim for my house, plus countless other projects. However, I am soooooo looking forward to making trim with a power feeder sucking the wood into my new shaper instead of pushing/pulling multiple passes through the router table using the arm-strong method!

Keith

[Neil Brooks]

Be careful.

Moving stock through my machines, and running for clamps during glue-up ... that's all the exercise I ever get !