Shaper Owners

Re: Shaper Owners

David Yoho

With the router table there's always some warp in the mounting plate or the fence which messes up the profile.

I've never owned or used a shaper because of the cost for the machine and the cutters, safety concerns, and I think they're better suited for a production shop.

My router table and fence is shop built but the insert was purchased. I don't know what problems you've experienced but my setup cuts perfect profiles. For the money I think a router table is the way to go for normal tasks.

Re: Shaper Owners

David Weaver

I had an MDF table for years (I no longer really use routers for much), made based on suggestions from a pat warner book (affix the top to placed jointed boards for straightness).

I made a heavy crude fence from laminated 3/4 lumber (very heavy) and in around 13 years, I had to true the table top once (it's MDF, and absorbed moisture). I still have the fence even though the table is gone, and the fence is still true.

I used a heavy router (7518?) the entire time and never had an issue with power for amateur purposes.

when you get into using a shaper, if the cutters get any significant radius, you're going to need to think about power feed, too. That's just something I never wanted to get into, and since I've gone to mostly hand tools, I'm happy that I never took the space or spent the money on that stuff.

Stationary power tools are almost always either a big time soak to get and keep running, or a huge money loser if you ever go a different direction. A crude but heavy router table isn't.

Re: Shaper Owners

Keith Newton

I've got 3 shapers, and sometimes have had as many as 3 routers set up in the table. I don't use the shapers nearly as much as I once did. They don't spin nearly as fast as your router does, but with a much larger cutter, the peripheral speed may be close to the same.

If you are leaning toward one with a 1/2" arbor and small motor, I would advise against it. You'd be a lot better off investing in a better router table. However if you need big cutters a couple of inches in height, or want to grind your own profiles for a bevel-edge knife head, you will need at least a 3/4" & 3 hp. I've got lots of loose knives that I've ground, and sometimes regrind, but now, your may find it easier to just order any custom knives.

What router make and model are you using now?

Re: Shaper Owners

Ed Wozniak

I have an old Rockwell shaper that I bought used for $600. I think it's great. It does take up some floor space. It's interesting that the guy that I bought it from sold it because he wanted to use a router table instead of the shaper. I think you can you can make bigger cuts with a shaper. The first job I used it for was to make raised panels for my kitchen cabinets. The cutter took out about 2 1/2 inches around the perimeter of the panels without any strain and made nice clean cuts with a single pass. I was also able to make some cove moulding to match some of the mouldings in my house. I use it to make miter cuts for boxes, etc instead of cutting them on the table saw with the blade tilted to 45 degrees. Again with a single, no-strain pass. Cutters are pricey and not normally stocked locally so you are stuck with buying on line or having them ordered for you locally. You have to respect it. It's a big hunk of iron spinning around but I don't see why it is more dangerous than a router table. You can do plenty of damage with either device.

Re: Shaper Owners

Dick Coers

If you have a warp in the router plate or the fence, you're not doing it right. It's not the router's fault. I really don't think you can directly compare a router to a shaper. Not the same animal just because you are spinning a vertical shaft. In my business, the only cutter I used on a shaper was a raised panel cutter. Everything else was done on router tables. When I got a custom order, I charged the customer for the tooling. Right or wrong, they paid for the full price of the tooling. Sure it lasted longer, but I had no idea when I would use it again. I could bid a couple hundred less with router bits than I could with shaper cutters. I also had a Williams and Hussey for molding work, I much preferred that over a shaper. The one single benefit to a shaper for me is the horsepower to use a power feeder. And with a power feeder you can climb cut difficult woods like birds-eye maple. I could never operate without at least one router table, maybe two. By the way, a router bit in a shaper spindle is a horrible idea. You have to slow the feed rate down so much to get the proper chip load. They just don't spin the bit close to the speed of a router.

Re: Shaper Owners

Cameron

I have a shaper, a smaller grizzly I bought ~15 years ago. It works fine but I'd say its a little top heavy but that also means it doesn't take too much space. My one issue is that finding shaper cutters is a PITA vs router bits. If I was able to start over again I'd go router table just for the access to bits, with the mounting technology available today a router table should be every bit as useful as a shaper outside of running commercial scale stock with a power feeder. If you want a power feeder make sure you get a cabinet that has a good footprint, like I mentioned above mine is too small and the feeder I picked up off craigslist has never been mounted because it is too heavy for the shaper.

Re: Shaper Owners

John McGaw

I have a very heavy 3hp shaper as part of my Robland X31. It is almost never used for several reasons: * the cutters are extremely expensive when compared to router bits * the variety of off-the-shelf router cutters is limited when compared to router bits * setup takes a long time even if I have a cutter which might serve and * it can be scary. For me it is there basically for panel raising and Shaker-look door joinery otherwise it is router table all the way for me.

Re: Shaper Owners

Pete in Holland MI

I have a 2hp Shopfox that I bought 15 years ago. I started life with a home built router table and that worked fine for my needs. Had a chance to use a real shaper one time and was sold. More solid feel. Quieter. Better job on raised panels. Interesting thing is that a shaper will not burn cherry or maple, something easy to do with a router. Got rid of my router table and thought I'd never look back.

Shaper cutters DO cost more, so you may not be buying lots of them. Have been pleased with the Grizzly cutters so far, though, I don't use the machine but a few times a year, mostly to make cabinet door parts.

Yes, DO take some time to come up with jigs & fixtures, and additional guards to keep your fingers out of harm's way. The factory guards often are a joke. As was told to me by an old cabinet maker, a shaper will vaporize your fingers. I have made several guards out of 1/4" Lexan and I am comfortable around the machine, though you always need to focus on the task at hand. Better guarding also reduces air leaks and your dust collection will do a better job.

I also installed a motor starter & mushroom e-stop button at knee level. The machine originally only came with a fwd/rev toggle switch. My thought is that if my work piece got into trouble, I wouldn't have to let it go to turn off the machine........and potentially have bad things go worse.

I did buy the router spindle for the machine to allow me to use 1/4 & 1/2" router bits, but was not pleased with the result, as the spindle "only" turns at 10,000 or 12,000 rpm, instead of the 22-25,000 rpm that a router does. I didn't have room in my shop to set up another router table......but I do have a big wood lathe. Found a piece of 1/2" acrylic about 18" square. Purchased a 1-1/2hp Craftsman router at a garage sale and permanently mounted it to the acrylic, and made a board & couple of hand nuts to mount this to my lathe bed, and can be easily removed when I need to turn things. This now often has the 1/8" round over bit in it, and occasionally gets changed out to other profile bits, but the whole system between router & shaper takes care of my needs these days.

During my search for a shaper, I was wondering why more home shops didn't have one. Eventually realized the table saw is often the most expensive piece of equipment in a person's shop, thus.....was a cost thing......which is where the router table was born.

Pete

Re: Shaper Owners

Tom Norton

I am now down to 1 shaper sold the Grizzly a few months ago. Had 2 as I was making a lot of doors for custom kitchens and such. My router table gets quite a bit of use for molding operations.

Thanks for all the input