Hello all,

My shop handles antique toy & model restorations. Our equipment has mostly been metal working machinery which I have used to mill out wooden replicas of various parts for jobs that come in when the need arrises for wooden parts.

Some examples of what I'm needing my Kity shaper, and a router table & router for...

- replication of antique 1/12th scale doll house mouldings (I can cut & grind my own 1/4" shank miniature bits)
- 1/4 and 1/2 scale wooden steering wheels for vintage race car models (with metal centres)
- automaton cabinet construction and trim replication (jewelry box size cutters if that helps)
- general patternmaking for my foundry

In the past, I have set up my Emco FB-2 milling machine or my CNC mill to do the miniature crown molding. I have turned wood down on the 1/2 scale steering wheels with my Emco Super 11 lathe, which I feel would be easier (and safer) to do on a jig, mounted to a router table.

Last year, I purchased a Kity K5 system (got it for a song) and my intentions were to modify the shaper with a longer bed with bearing slide and a micro adjust fence and digital readouts. The shaper came with a really nice moulding head which I can custom grind my own blades when the need arrises for particular jobs (replicating moulding that isn't available anymore, but the customer's job has a few original pieces to make a pattern from).

The Kity is a spindle shaper so it is not able to accept a 1/4" or 8mm collet, so I'm wondering if I should make a new spindle for it so it can accept both types of cutters, or if I should buy a Festool or Porter Cable router and router table (with sliding table and micro adjusts, DRO, etc.) ?

In relation to the spindle, the material thicknesses that I commonly work with are 3/32" to 4" so proper application of power is important. The tiny dollhouse cutters on the 1/4" shanks are happy at 20,000+ rpm so the Kity's spindle is probably out of the question for making an adapter, as I have no idea what maximum RPM those bearings are rated for.

For $1350, I can get the "JessEm Mast-R-Lift Excel II Premium Router Table Kit" on eBay which may be a good start. I love the Festool 1400EQ but do not like their router table as I feel it would not work for my particular needs. I wouldn't have a problem making a custom base mount for the Festool to be used in another company's router table. I may just make my own table for that matter.

Does anyone have any thoughts?

I appreciate your time, thank you again,

Jason