Corrugated shaper blades?

[alex grams]

I am looking at crown profiles, and with a 4" head, I see that for a 3 3/4" crown, the overall blade length may exceed 4". I presume these are fine to mount in the head, but I just need to make sure that the cutting length of the blade is within the supported 4" height of the head?

Is that a safe, normal practice?

Thanks in advance.

[Peter Quinn]

I've gone as far as 1/2" hanging off each end, depends on the depth of profile too. For a crown I'd say no problem. Most. crowns are not deep cuts, just wide. You can and maybe should do that multi pass, I can explain how if you want.

[alex grams]

Ahh. Is that overhang a non cutting overhang? I didn't want to get too large of a head, and figured 4" would cover my needs, but hate to think I would need to get larger.

A lot of crown cutters are 4 inches.

Multi passes are no problem. But any tricks or tips you can share would be helpful.

[David Kumm]

The hard part is supporting the vertical board both on the infeed and outfeed side after the profile is cut while feeding it consistently. Maybe someone here can post pictures of a purpose built jig to aid the process. Dave

[Mel Fulks]

Whether you are using a feather board or feeder ,or both you just concentrate the pressure on the uncut portion and use material longer than needed to allow for end snipe. Most of the crown knives are not actually ready to go, the templates are ready and they grind for each order. I mention that because paying a little more to get M2 is definitely a good idea. I would ask them about it.

[alex grams]

Feed rate won't be an issue, as I will have a power feeder to control things. My main concern was with a 4" head, If i want to use a cutter as shown below, the cutting length looks like 4 1/8", but the overall lengthy is probably 5".


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[David Kumm]

Mel, I've never found the quality of the cut to be that great without additional support in comparison to a Woodmaster or W-H molder where the back is on the bed with hold downs. It takes a good set up, a strong fence, shaper , and feeder to avoid chatter marks. Dave

[Mel Fulks]

I agree with you , But I'm hoping he has a feeder .And it has been done without one. If he takes 2 cuts,being careful to leave some flat on the first cut,( for reference and stability) I think it will work. Sometimes new guys will use too low a speed. IMO this calls for 8000. Many a piece of moulder run crown has needed some sanding.I don't know how to post photos but someone will likely post one and that will help.

[jim vancampen]

I would use the power feeder on top and a board clamped on to the table like a backside fence and speed set at 6k rpm. You will get a really clean cut and minimal sanding.

[Larry Edgerton]

The hard part is supporting the vertical board both on the infeed and outfeed side after the profile is cut while feeding it consistently. Maybe someone here can post pictures of a purpose built jig to aid the process. Dave

I have always been going to build something for this with wheels, but I still just make outfeed support with Bondo when needed. Works well with a bit of wax or TopCote on it.
Larry

[Stephen Cherry]

I would think real hard about getting started with something a little less ambitious. First of all, that cutter will be like an airplane propeller, moving a lot of air, taking cuts with no chip limiting whatsoever. This alone will take some getting used to. Also, you may want to wet your feet on a less aggressive cutter. A shaper setup like this is much more complex than what you may initially think.

If it were me, if you are considering cutting this out of approx 1 inch stock, and just doing a few, I would consider paper gluing the stock to strait 4x4 material (sandwich with wood as the bread, a sheet of paper as the meat, glue as mayonaise, or mustard, depending on color on both breads). This would also support your stock through the table saw for the back cuts. Or paper gluing or back screwing the stock to a u shaped holder, with the u's uprights going to preferably top and bottom bearings or the fence.

Without the some sort of holder board for the stock, I would absolutely have a back fence, like on page 25, fig. 14. (substituting your feeder for one featherboard)
http://vintagemachinery.org/pubs/detail.aspx?id=1060

My suggestion- get started with a roundover, or something similar.

[Peter Quinn]

I wouldn't suggest this as a first project either , but if you are set on doing it, I'll explain the method I've used successfully. You wouldn't know it didn't come off a through molder.


