Shaper cutter question

[rudy de haas]

I bought the cutter set shown in the photo at a garage sale yesterday - actually very sad: the guy they belonged to had a stroke and now his wife is selling off his tools. I did get a chance to speak to him and he seemed ok, but beyond saying thanks for the nice set of pipe clamps I got, there wasn't much to say and certainly nothing I could do for him.

Since I don't think he owned a shaper this may have been part of a kit he used on his radial arm saw - the one at the sale had the ability to use this type of moulding tool.

The set contains eight triplets of steel blades with no obvious wear, some in patterns I know I can use. It's a 3/4" bore and obviously solid steel. However.. the dark scrubbed area in the picture is the result of my attempts to clean it so I could read the max RPM statement. Turned out to be just printed on (assuming it was there to begin with, the only readable marks seemed to say "00"), and the ink came off with the dirt etc. My guess is that this was rated to 5,200 RPM but the thing was unreadable and so my first question is: anyone know what this is rated for? and, second: if it is 5,200 and I spin it at my lowest speed (7,000) what's going to happen?

[M Toupin]

It's actually a Craftsman molding head designed for a table saw or radial arm saw which generally turn at about 4,000rpm. Personally I would not even consider running it on a shaper as most turn at 7,000-10,000rpm. Here's the manual.

http://vintagemachinery.org/pubs/222/2260.pdf

MIke
(http://vintagemachinery.org/pubs/222/2260.pdf)

[Al Launier]

Be mindful of the bore size. Most TS that I'm aware of have a 5/8" bore size, not 3/4".

[Larry Copas]

Those came in two different sizes, small and large. Yours looks like the large size. It came with 3/4" bore along with a 5/8" bushing. Made to use on a table saw or RAS. Its way too big/heavy to run on a shaper with typical 3/4" spindle and 7,000 rpm low speed. If tried it might bend the spindle at the very least. Flying steel at that speed is also something to avoid.

The small one came with 3/4" bore, 5/8", and 1/2" bushing. There were also made in a version that only uses one knife.

[Warren Lake]

Ill have to check I have several remember 5,200 RPM as max.

I had one bored to 1 1/4" for the shaper. It cuts fine usually run it at 4,400. its not great quality so there are or can be inconsistencies but it does work and if the knives are honed can cut fairly clean. Last profile I did worked okay, I had corrugated made up for the same thing and it cuts cleaner and more consistent there is more of a chance with those that all three knives do not line up on the same plane. Corrugated you can slide up and down in the head.

[rudy de haas]

Thanks everyone!

I guess this will go in my garage sale..

[Chris Payne]

I have a set of them also if you would like to own 2 sets I bought me the magic molder it was carbide and did a lot nicer job.

[Peter Quinn]

Definitely don't spin that on your 3/4" bore shaper....I probably wouldn't spin it on any shaper. I was given two of those by a friends dad who was retiring. They pretty much look like junk to me, I got rid of them quick. It doesn't have that precision instrument feel. Pretty sure they had a max RPM's around 5K? If you want an inexpensive system that works well on a shaper look at the amana profile pro set or similar euro block system, lots of people selling versions of that same universal cutter block system. They are rated for the appropriate speeds for a shaper, very well balanced, great cuts and easy to use. You see lots of those craftsman cutter systems barely used around....having briefly owned one i don't wonder why.