Difference between router and table, and shaper?

[Brian Holcombe]

Its reversible in single phase. Was my first shaper, nice little machine.

Awesome! Thanks Larry.

[Larry Edgerton]

I almost pulled the trigger on that thing a few times. I'd take that SAC over most of the new offerings.

Me too. When I finally made up my mind to pull the trigger it was gone. Close one...........

[Curt Harms]

Shopping for a shaper, likely purchase toward the end of the year. Anything with a tilting spindle is over 8k brand new, but many can be had used. Only trouble is that any reversible usually requires 3 phase electric, which can be done, but adds another couple thousand to the bill.

One of a VFD's trick is reversing so single phase power, VFD, and 3 phase motor on the shaper. I've never used a shaper so don't know if there'd be any benefit to variable speed.

[Martin Wasner]

Awesome! Thanks Larry.

There's two of those shapers on Woodweb at the moment. I think they are three phase though.

[Martin Wasner]

Me too. When I finally made up my mind to pull the trigger it was gone. Close one...........

One of those where you were relieved it was gone, to end the taunting and temptation, but kicked yourself for not buying it? THE HUMANITY!

[Brian Holcombe]

There's two of those shapers on Woodweb at the moment. I think they are three phase though.

Thanks Martin, I'm still a ways off at this point though, so just kicking tires and doing my research.

[Larry Edgerton]

One of those where you were relieved it was gone, to end the taunting and temptation, but kicked yourself for not buying it? THE HUMANITY!

You got it brother...............

[Larry Edgerton]

I saw those on there. The problem with he T40, T45 is the hood is lame. Very thin cast aluminum, no fine adjust on the outfeed side. I had a bad blowout bend mine, not something that should ever happen. But for a lightweight they will do some very nice work and the sliding table can be handy at times.

[Vince Shriver]

Not to mention, shapers (normally found in production shops) usually run on three phase power.

[M Toupin]

One of a VFD's trick is reversing so single phase power, VFD, and 3 phase motor on the shaper. I've never used a shaper so don't know if there'd be any benefit to variable speed.

Yes on both accounts! Soft start and controls deceleration is really nice, but reversing and variable speed is handy and opens some doors too. Sometimes changing the speed just a touch improves the cut and, as stared above, router bits normally don't work real well due to the slower spindle speed but... bump the hz up a reasonable amount (I go to 90hz/15,000rpm) and you can run all but the smallest profiles reasonably. Very seldom do I run router bits, but on those rare occasions it's a nice option for short runs.

Mike

[Rod Sheridan]

Not to mention, shapers (normally found in production shops) usually run on three phase power.

Vince, there are many smaller single phase shapers available new.

I have a 4HP Hammer shaper in single phase, sliding table, tilting spindle, 4 speeds............Nice machine..........Regards, Rod.

[Mike Heidrick]

Delta 3hp and 5hp hd shapers were single phase reversible and the spindle manages that with a keyway and a keyed washer.

Tenoning tables on sliders are sweet.

Tilting spindles open up crazy profile options.

You can make shaper tooling seem cheaper by pricing euro insert tooling, and I am not talking $150 euro blocks.

Reversing is used so you can flip your cutter over, not for wild grain patters.

I am not a fan of light weight feeders that slip like the versa feeder, owned and sold it. I believe in min 1/2hp feeders and now only buy 1hp+.

A Beauty of a nice fence on a shaper is repeatability and moveable safety fingers between fence halves you can surround the cutter with to provide max support through the cut.

Mass makes swinging dinner plate size cutters smooth. Thats what expensive euro shapers buys you too.

[brent stanley]

Adam, I did a video series on the value of a small shaper in a small shop, using a small project as a case study. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mylYGzZC2yU&t=534s

I'll warn you, I'm no videographer!

You can get away with a LOT less money in tooling if you consider some of the HSS limiter tooling that Rod is talking about. I talk a lot about that in the video series.

The fourth episode talks about this head: http://www.whitehill-tools.com/catal...?cid=2&c2id=60

For the price of one head you get a 40mm limiter head (or larger if your machine can handle it) that can take thousands of different profiles off the shelf for very little money per knife set, you also get a fully featured, shear-cut rebate block with scribes that can be used as a template head with the addition of a bearing, and with the appropriate spindle (and machine capacity) you can use this head for cutting the cheeks and shoulders on full-length tenons including scribes for profiled stiles if wanted.

[J.R. Rutter]

I am not a fan of light weight feeders that slip like the versa feeder, owned and sold it. I believe in min 1/2hp feeders and now only buy 1hp+.

On a shaper, me too, absolutely!

[Steve Jenkins]

I was given a versa feeder and let it it on a shelf for several years then put it on my router table. What a dream especially for running long small moldings.