This requires a feeder. No maybe there, you don't hand feed stock this thin into knives that big with fingers you would like to keep. Well I guess you could , but seriously, don't. As I mentioned earlier, you can probably hang 1/2" of knife over each edge of the cutter head, doesn't matter if they are cutting wood or not. Not ideal, but it works. These are thick steel knives, should be fine. The top and bottoms of most corrugated knives are NOT cutting edges. Some grinders sort of sharpen them, some not so much. But its best IME not to try to plow through wood with these edges. Your molding blank needs to be about 1" - 1 1/4" wider than your finished crown. If the stock is precious, you can glue equal amounts of scrap to each edge to make up the difference, say 5/8" to 3/4" poplar or similar. You will rip this off later at the TS. The first picture shows a blank with the outline of a crown. Note the two kerfs. You set up your molding head, put it on your shaper, get the height roughly adjusted. You want the bottom of the knives about 3/8"-1/2" ABOVE the height of the table. I'll explain why shortly. Mark the top and bottom of the knives on the blank, run a 1/8" saw kerf at these locations so the edges of the knives are NOT cutting wood. The area above and below these kerfs are your ears. These are critical. The molding blank should be 1/16" thicker than your desired finished thickness, maybe a little less if thickness is scarce. You will be using a solid fence, NOT a split fence, and taking a FULL cut on the final pass, but you don't have a bearing surface on most crowns that is flat enough to reference a shaper fence. So these ears are your reference faces.

The second picture is a solid fence that overlays your regular fence plates. The hole in the fence must accommodate your head plus crown knives, the straight sections above and below that hole are where your ears on the molding blank will ride. So make this fence carefully from plywood or some solid scrap. MDF might work though it tends to be weak at the thin points. Attach it securely to the fence with screws and or double stick tape, just make sure it wont move. I know you may shed a tear to drill holes for screws through your new shaper fences, but I'm way over that, I hope you will be too! If that fence gets loose and those knives catch it....ugly. DAMHIK. So I like screws, use your judgement. maybe clamps could work if you have the room, or you can take off the stock plates all together and go from there. So you have a solid fence, a molding blank with kerfs and ears. Now you need back support.

Picture 3 shows the type of thing I use. Two pieces of MDF top and bottom, slight radius sanded in on the infeed and out feed edges, one flush trimmed to the other, enough braces in the middle to make it rigid, screwed and glued. The two front edges need to be well waxed, and very parallel to each other. Make this carefully, it has lots of uses. You could fashion something like Steven linked with feather boards, but use two tiers to support both top and bottom of a 5" plus blank. Size the backer to be just a bit shorter than your blanks.

To set it up. cut two short pieces off the ends of a blank, or mill some test pieces the same thickness. Adjust your fence so they take a light first pass, meaning they don't engage the blank at full depth, maybe take 1/3 of the total depth per pass. Be conservative until you get a feel for this set up and verify all is good with your set up. Put one of these test pieces on each fence plate, push the backer up snug, clamp the backer securely to the table top. Remember to make the backer long enough so you can clamp it securely to the table top! I haven't given dimensions because you will have to taylor this to your machine. Set the feeder above the blank canted toward the fence, set the wheels about 1/4" lower than the stock height. The feeders job is to push down and move the stock forward, the backers job is to resist the cutters outward force, so it must be as snug as possible but still allow the feeder to move the stock smoothly. After each pass shut the machine off, adjust the fence a bit deeper, adjust the backer snug to the new fence setting, run it again. On the last pass I like to take about 1/16" as only the ears are touching the fence at that point. You can either cut the back cuts on a TS, one sanding up, one laying down, or buy knives made for that purpose. Make sense?

[Stephen Cherry]

This requires a feeder. No maybe there, you don't hand feed stock this thin into knives that big with fingers you would like to keep. Well I guess you could , but seriously, don't. As I mentioned earlier, you can probably hang 1/2" of knife over each edge of the cutter head, doesn't matter if they are cutting wood or not. Not ideal, but it works. These are thick steel knive ...

Nice setup!

