Aftermarket shaper fence ?

[Larry Edgerton]

Besides Aigner are there any good shaper fences on the market that are reasonable? I had a blowout on my Minimax that bent the fence and want to replace it. Thanks, Larry

[Jeff Duncan]

Are you talking about replacing the face, or the whole fence? I can see a face bending but if you bent the whole fence....WOW:(

As far as replacement faces Aigner is the only non OEM supplier I know of. You could of course pick up replacement faces from any of the shaper manufacturers including Minimax.......assuming their mounting systems would work for your fence of course. As much as I like the idea of the Aigner fence faces they're a bit too much coin for me. I'm sticking with my hardwood faces for the time being;)

good luck,
JeffD

[David Kumm]

If you are looking for faces, there are few choices as most are shop made. Cantek machines, Stiles Artisan line, and some Laguna use a face with fingers that slide over to cover the opening. Similar to Aigner but not nearly as nice. You might try to contact the distributor of Cantek and see what they get for the faces and if the back has some adjustability for different bolt patterns. Dave

[Peter Quinn]

Felder has fence plates and hood assemblies on their shop accessories page, and they sell the Aigner version too. There is a guy that advertises in the back of wood shop news , from New Jersey maybe? He sells 3/4" machined flat anodized aluminum plates which I'm sure could be machined to accommodate any fence. I don't have a copy on me presently but I'll try to find that contact info later if it sounds interesting. I have something similar that came on my Paolini shaper. I love those solid flat 3/4" plates, they have holes for quick mounting of sacrificial wood plates, makes life real easy. I had a delta hood, they used to sell the plates separate, but the corregations in the face were a major pia for split fence setup and occasionally a problem for certain molding operations. If its a whole hood you need SCMI seems the best option, though not at all inexpensive.

[Erik Loza]

Yes, though plates are not universal, per-se, it is rare that one cannot be made to fit another hood. Ditto on the actual hoods, too. You can pretty much adapt any hood to any machine, assuming the internal volume will handle the tools you plan to use. Shoot me a PM if you want some help with this.

Best,

Erik Loza
Minimax USA

[Larry Edgerton]

I bent the hood. I have it where I can use it but I have been looking for a replacement. I need a bigger heavier shaper, but not just yet Larry

[Mike Heidrick]

I have a Delta HD shaper fence for sale if you want one. I have never had any issues listed above but I am always shaping 1/2" or more wood. Its the best fence under $400 for sure shy of maybe something you make yourself. Sold the shaper it was for with the original fence.

[Jeff Duncan]

I bent the hood. I have it where I can use it but I have been looking for a replacement. I need a bigger heavier shaper, but not just yet Larry

OUCH! That must have been an exiting moment:eek:

If yours is usable for the time being that may be the best way to go. I'm not actively looking, but I do casually check the usual places for used fences as I do have one I'd like to replace. I have not seen anything of quality go for what I'd consider a reasonable cost. Of course it comes down to what you consider reasonable? The older style small Delta fences come up fairly often for short money, but I'm not sure they'd be much better than a plywood hood? Of course there's the green bear products as well....probably your cheapest source for a replacement.....just not sure about quality?

Lastly FWIW I would recommend trying to upgrade the shaper sooner rather than later since your already thinking about it. It's one of those things that once you do it you'll ask yourself why you waited so long....trust me BTDT:o

good luck,
JeffD

[Peter Quinn]

I have a Delta HD shaper fence for sale if you want one. I have never had any issues listed above but I am always shaping 1/2" or more wood. Its the best fence under $400 for sure shy of maybe something you make yourself. Sold the shaper it was for with the original fence.

I had the same hood, its a real nice unit at its level, I sold mine with the shaper. The hood I liked, the fence plates not so much. Never failed I'd be running a panel mold with a small bead that would drop into one of those grooves in the fence. I wound up just sticking some 1/4" BB permanently with a little urethane on it. I think that hood could be used on a minimax by tapping the table, I considered it for my t-40. It's a better hood than comes with most older minimax shapers.

[Jeff Duncan]

Peter, it sounds like your talking about the upgraded hood that came on the X-series shapers with the aluminum faces. The regular Delta shapers did not come with that hood! I don't know which one Mike has, but thought it should be mentioned as one is a pretty decent hood while the other.....not so much:o

JeffD

[Larry Edgerton]

OUCH! That must have been an exiting moment:eek:


good luck,
JeffD

Did a job with recycled white oak. Blew out $380 in Tersa knives[charged to the job] in one day and bent my fence. Never again, I just don't see that as being all that "Green". There was a piece of steel in one of the planks I somehow missed. When it hit the cutter in the shaper "stuff" happened fast. I was using a powerfeed so no damage to me but the shaper did not fare so well. Spindle is fine but the cutter and hood, not so good. I was running a 1/2" aluminum fence board with high molecular plastic face and somehow that moved enough on the infeed side to catch the cutter, and that is how the hood bent. These older Minimax hoods are not all that tough anyway.

[Peter Quinn]

Jeff, I'm talking about the X-5 hood, the other older hood was pretty much junk IMO, the older fence came with my delta shaper, I bought the new hood as an upgrade. Not sure if they still sell the X-5 as an after market? But I think the one Mike has is the X-5. The new PM shaper has a "Hood assembly" price on the WMH site, I think its in the $1400 range IIR, that starts to head towards SCMI territory, I'd probably just stretch and get one of theirs at that level. Man, I'd love to get one of theirs for my t-40, but it feels silly to put a hood that good on a budget shaper. That sort of thing would not travel with the shaper though, would stay with me till grave.

Larry, that sounds like a very scary scenario. I'm with you on the recycled stuff. I just did some large brackets for myself with recycled cypress, hit an old iron flooring nail flush trimming an ogee on the ends, took out a $70 pattern bit and I nearly cried. Cant imagine your pain. There is a large recycled oak door job going through my workplace presently, I figure we will see sparks at some point. I checked all of mine with a metal detector, didn;t read in the middle of a piece of 10/4.

You have a t-50? Same aluminum hood as the t-40, or very similar. Achilles heal of the machine IMO, complete after though POS, never let the accountants design the hoods.

[Peter Quinn]

Actually it was cheaper to send from UK but that depends on the dollar conversion and I haven't checked recently. Every machine that can handle a short extension- 20"- gets the Felder F rail put on it. I can then put the 12" x 20" tables on any machine I want- as long as you put the F rails on consistently. Saw and shapers get longer but the Felder tables go on the WB, edge sander, planer,etc. Dave

David, I think this is in the wrong shaper thread!

[David Kumm]

Deleted. Thanks. Dave

[peter gagliardi]

Having used lots of different hoods on lots of different shapers, my opinion is that nothing, and I mean nothing even comes close to the ease, adjustability , and accuracy of the Aigner fence on my T26 !!!
It can't handle every situation, but pretty darn close, especially if you make the insertable wood face for certain work. The aluminum fences are dead accurate ALL the time, and the digital read outs make it so, so fast for setups.
I can't see ever owning anything else.
Downside is of course, is that aluminum won't play well with buried metal of any sort.