Router/Shaper Setups?

[Steve Mathews]

I'm in the process of rethinking my router/shaper setup after some disappointments in using my Jet JWS-22CS Shaper. I was doing some routing on small box builds where it was difficult controlling the bit height. The fence on it also does not move back far enough to change out the bits. Other than those 2 complaints the Jet seems to work fine. I also have a large industrial 1 1/4" shaper that rarely gets used but is nice when the job warrants. I was thinking of limiting the Jet to 3/4" shaper bits and purchasing or making another router setup that has a router lift. I also have a new in the box Inca Twin Linear sitting in storage that might be a good addition to the new router table. Does this seem like a good plan having 3 separate router/shaper setups?

[Mike Kees]

Ditch the Jet. You will outgrow it very quickly. Spend your tooling money on nothing but 1 1/4'' cutters. Then yes set up a router table for the router bits. I am in this process right now,i have a great little 3 hp steel city shaper with a really good fence that I have outgrown. basically used it with router bits and a one inch spindle with a CMT euro head as well as a rebate head bushed down to use on the one inch spindle. the bearings in the spindle went,and as soon as I get them replaced it will be for sale.

[Mike Cutler]

I'm in the process of rethinking my router/shaper setup after some disappointments in using my Jet JWS-22CS Shaper. I was doing some routing on small box builds where it was difficult controlling the bit height. The fence on it also does not move back far enough to change out the bits. Other than those 2 complaints the Jet seems to work fine. I also have a large industrial 1 1/4" shaper that rarely gets used but is nice when the job warrants. I was thinking of limiting the Jet to 3/4" shaper bits and purchasing or making another router setup that has a router lift. I also have a new in the box Inca Twin Linear sitting in storage that might be a good addition to the new router table. Does this seem like a good plan having 3 separate router/shaper setups?

Steve
Were you using router bits, or shaper cutters when you were having trouble with height? It sounds like router bits were in use, with in collet adapter spindle. Were the bits slipping into the collet adapter? or was the raise mechanism of the machine not staying at height?
The fence on my Delta 43-375 does not always move back far enough to swap cutters either, but it hasn'treally been a big issue.
If you have a larger, 1-1/4" shaper, I would focus on getting that into use. There's nothing the small Jet can do that it cannot, and there will be very little that a router mounted in a table can do that it won't perform the same function.
Don't bother with the 3/4" shaper cutters. Go to 1-1/4" shaper cutters, and use a tee bushing adapter on the Jet if it comes to that.
It is a good plan to have three machines, but it seems as of the Jet is not currently doing what you need. Which is odd, because you weren't asking very much of it, and even though it is a fairly light duty shaper, it's still a very capable machine.
I know that I personally would probably not be using the smaller Jet for very much if I had a bigger more powerful shaper in the shop.

[Mike Kees]

I have two shapers one is the Steel City mentioned above ,the other is a Minimax T50 with tilting spindle and a sliding table. Once I started using the Minimax ,I noticed that before long the Steel City was only being used when I needed to use a router bit. I had started to buy a few cutters with 3/4'' bore on the auction site. Fortunately one of my employees bought a couple Delta shapers that included a bunch of 1 1/4'' tooling so we worked out a trade. Now you know" the rest of the story". I plan to replace the small shaper with a bigger one as I inherited a substantial pile of 1 1/4" tooling with the Minimax. So the plan is to acquire another 1 1/4'' shaper to share the tooling with. I will also set up a router table on the wing of my Unisaw to replace the small shaper's router capability.

[Steve Mathews]

Steve
Were you using router bits, or shaper cutters when you were having trouble with height? It sounds like router bits were in use, with in collet adapter spindle. Were the bits slipping into the collet adapter? or was the raise mechanism of the machine not staying at height?
The fence on my Delta 43-375 does not always move back far enough to swap cutters either, but it hasn'treally been a big issue.
If you have a larger, 1-1/4" shaper, I would focus on getting that into use. There's nothing the small Jet can do that it cannot, and there will be very little that a router mounted in a table can do that it won't perform the same function.
Don't bother with the 3/4" shaper cutters. Go to 1-1/4" shaper cutters, and use a tee bushing adapter on the Jet if it comes to that.
It is a good plan to have three machines, but it seems as of the Jet is not currently doing what you need. Which is odd, because you weren't asking very much of it, and even though it is a fairly light duty shaper, it's still a very capable machine.
I know that I personally would probably not be using the smaller Jet for very much if I had a bigger more powerful shaper in the shop.

