insert cutterhead for raised panels

[Jonathon bunyard]

This is my first time here have been reading the forums for awhile tough very good info hear i own a small cabinet shop where i make cabinet doors for few contractors and am looking to make the switcht insert cutters dor raised panels i have been looking at the byrd cutter head and freud rp cutterhead and was wondering pros and xons for both i will.be running it on a 3 hp shaper for.now and will be raising a 5/8 panel any ideas and comments would bw great thanks

[Larry Fox]

I have the Freud RP cutter and it works well. I like the fact that you can change the inserts to do different profiles easily. I ALSO have the Freud R/S insert cutter-head and to say it is a completely different story would be an understatement. The fit between the coped end and the profile on the R/S cutter-head is sub-par at best and takes a ton of fiddling with to get anything close to right. I have endured days and days of frustration with this thing and have yet to get it to where I get what I call satisfactory results. Every other experience I have had with Freud's products has been top-notch but they wiffed on this one in my opinion. This is not what you asked about but if you are looking to stick with the same manufacturer for both the R/S cut and the raised panel I would recommend a try before you buy deal or look elsewhere.

For reference - I have the RS2000 and RP2000

To be clear - not trying to harsh Freud here. I have and have had a decent amount of their tooling and it is good stuff, they just wiffed on the R/S cutters imho.

[Max Neu]

I have several of Byrds cutter heads, and the R/p is one of them.They are good quality,and they seem to stay sharp forever.I have never used any of freuds insert tooling, so I can't give you a comparison.

[Ken Ketcham]

I have Garniga insert cutters from Gregory Godbout at Rangate Inc. They have carbide inserts that have remained extremely sharp for several years and have produced extremely smooth surfaces. The rail and stile cutters are three stackable insert cutters that allow a variety of different profiles. The raised panel cutter has I believe 4 different profiles available.

Ken Ketcham

[Peter Quinn]

I have the Freud RP 2000, works great, easy to spin on a 3hp shaper as it's not too heavy, aluminum iIR. My experience with the RS insert door sets is simar to Larry's above . I like the insert panel raiser, they can keep the RS set up, fussy, I don't like the profiles, makes doors that don't match well and look like factory made junk.


I have also used the Schmidt 3z insert panel raiser, works well, good profiles, bit more $$$. Garniga's insert heads take be cake IMO but a fair jump up in cost for the pleasure.

[Michael W. Clark]

I have a Freeborn insert panel raiser, but unfortunately have not been able to try it out yet, so can't really comment on it. However, Freeborn generally gets favorable reviews. It came with the shaper I bought used and only has one profile with it. If you look at the catalog on-line, there are a lot of profiles available. I don't have a RS set yet, so that will be my next purchase when I get ready to do some doors. I'm just a hobbyist.

[Jeff Duncan]

I run an Innovator head for raised panels. It's nice as you can get your knives in HSS for solid stock, or carbide for mdf or other man made materials. May be a bit on the large size though for a 3 hp shaper?

good luck,
JeffD

[Jonathon bunyard]

Thanks everybody for the info srill researching different products yall gave alot if food info for me.to check into thanks again

[Rick Fisher]

Welcome to Sawmill Creek Jonathon..