If I were building these jigs- for the first one I would consider an aluminum strip for the bottom strip of the jig. That way the jig could potentially be recycled for raised panels. A nice home depot aluminum 48 inch ruler works well for this. I think they are about 1/8 inch thick and 8 dollars. These can be ripped right down the middle to provide two strips of aluminum.

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[Jeff Duncan]

I think your question was pretty well answered....a little knife overhang isn't going to bother anything. I admit to leaving a lot more than that on occasion....though I'd never recommend it to anyone!

I also like Peter's setup, though a little too involved for my liking:) I'd set up similarly but I swing my feeder down to feed against the fence instead of using a backer. This way the feeder is supporting the back and pushing downwards at the same time making your setup much easier. Either way will work though so just pick the one you feel better suits you;) As far as number of passes that depends on several factors which haven't been covered here. In general I go with an extra pass when in doubt!

good luck,
JeffD

[Mel Fulks]

Excellent comments and graphics. When I said they could be fed by hand ,certainly did not mean without vertical and horizontal feather boards or equivalent . Got to be careful.

[Peter Quinn]

I think your question was pretty well answered....a little knife overhang isn't going to bother anything. I admit to leaving a lot more than that on occasion....though I'd never recommend it to anyone!

I also like Peter's setup, though a little too involved for my liking:) I'd set up similarly but I swing my feeder down to feed against the fence instead of using a backer. This way the feeder is supporting the back and pushing downwards at the same time making your setup much easier. Either way will work though so just pick the one you feel better suits you;) As far as number of passes that depends on several factors which haven't been covered here. In general I go with an extra pass when in doubt!

good luck,
JeffD

Its a little too involved for me too! I've used the feeder in the 2 3/8" vertical position, pushing against the fence, and I agree it does work, but my experience has been not quite as well. The wheels don't fully support a 5" blank, and the cant in the feeder down toward the table doesn't exert the same down pressure as the shaper above the work. If the work is stain grade and sanding difficult, like maybe walnut or cherry, I've found this strategy gets me the cleanest if not quickest cuts. But the op should know and try both methods at some point to see which meets his needs best. The method I arrived at was taken from a technique for multi pass on an old Hussey for casings where one side was significantly thinner than the other, like a 4" colonial casing with a 3/8" bead to the jamb side and a 3/4" flat on the wall side. The second pass through a Hussey and the low side starts flapping around, cut quality diminishes. Leave ears, problem solved. So maybe the vertical feed with ears may be a good hybrid?

I love Stevens upgrade idea too, may just do that for my shaper at home!

[Larry Edgerton]

Some good pionters there Peter. I don't know why I never thought of the kerfs, but I will be useing that.

I do mine a bit different. I only have two crown cutters and have made reverse profile oufeed fences for each out of plywood and Bondo. That way the entire profile is supported on the outfeed side. I have converted my shaper fence to be adjustable on both sides and use the infeed fence to advance the cut to the final pass leaving the outfeed set to the cutter. I use a backer board double face taped to the piece being shaped and feed with a feeder.

I will echo everyones concern of using this setup until you know what a shaper is going to do before it does it. There is a lot of knife sticking out and when things go wrong with this type of head it goes bad in a big way.

Larry

[Peter Quinn]

I do mine a bit different. I only have two crown cutters and have made reverse profile oufeed fences for each out of plywood and Bondo. That way the entire profile is supported on the outfeed side. Larry

Larry, thats another excellent Idea I've never though of. The mechanic at work that operates the molder has UHMW negatives for most of the more popular crowns, they fit on a hold down shoe just past the main profiling top head, but for limited runs we do on a shaper, they don't fit really, making a bondo negative would be simple with some shrink wrap or wax paper. This post is raising some great food for thought. I'm loving that idea.

[Stephen Cherry]

One issue that may not have been addressed is setting the knives in the head. In the absence of any high dollar measuring jigs, I've used a wixey digital height gauge. Set the first knife in the head, mount on the spindle, and measure up to a feature on the knife. Then set the second knife to this height, check, recheck, measuring from the same spot on the table as the knives rotate by (by hand). This sometimes can take me a while, particularly if there are steps that come after. I don't think that I could run a shaper without something comparable to the wixey digital height gauge. I think I'd like a distometer for Christmas, but I was bad this year.

