Rangate vs whitehill locking miter cutter

[andrew whicker]

Hola.

They both look the same. I have a few projects coming up that will benefit from a locking miter...

But rangate is 3x the cost of whitehill and so far the whitehill seems pretty darn good quality. The documentation for whitehill is always lacking but the tooling itself seems pretty good.

[Warren Lake]

lots of stuff in life falls into the law of diminished cords pay double, get 20 percent more. Id ask both of them for their salesman stuff and see what they tell you.

[Mel Fulks]

In employments I used several brands . There are at least two sizes … there is ‘small’ and “big”. Both work.

[brent stanley]

Hola.

They both look the same. I have a few projects coming up that will benefit from a locking miter...

But rangate is 3x the cost of whitehill and so far the whitehill seems pretty darn good quality. The documentation for whitehill is always lacking but the tooling itself seems pretty good.
I've had a Whitehill and a Trend in my shop, and helped a guy set up a Rangate version a couple of years ago and in terms of performance they're really the same. The Whitehill one was easier to set new knives in with the end stop system they use but the rangate one will let you do a few more mm in thickness. The pricing on Whitehill benefits from factory direct pricing because the sales office is just down the hall from the fleet of CNC machines they're using to manufacture your tooling in the UK.

[Mel Fulks]

I’m wondering if one is carbide ,and the other one is steel.

[brent stanley]

I’m wondering if one is carbide ,and the other one is steel.

The three I mentioned above are all carbide insert.

[Kevin Jenness]

Most lock miter cutters require running one piece flat on the table and the mating piece on edge- it can be hard to keep the edge tight to the table, especially with long stock. I use a Freeborn 3 piece brazed carbide set with which both pieces are run flat on the shaper table followed by a 1/4" dado on the tablesaw, which I find works well.https://hardwarehut.com/products/294790/freeborn-single-tongue-and-groove-lock-mitre-cutter-3-cutter-set-proline-carbide-tipped-11-4-bore

[Joe Calhoon]

The Rangate cutter is larger but probably cuts about the same as Whitehill. The big difference though is the Rangate one comes with detailed drawings and flats on the cutter that make it easy to set for different thickness of stock. Using that cutter in the workshops on a manual shaper I can set it up in one shot using a Distometer or my shop made Distometer and doing a little math from the drawing. I have a old Freeborn one that has rounded and sloped cutting edges with no drawings similar to the Whitehill, it is a bear to set and requires a lot of test cuts.

The newer Freeborn setup that Kevin mentioned is a simpler setup and used by many woodworkers I know. It’s especially good for shops using conventional feeders that do not tilt easy to feed against the fence. With the newer Comatic feeders this is not a problem. And the vintage German feeders like my Festo. Way back I kept 2 feeders on my Martin with one always horizontal for feeding against the fence.
https://rangate.com/Rangate-Cutter-Drawing-R2LM1601334.pdf
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[andrew whicker]

Looking closer I can see your point. There are no flat surfaces to measure against on the whitehill. However, am I right to assume that once I get it set up for one thickness I can use some pieces from that project as a template for future setups?

[brent stanley]

Looking closer I can see your point. There are no flat surfaces to measure against on the whitehill. However, am I right to assume that once I get it set up for one thickness I can use some pieces from that project as a template for future setups?

The Trend and Whitehill ones I have had in the shop also have a point to which you can measure to set up, it's just not flat. The guy with the rangate one I helped was a machinist in his day job and had the tools and skills to use them to settup accurately and there was still some testing and adjusting to get the fit right on his Felder machine though the first test was pretty close. Saving scraps or cutoffs from your shaper settups is a good idea!

[Joe Calhoon]

Brent, if you send me the contact of your machinest friend I will send him instructions on proper setup of the Rangate cutter.
Joe

[brent stanley]

Brent, if you send me the contact of your machinest friend I will send him instructions on proper setup of the Rangate cutter.
Joe

We had them with us Joe that's how he knew the measurements to take/make he was just setting up for some very expensive materials and was fussy. The first run using the instructions was very close, we may have nailed it the second test run, I can't remember now.

[Mel Fulks]

Biggest problem with lock mitres is tear-out on hard woods. Not just small pieces ,but big ones, long pieces. Using a 3/8ths round-over climb cut on the corners first stops that, even with the small cheaper sets.

[Joe Calhoon]

Looking closer I can see your point. There are no flat surfaces to measure against on the whitehill. However, am I right to assume that once I get it set up for one thickness I can use some pieces from that project as a template for future setups?
Andrew, samples help but for cutters with no drawings and the rounded joinery forget trying to measure off the cutter. Better to use the old two board method to set these cutters up initially. This will get you close but will still require some adjusting. I’d look at the Freeborn Kevin mentioned if you don’t have a Comatic or similar feeder.