Todd Burch
06-22-2003, 7:36 PM
I have an old shaper (Rockwell/Delta, reversible model), but have not used it much. It has a slight "howl" to it when it runs that sounds like it could use some bearings in the spindle. A fellow woodworker came over and listened to it and we ran some stock through it successfully, so it cuts OK, it's just a little noisey. It has a 1/2" spindle, and is pretty old technology. With it came a lot of cutters of misc. profiles, all rather small.
I've only really used a shaper once. A few years ago, I make some jigs and produced about 10 adirondack chairs worth of parts with another friends nice 5hp Felder with power feeder and sliding table and indexed carbide cutter. Very smooth, very good cuts, a pleasure to use.
So, my questions.
What's a shaper's place in a custom shop? For raised panels, I have a nice router table with a few different profiles with a Hitachi M12V router. For rail and stile bits, same situation - 1/2" shank bit-sets that do a pretty good job.
Is a shaper the better tool for raised panels and/or rails and stiles?
Where else might a one-man shop find uses for a shaper?
If planning for a shaper acquisition, what features would one put in the must-have category? Reversible? Tilting? Sliding table? Minimum HP? Power feeder? Other?
I've read reference (woodweb) to using a shaper to edge-joint boards efficiently. How is this done? Is it better than a jointer?
Thanks, Todd.
I've only really used a shaper once. A few years ago, I make some jigs and produced about 10 adirondack chairs worth of parts with another friends nice 5hp Felder with power feeder and sliding table and indexed carbide cutter. Very smooth, very good cuts, a pleasure to use.
So, my questions.
What's a shaper's place in a custom shop? For raised panels, I have a nice router table with a few different profiles with a Hitachi M12V router. For rail and stile bits, same situation - 1/2" shank bit-sets that do a pretty good job.
Is a shaper the better tool for raised panels and/or rails and stiles?
Where else might a one-man shop find uses for a shaper?
If planning for a shaper acquisition, what features would one put in the must-have category? Reversible? Tilting? Sliding table? Minimum HP? Power feeder? Other?
I've read reference (woodweb) to using a shaper to edge-joint boards efficiently. How is this done? Is it better than a jointer?
Thanks, Todd.