Plus this would be a great time to check verticality of the spindle, as well as runout.

[Joe Calhoon]

Lot of good ideas here, I will add another.

Shaping pieces on edge like this is all about support. If you find yourself turning the feeder on edge a lot it is probably time to think about a moulder.


We still do a lot of short run work on edge and I know from our shaper classes a lot of hobbyists want to run crown moulding on their shapers. For years we did the feeder turned against the fence ripping oversize and adding support platforms to the outfeed fence. This works sort of - lot of sniping, chatter and the thickness of material can vary doing it this way.


The pictures show using a Aigner outboard fence with a wooden tall fence added, the feeder canted toward the outboard fence and using Aigner pressure jaws. These are some high dollar accessories but work well and set up quickly if you are in the business. For home shops an outboard fence is an easy shop made accessory. The spring supports might be harder to shop make. This makes for an almost moulder quality cut with no sniping and consistent thickness. The stock can also be right to size and done in one pass with most profiles. You have to be careful setting this up, the spring pressure has to be right. When the cutter first meets the work piece if the spring pressure is not enough the workpiece can be sucked into the cutter. On setup we advance the outboard fence in a couple, three shots till it is right.


I will echo the others, if you have not much experience on a shaper approach with extreme caution. And make sure the shaper is heavy enough.


Another method for doing this if you have a spindle that tilts 45 degrees to the table you can have the profile ground at a 45 degree angle to the head and run the material flat on the table. This is another story and sometimes takes 2 feeders.


Joe

Sorry for the 2 upside down pictures. I have a hard time with photos on this site. Maybe the moderator could delete them.

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[Mel Fulks]

Moulders are a big investment and I think only high volume justifies buying one. Every shop owner knows when he needs a moulder. Unfortunately many buy them because they think if they had the moulder they could get the sales.Most can not. This town has too many moulders and we have a large lumber dealer who will run mouldings (at times) as cheaply as you can buy the rough lumber to run them. When the machines were square head and we needed a few pieces of crown a skilled operator would set up the moulder with wood " cards " and do a beautiful job. Now I see as much as 200 or 300 feet of crown run on corg head machines WITHOUT SIDE KNIVES .Then it goes to the saw for someone else to finish it. Or to the shaper! Fact is many of today's operators don't understand the knife indexing systems. Most think the company needs a computerized machine. And so it goes. Good slick crown can be run on the shaper with shop made fences,and even in shops with moulders ,it often is.

[Mel Fulks]

The method you are using is good .But since you mention that it is slow.....I point out that most corg knives are 'right hand grind' so I just set up the head OFF machine ,grind end down ,with wood blocks etc. This is a good place to mention that true high speed steel is so uniform that even when you reference off the 'non grind end ' it seldom makes much difference .Not so with the cheap stuff where it's not unusual for one knife to be 1/8 inch shorter over 6 inches than the other for them to balance .In that case referencing off the 'wrong ' end would give you a misalignment.

[Larry Edgerton]

Moulders are too close to factory work. Never want to go there. I sub that out.

The only time I make crown is when I have a small amount of material for a piece I am making and want it from the same tree, or unusual accents out of exotics.

On site, yah, I buy it.

Larry

[Larry Copas]

This is a very interesting discussion. It brings up a question in my mind. Is there any advantage to running crown on a shaper versus a W&H?

[David Kumm]

I run molding on a Woodmaster. I had a planer cutter head cut to accept corrugated back shaper cutters and the mass of the head gives a good finish. I think a used W-H would be the way to go if you had to do several profiles. Making molding is time consuming enough without making jigs for a shaper. Making your own gives you some flexibility but it isn't an efficient way to make money. Dave

[Joe Calhoon]

I think a W&H would be a little better than the shaper especially if doing flat curve work. My setup for the shaper is less than 5 minutes not counting installing the knives in the corrugated head. If you use axial constant that is pretty quick also.

