Shop made cope machine

[Bobby Robbinett]

So I was recently kicking around the idea at work to build our own shop made cope machine for cabinet door rails. All of our cope and stick cutters are insert cutters and they are all from the same company and match each other. My thought was, we have a 10 year old or older Lobo sliding table shaper that we use really don’t use much. I wouldn’t need the sliding table part. Plus extra 1.25” spindles for this thing are plentiful and don’t cost too much. I think that I could order a set of linear bearings and rails that I could attach to the table top of the shaper. Then make an aluminum plate to mount on top of the linear rails and bearings. The plate could have a back side fence with holes for a sacrificial wood block. We could mount a couple of pneumatic clamps on top to hold down the workpiece. From there it should be relatively easy to mount a stop on the infeed side for the workpiece to buy up and position to without the need for a long fence. The stop would never need to be changed and the spindle height will rarely if ever move.

What do you think?

[Kevin Jenness]

Why do you want to re-invent the sliding table? Couldn't you add the tenon plate, fence and clamps to what you already have?

[Patrick Kane]

I agree with Kevin, if the sliding table works, then why scrap it? A sliding table/tenoning attachment is a luxury for copes. Like most things concerning the shaper, you can spend a ton of $$$$ on the absolute pinnacle of kit, OR you can achieve 90%+ similar results using an inexpensive solution made of plywood. For example, what you ultimately want(it sounds like) is the Rangate tenoning plate which retails for about $4,000. I create pretty nice copes using a homemade jig and some bessey toggle clamps. Im into my setup for maybe $25 and 30-45 minutes of labor.

I think the pneumatic clamps are a great idea. By themselves, they would cut down the time it takes to cope on my homemade jig by half probably. I take more time undoing and doing clamps than i do making the cope cut. Depending on your metalworking abilities, have you checked out some of the youtube videos on guys making coping sleds out of aluminum plate? I think what you have in mind is pretty similar to what i remember watching years ago.

[Warren Lake]

stated what patrick said many times simple left over scrap and the end results are often 98 percent as good. Buy machines from old guys you often get a number of different, a sliding table for them was a chunk of melmine with a toggle clamp. The difference is they were doing mortise and tennon doors.

[Greg Quenneville]

Why do you want to re-invent the sliding table? Couldn't you add the tenon plate, fence and clamps to what you already have?

What is the tenoning plate for by the way? Is it necessary for coping work on the shaper? I have only used a router table so far but will be making a couple of kitchens soon so looking for the best methods of work

[J.R. Rutter]

Tenoning = coping, basically. The plate bolts onto the built-in slider to put the work piece much closer to the cutter.

Otherwise, your description sounds like a good industrial coping setup. Some people cannibalize the guides and fixture from Unique coping shapers and mount them on heavier machines, as the Unique spindles were the weak link in years past. (Not sure if that's still the case or if they have beefed things up with the advent of HSK spindle motors.)

[Jared Sankovich]

Just bolt a Ritter sled to the slider, or make a copy of the Ritter, with a extended base plate (.075" cast aluminum jig plate works well)

I cope after sticking with left and right heads on adjacent machines, so bolting to the sliding table doesn't make sense for me.

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JR you should post a pic your cope in the front stick in the back "mullet" shaper setup. I added the horizontal cylinder on my sled based off your pics.

[Joe Calhoon]

Years ago the local cabinet door mfg. had a low tech coping station. They bolted together 2 small Delta shapers with enough space between for their longest rails. With matched left and right cutters they could process pre milled rail stock efficiently. They used the miter slots with a sled. They could even do mullions by going in a little each side then turning to do the other side.
They now have a double and single end CNC tenoners and some Unique machines.