Shapers Rockwell 43-340 vs. Steel City 48105

[Kirk Brown]

I am inexperienced with shapers and could use some advice--

I am about to set up shop and have been "collecting" equipment over the past few years. I now have 2 shapers and will most likely be getting rid of one of them. Which should I keep?

Rockwell 43-340:

1.5 HP Rockwell motor (I heard that the older 1.5 motors can keep up with newer 3hp motors - is this true?)
Older and faded
Not magnetic Start
Steel City 48105:

3 HP motor
Newer and shiny-er
Magnetic Start
2 speed (I think) 7,000 rpm or 10,000 rpmBoth units are used and in good working condition. I have the Rockwell fence, but not the SC fence. I will make one anyway. I don't know any other major differences.

I have an Steel City 4-wheel feeder that I will use on the shaper that I keep. (I forgot the link, but there was a brilliant idea by someone here who said that they place their jointer behind the shaper and the flip the feeder arm around to be able to work on either the shaper or the jointer.) I will do the same.

Any suggestions or advice will be helpful.

Merry Christmas!

[Nancy Laird]

I may be prejudiced, but I'd keep the SC shaper--for several reasons. You can get a fence for the SC. The magnetic start is a plus, two speeds is a plus, and that SC shaper has a 5-year warranty on it, so if something goes wrong with it, you can get it fixed for little or no $$$. What happens if the motor on the Rockwell goes belly-up???? That replacement would be out of your pocket.

The newer and shinier really doesn't enter into this equation. It really all depends on which machine you feel will give you better service and that you are most comfortable with.

Nancy (8 days)

[Greg Cole]

I'll say IF you have room and aren't in need of the $... keep both. Making a fence for one isn't a big chore.
Guess it depends on what kind of work you do, but having 2 would save mucho time in setting up cope & stick profiles or any multi set up work.... you'd have 2/3's of the benefit of the 3 headed style shaper at no out of pocket. Sounds good from my house anyway...:D
I bet I'm not the only one thinking if I already owned both, I'd keep both.

Cheers,
Greg

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi Kirk, the old 1.5 HP motors are just that, 1.5HP. They are not 3 HP although they weigh about as much.

The Rockwell shaper with 1.5 HP is a bit small for panel raising, however it would be great for jointing, edge treatments and coping profiles for cope/stick joinery.

As was suggested, if you have the room, keep both. It's a real treat to be able to keep cope and stick cutters on seperate machines for ease of use.

If you can only keep one, keep the 3 HP machine.

Although Nancy claims that SC will be great to deal with in 5 years when the warranty runs out, no one knows if they'll even be in business then.

Regards, Rod.

[Mike Heidrick]

I think I would also look at the tooling I owned and make sure I was keeping the machine that I used the most. Cutters quickly outweigh the price of the machine.