Our moulder is more of an S4S machine than a moulder. The knives for moulding are insert and have to come from Europe. We only buy knives that are used a lot in our products. Custom crowns we sub out the large quantities and do the odd stuff on the shaper. Most of our millwork packages locally are simple profiles with backout and we run that inhouse.

We are only a 2 man shop and the moulder S4S was our best machine investment. If you do much work in solid wood it is easy to justify a S4S. You need good dust collection to go with it though.

Joe

[David Kumm]

Joe, that shaper set up is where the Wegoma like feeders you like really shine. I saw them at Atlanta, all made by Comatic but different fit and finish depending on the brand. Dave

[Mel Fulks]

I have not worked in a commercial shop that had a WH and asking the boss to buy stuff often makes a bad impression. On shaper fences and such, a tall shop made fence can last for years if made with a large opening and faced with sacrificial dedicated savable faces ( SDSF).

[Jeff Duncan]

Stephen....best bet for setting knives is an inexpensive dial indicator on a magnetic base. I know some guys will just set them by bottoming the knife out in the head. I've done this and checked and it's not always accurate. Using the dial indicator allows you to really get the knives just right, which will give you the cleanest cut.

I pretty much agree that if your doing a lot of work against the fence you want to consider a molder. Sometimes you can think your way out of it though. For the job I'm working on now I ordered my material to size at 5-1/2" wide. I ran the smaller base cap, about 1-3/8" tall, first from the 5-1/2" stock. Leaving the stock full width gave plenty of support going through the shaper. Then I ripped the profile off and ripped the blank to size for the 3-3/4" casing. I ran the casing against the fence, the bottom had a flat which remained uncut, and for the top I made a spacer that attached to the outfeed fence with a little spray adhesive to support the profiled piece coming out. The only extra work I did was probably not necessary, but I ran the cap back through the shaper after ripping it free. I sent it through a carbide insert head to leave it with a very clean edge just slightly back angled for a tight fit.

All that said I'm still thinking about picking up a small molder at some point. It's just such a small part of my output it's hard to justify the expense!

good luck,
JeffD

[Stephen Cherry]

Stephen....best bet for setting knives is an inexpensive dial indicator on a magnetic base. I know some guys will just set them by bottoming the knife out in the head. I've done this and checked and it's not always accurate. Using the dial indicator allows you to really get the knives just right, which will give you the cleanest cut.



good luck,
JeffD

The wixey gauge is a digital version of that, on a nice stand pretty cheap. I agree- setting flat to a flat surface is not as accurate. I have some profiles that I run one after the other- "filled" or "stopped" flutes, one profile cuts beads into a surface, the other cuts the bottom out for a flute on part of the stock- anyway without a height gauge this would be impossible. Also lots of other things. THis can be used to check spindle alignment with the table- (strait edge between spindle spacers, and measure height, as in the freeborn catalog.

Also, thanks everyone for posting to these shaper threads- there really is not tons of information out there, but if you search some of the past discussions, there is a great amount of information.
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31R%2BJp4jxtL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

[Mel Fulks]

When referencing off the end doesnt work the knives were ground referencing off the other end or the guy who made them is sloppy. For those who have not seen the process , the blanks are ground square on the ends and then installed in the head flush with the end of the head before profile grinding .How can it not work if done by the procedure taught in the moulding schools?

[Joe Calhoon]

Joe, that shaper set up is where the Wegoma like feeders you like really shine. I saw them at Atlanta, all made by Comatic but different fit and finish depending on the brand. Dave

Dave those are great feeders. If you need to go against the fence they are quick.
My system for running vertical on the shaper came about after we got the Martin with the automatic feed arm. The arm is great but makes it difficult to turn the feed against the fence because it mounts on the right side. With the Wegoma on the power arm it would not be an issue.

Joe

[Larry Edgerton]

Stephen....best bet for setting knives is an inexpensive dial indicator on a magnetic base. I know some guys will just set them by bottoming the knife out in the head. I've done this and checked and it's not always accurate. Using the dial indicator allows you to really get the knives just right, which will give you the cleanest cut.


