| For solid wood tops, I like shop-made wooden blocks that mate with | grooves in the back of the apron, or metal "zee" fasteners in similar | apron grooves.
I just made some clips laminating some scrap 1/4 Birch ply pieces together.
Lew
Let me preface what follows by noting that I've got a
3 hp TEFC shaper that spins a 7" diameter, 1 1/4" bore 2 knives cutter head at 5000 rpms. The split fence allows each to be set independent of the other- and I've got a sliding table to deal with end grain work. I've also got a Dewalt 621 plunge router and a Dewalt 625 plunge router, each with their own router table plate, the latter router for large diameter bits (panel raising) AND a JoinTech Cabinet Maker fence a fence positioning system (if you haven't see the JoinTech set up you probably have seen the Incra)
With both the shaper and the router set up, a major issue is the size of the space around the cutter where wood can be pulled in BEHIND the fence. With the JoinTech c abinet maker fence, the fence is a two parter, with replaceable Zero Clearance Inserts which you cut to match the bit you're using (for smaller router bits you get two "profiles" per ZC insert). The stock CANNOT get behind the fence. With the shaper there is no zero clearance capability and if you use multiple passes - hog out close, finer semifinish pass and then a final very light pass - you must reset the fences farther apart with each pass AND farther back - and you still have that "stock pull behind the " problem. With the shaper, if you move the fences back for the next pass - and -forget to move the fences apart - you get a horrible noise when you turn the shaper on because the cutter will be cutting your fence first.
Depending on if you're using a cutter head with changeable knives rather than a dedicated cutter you have no depth of cut limiter as you do with modern router bits. That means that the cutter CAN try to bite off more than it can chew - the result typically being the stock being flung back and away from the cutter.
Handfeeding a router bit is common, Hand feeding a shaper is - well lets just say a power feeder would be a very handy thing to have - even with a set of rub collars that let you do your multiple passes thing,' one collar per type of pass.
For a newbie who is going to make solid wood furniture I'd go with a decent cabinet saw, an 8" joiner, tables the longer the better and a 12" bench top planer, the Dewalt 755(or is it the 735? - the one with the chip extractor fan.
charlie b
I'm all for the shaper, just not if you are only got room or money for 3 large machines.
A router wasn't the issue as that is a hand tool not a large cabinet tool, so wasn't really part of the question. I think the guy should buy a router long before a shaper because it does more than a shaper can do, just not as well for many things. You can definitely get by with a router for most home shops, so a shaper isn't one of the 3 large machines I'd buy or recommend.
I've made a ton of furniture w/o the need for a planer. I know it would be nice to have, but unless I was logging my own wood, I can do just fine with lumber straight from the lumber yard. I would much rather have a 24 or 36 inch drum/belt sander than a plane, but I'd like to have a plane as well, just again, not one of only 3.
I've watched the Woodright guy on TV with all his hand tools... not my cup of tea. Nothing against it, I just like machinery of any kind and hate doing anything by hand if it can be done with a machine. It's a personality thing I guess, but I love machinery.
I was arguing in favor of the shaper for its woodworking
I agree with that, and I'm often amazed that people jump through so many hoops to buy a giant router, lift mechanisms and all that and never mention a shaper, which even the small 1/2" shaper is far more powerful than a portable router I think. I know they rate them at 3.5 HP but my shaper motor is much bigger and I'm pretty certain has more beef than any portable shop router.
Certainly it has lost out to the router. Big shops don't count as they have specialty machines for everything. Home shops pressed for room and/or money can get by with a good router.
I have been in many shops
I don't see as any different than a router in a table. My router table works the same as my shaper. I guess I have bigger cutters in my shaper but they have some pretty beefy router cutters around that would be pretty dangerous, particularly if you can't moderate the speed a little.
Agreed but not sure what learning you need for a shaper vs router table? Actually, I think a shaper is easier to use and does a better job with less burning issues and smoother cutting but really, not much different stuff to be learned.
... snip
... and a whole bunch quieter. Even with hearing protection, that's something to be considered.
Thus far, I have found the Grizzly shaper cutters to be adequate for home shop use and readily affordable.
Happy Thanksgiving Day, Gentlemen... This is a tough group, alright...and the argument over which technology is best for each application has infinite possibilities. I grew up in this current era of technology, being young I accepted technology as my inherent right over those men that had come before...and it served me well. I have had a dozen shops, from one-car garage to 60,000 square feet, with a dozen sets of equipments, ranging in value from junk to a $250,000 tool base, and employing up to a two-dozen qualified cabinetmakers. I have designed and built commercial and residential fixtures, furnitures, liturgical works, office furniture...and many more things than I can remember...and I did it from the workbench, not the front office. Technology is more than a set of tools...it is a state of mind. A man can build a box utilizing all of technology...or a better box with simple handtools. Wood was the first material that man could shape to his own imagination...working wood is the original source of all technology. The technology that each of us would embrace is the technology we know...and isn't that the beauty of working wood...because the first ways that man ever worked wood still applies. In fact, the greatest detail in wood, still, may only be accomplished by hand with a single edge of steel... And the first principles of working wood...to cut, to shape, to fasten...are the same as they have always been. So, regardless of all technology, man remains the greatest technology of all...and wood...an infinite phenomena.
Happy Thanksgiving Day, Gentlemen... This is a tough group, alright...and the argument over which technology is best for each application has infinite possibilities. I grew up in this current era of technology, being young I accepted technology as my inherent right over those men that had come before...and it served me well. I have had a dozen shops, from one-car garage to 60,000 square feet, with a dozen sets of equipments, ranging in value from junk to a $250,000 tool base, and employing up to a two-dozen qualified cabinetmakers. I have designed and built commercial and residential fixtures, furnitures, liturgical works, office furniture...and many more things than I can remember...and I did it from the workbench, not the front office. Technology is more than a set of tools...it is a state of mind. A man can build a box utilizing all of technology...or a better box with simple handtools. Wood was the first material that man could shape to his own imagination...working wood is the original source of all technology. The technology that each of us would embrace is the technology we know...and isn't that the beauty of working wood...because the first ways that man ever worked wood still applies. In fact, the greatest detail in wood, still, may only be accomplished by hand with a single edge of steel... And the first principles of working wood...to cut, to shape, to fasten...are the same as they have always been. So, regardless of all technology, man remains the greatest technology of all...and wood...an infinite phenomena.
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