Router bits were used when having problems with height adjustment. The bits didn't slip but the height adjustment on the Jet is a bit course and hard to fine tune.

The direction I'm leaning in at this point is to sell the Jet and rely on my Northwood shaper for heavy stock removal. For the lighter router work I'm thinking of purchasing a SawStop inline cast iron router table for attachment to the left side of my SawStop ICS. If that doesn't work out I thought of taking those (router) components and turning it into a freestanding setup with a slightly larger table made out of wood bolted to the back of the cast iron top similar to the way the right side table is mounted on the saw. That way I can more easily use the Incra Twin Linear fence mentioned before if I want. Either way it seems like I'll get finer height adjustment with a nice router lift, better access in changing bits and better dust collection. As a bonus with the inline mounted setup I get more table space on the left side of the saw. The freestanding router table could also serve as an outfeed table if appropriately placed.

[Paul Haus]

If you have a 1 1/4" spindle shaper you have a substantial machine there that should do pretty much anything you want conditional on finding cutters in the correct profiles.. Don't discount 3/4" cutters as they can do a very suitable job of shaping. I have a Grizzly 3 HP with all the various spindles for it and I also have cutters with various bores. To be honest, other than some very large cutters, I leave the 3/4" spindle in the machine most of the time and a majority of my cutters today are 3/4" bore. I've done a comparison of comparable cutters in 3/4" & 1 1/4" bore and to be honest I could not see a difference in quality of cut (obviously the larger cutter will run at a slightly higher speed due to it's larger diameter at any given shaper speed). Unless you're doing production work and running it for hours on end, I suspect either diameter spindle will work just fine for what you'll need to do.

[Mike Cutler]

Router bits were used when having problems with height adjustment. The bits didn't slip but the height adjustment on the Jet is a bit course and hard to fine tune.

Uhmmm...... That's not good. The shaper is machine of thousandth's.
If the machine can't hold the cutter, or bit, height to within thousandth's, it's not going to work out for very much at all.
That's to bad, the Jet looks like a nice unit. I didn't know it had trouble with the height raise/lower mechanism.

[Steve Mathews]

Update on my quest to use a SawStop inline router table on the left side of my SawStop ICS. According to the manufacturer, the Industrial Mobile Base will not lift the saw on the left side to allow the inline router table legs to clear the floor. Apparently the lift tilts the saw toward the left to allow the right side extension legs to clear the floor. Bummer!

[Ron Selzer]

Just measured mine, the ICS only raised on the right side about 2 inches, the left side basically stayed still.

[Steve Mathews]

Measured mine also and what Ron said except the left goes up about 1/4". Another concern that I didn't think to ask SawStop is whether the router table connection to the saw is strong enough if raised and the legs clear the floor. There are no side rails for additional support.

[Jeff Monson]

Steve are you challenged for space? If not, I'd say to keep your shaper and continue with the 1 1/4" tooling, build yourself a nice router table and get a cast top and a lift, you will never have a need for something different again. I have a bench dog cast top and lift, it makes changing bits and height adjustment super easy.

[Steve Mathews]

Shop space is always an issue but if necessary or beneficial I don't mind occupying some of it with the right setup. I keep going back to my idea of using the SawStop inline cast iron router table for a variety of reasons. First of all it provides some flexibility in being able to use it on the right or left side of the ICS or as a standalone if pared with another top and stand. As mentioned before I have an Incra Twin Linear in storage that might be fun to use. That of course would work best if used on a standalone table with an extension on the SawStop cast iron table.