JeffD

Jeff , I set mine up once on the flat and check them with a height gage to a specific point on the profile. I then set them with feeler gauges and write on the back of the knife what needs to be under it so I only have to do it once for that sharpening.

Actually I have been having Dave at Oella Saw and Tool make/sharpen mine and He is very accurate. Most need nothing.

Larry

[Mel Fulks]

Exactly, but keep in mind they are referenced ON ONE END if you see any deviance ,you are referencing off the wrong end or knives were made wrong. If the knives you are buying (especially the longer pairs) are close to being exactly the same length he is using good steel .Most likely your knives are right hand grind,but ask your supplier to be sure.

[Peter Quinn]

This is a very interesting discussion. It brings up a question in my mind. Is there any advantage to running crown on a shaper versus a W&H?

Depends on the shaper , the Hussey, and the crown. A big shaper with a rigid spindle and good set up can probably make a better molding than an older hussey with a single high feed rate and no multi pass ability. The Hussey has the advantage of holding the back of the crown flat to the table as a reference and having a feed wheel just before and after the cutters arc. If you could recreate that on a 7HP shaper, that would be ideal. On a deep or wide molding the 2HP motor of the hussey style molders really struggles, but the whole assembly is not really rigid enough IMO for a much larger motor. If teh shop has a smaller shaper than the Hussey might have the advantage due to its drive train. I find my shop fox molder with one hogging pass and one finish pass at slow speed rate works as well as a larger molder but much slower, the shaper works pretty well too. It might come down to using your best option if its just an occasional thing.

[Peter Quinn]

Nice setup!

If I were building these jigs- for the first one I would consider an aluminum strip for the bottom strip of the jig. That way the jig could potentially be recycled for raised panels. A nice home depot aluminum 48 inch ruler works well for this. I think they are about 1/8 inch thick and 8 dollars. These can be ripped right down the middle to provide two strips of aluminum.

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After looking at this picture again, I think it may actually be art! A cool shaper fence, a Stella, a piece of what looks like jatoba, and a plum....most interesting combination of items Stephen!

[Stephen Cherry]

After looking at this picture again, I think it may actually be art! A cool shaper fence, a Stella, a piece of what looks like jatoba, and a plum....most interesting combination of items Stephen!

Thanks-- Of course the fence is a ripoff of one that JR posted.

[Peter Quinn]

Lot of good ideas here, I will add another.

Joe, that is an awesome set up. Solves all the inherent problems with crowns on a shaper. Except one. That small pile of Aigner accessories costs more than both my shapers combined! LOL, I can buy a lot of baltic birch for that. I've been staring at those pics trying to envision a shop made solution that gets similar functionality for around $3K cheaper. Not there yet. I love the idea of a back fence fully supporting the stock and pressure plates pushing against that. Uses the shapers natural force to hold stock to the back fence. How do the pressure plates work for asymmetrical moldings like casings? I wonder if spring loaded fence plates could serve the same function. How much pressure are those pressure plates able to exert? Or more to the point how much is necessary for successful results I'm wondering.

[Joe Calhoon]

Hi Peter,
The Aigner gear is pricy, most of ours was bought when times were good and section 179 was taken advantage of. Its a different ballgame now...


The outboard fence is easy. we still use a couple shop shop made ones. The pressure jaws I don’t think were that expensive. All my stuff is 10 years old and I am always shocked by the current prices though. We also use those jaws on another non Aigner fence by just tapping some threads into that fence. Another shop owner I network with makes custom springs for his by bending plastic with a heat gun so it might not be that hard to make your own.


The plastic springs can exert a lot of pressure. In the setup I show with the feeder on top if you get too much pressure it will stop the feed. Way back we used a spring setup from Weaver that put pressure on the outboard fence. This was on a dedicated shaper and the fence has to be removed. I always thought a custom made fence plate with built in spring loaded wheels would work good for this.


For odd shaped pieces I use a carriage bolt to put pressure where needed but most of the time the jaws work fine as is. I need to order some replacement springs, ours are half size after getting shattered by a loose knot.


