who's familiar with vintage shapers?

[Neal Clayton]

i currently run a home-brew extension on my table saw for a router table but always on the lookout for upgrades on the cheap, i stumbled across this today...

http://littlerock.craigslist.org/tls/737254497.html

however i have questions, being largely inexperienced with shapers. the only one i've used is a newer grizzly, which had a head that you bolt to the spindle inside of which you mount corrugated knives with keys and counterweights (which was a bigger pain than setting up router bits, tbh).

this doesn't seem to have such a thing, so i'm assuming that the knives would be mounted directly on to the shaft? are blades like this still commonly available or would i be limited to ebay and custom made blades?

motors and pulleys are no problem but should i be checking for other parts on such a 70 year old machine that might make it not-worth-while?

[David DeCristoforo]

It's absolutely worth a hundred bucks but only if you need a very light duty shaper. AIRC These do not have interchangeable spindles and are limited to the fixed 1/2" spindle. Late 40's to early 50's "101" series shaper.

[Thomas S Stockton]

Neal,
Cutters are available for that machine, probably 1/2" bore. In my opinion unless you can find one with a 1" shaft or larger you're better off using a router in a table, much more versatile and router bits are cheaper than shaper cutters. I've also found that a router will leave a better surface than a small lightweight shaper will.
Tom

[Joe Meazle]

Looks to me like Clint Jones is the seller. I am sure he would answer any questions you have. he is a member here.

[Peter Quinn]

You can get three wing cutters in 1/2" bore from Grizzly, and you can use reducer bushings to run some smaller 3/4" bore cutters. I don't think its going to have the UMPH to run many big profiles, but it might make at least a damn fine router table with a few mods, or a coping set up for doors as is.

I personally would not spin an insert head, either 40MM or corrugated knife on a shaper that small even if it fit on the spindle height wise, which they may not. Some of those 1/2" models only give you 1 1/2" under the nut or something like that? A 3/4" spindle 3HP shaper is about as small as you want to go with the insert knife heads.

My Dad had a slightly younger model in his shop to make small moldings for picture frames. Its got way more versatility and power than a router, though today you won't find as many 1/2" bore cutters around and might have more options with a router as far as profiles.

[Neal Clayton]

Looks to me like Clint Jones is the seller. I am sure he would answer any questions you have. he is a member here.

the more i read these forums the more i notice that everyone who i might wonder about on craigslist selling wood related tools is here already...


You can get three wing cutters in 1/2" bore from Grizzly, and you can use reducer bushings to run some smaller 3/4" bore cutters. I don't think its going to have the UMPH to run many big profiles, but it might make at least a damn fine router table with a few mods, or a coping set up for doors as is.




that was my idea. i have a planer that can run molding knives so i don't need it for that, just for doors/windows. and i also thought that if nothing else for $100 it'd easily be modified into a nice cast iron router table.

thanks for the replies, i'm gonna call him and go take a look sometime this weekend.

[Joe Meazle]

the more i read these forums the more i notice that everyone who i might wonder about on craigslist selling wood related tools is here already.


You don’t know the half of it. I was there when you made the spectacular bid on the PM 66 ;). Need a drill Press?

[Neal Clayton]

haha, i wasn't gonna let that one get away ;).

i went to that auction to come home with that table saw and nothing less.

the older guy there with me told me about it that morning and the most cash i could squeeze out of the atm on saturday with short notice was 1250 bucks, so anything less than that and it was mine. it was in basically perfect condition except for the cabinet rust, we cleaned it up and put new belts on it and it runs like new. one of the few moments in my life i can actually say "well that's the last time i'll buy one of those".

[Rick Fisher]

I used to have a small shaper with a 1/2" spindle. Eventually I upgraded to a 3hp machine with a 3/4" spindle.

The downer is that the cutters I owned for the 1/2" shaper dont fit on the new one.

I would suggest buying bits which use a bushing so if the day comes that you upgrade, your cutters are still usefull.