Joe
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[Mel Fulks]

Just for fun...I have heard good things about the WH machines,just never had a chance to use one. But I did once work for a guy who had a box full of pieces that he claimed was a machine COMPETITOR .It cut with ONE knife ,I referred to it as the "vegematic " and absolutely refused to even dump out the pieces ,much less try to use it.Fellow employees who dared to try Pandora' s Boxed Vegematic earned only his scorn, while I got a laugh every time I refused.

[David Kumm]

Mel, the home shop molders talk about single knife cutting but in my experience with the Woodmaster it would not be the way to go. The WH system is pretty good and my full width planer head with two corrugated back knives works quite well but a full production molder with lots of rollers and hold downs is way better assuming they slow the machine down to generate quality rather than volume. Mine sits in the corner except for about once a year but for about $1000 it is a pretty good compromise. Dave

[Mel Fulks]

We had a couple of pretty good shapers but since he had bought that box of stuff and some custom knives for it ,every once in a while he would try to get me to use it. I did tell him once that if he would go buy some vegetables I would make a salad with it. I always try to be flexible.

[Peter Quinn]

Mel, the home shop molders talk about single knife cutting but in my experience with the Woodmaster it would not be the way to go. The WH system is pretty good and my full width planer head with two corrugated back knives works quite well but a full production molder with lots of rollers and hold downs is way better assuming they slow the machine down to generate quality rather than volume. Mine sits in the corner except for about once a year but for about $1000 it is a pretty good compromise. Dave

My shop fox has a lot of, shall we say, "extended periods of inactivity". I have more plans for it than uses presently. But for the $350 I paid for it, it can do a lot of sitting and still be worth what it cost me. I know guys missing fingers from curved work on shapers, I know of nobody that has lost a finger to a Hussey, and that is what most guys seem to get them for around here. For straights I'm told the woodmaster is a much more capable option.

[Glenn Ancona]

Not to hijack here but the Wegoma is just amazing - got a three wheeler last week. The Steff is nice but flipping from horizontal to vertical work with the flip of the knob, worth every penny. Suprisingly it was not much more than the Steff 2048. Its a 3 wheel vs the steff 4 wheel but weg appears to weight more than the Steff. *** they are however three phase ***
Tall vertical work especial on a shaper can be unsettling ... check your set up and check again all is tight, aligned and balanced as Stephen notes.
Crowns for us is usually runs less than a couple 100 ft. of custom runs or I would look into a molder but the shaper is just so versitile.
Wondering here what head everyone is using and how smooth they are and were are they getting their knives from if they are not grinding them themselves ? Be safe.

Glenn

[Mel Fulks]

For running stuff vertical I much prefer to to make my own fence; something carefully done and made to last. Obviously that means I have to make it on my time and not let someone lazy alter it.I make them longer than needed so that I can place them on the shaper diagonally with clamps .That means that the ceiling is my height limit ,not the feeder arm height. I have ground knives and ordered them depending on shop and circumstances. When ordering I make and fax a detailed drawing especially if knives will be only in the shaper. Its like making a deal with the devil ,meaning if you forget a detail you're in trouble. I have gotten knives that clearly needed side clearance and didn't have it. I don't get bids,prefer to use one vendor ...until they screw up. Spec out what degree head you will be using ....yes it can make a difference. Don't accept anything but m2 or another true high speed steel. One vender I liked said he wouldn't make a knife I needed for a large bar rail circular in plan . " Too dangerous ". Had to find another vender . I'm sure there are good additions and caveats to come.

[Jeff Duncan]

Glenn, I use CG Schmidt heads as they seem to be the standard these days. I'm sure there must be others still making them, just haven't come across any? I'll bet most guys that are doing any significant work have multiple heads to choose from....not a single does everything head. I'm still fairly new to shaper tooling, bought my first shaper about 6 years or so ago, and at this point I have a couple 2" heads, a 4" and a 5" head, and also 2 Euro heads. The Euro heads are really very nice for having a set of profiles at hand that are very reasonably priced to get into. The corrugated heads have more flexibility though in the long run.

good luck,
JeffD