Shaper or router?

[Ghamph]

Exactly , and how large or thick the wood and how well it's secured from vibrating. Will need muffs in any event. Jamffer

[Robatoy]

They're different machines. The whole philosophy is different. It's a .50 caliber vs a 7.62 mm. When you look into what's going on when you're cutting material, you'll find that there's a benefit to having a lot of mass behind your cutters. But none of that matters when you're doing a 1/4" round-over. In fact, the variety of bits for a router is far greater, for way less money than similar patterns for a shaper. Also, a small bit in a shaper, when using an adaptor for routerbits...naaaa..doesn't work that well.. the wee bits need revs.. or you're gonna be all day. Quality shaper cutters are expensive. For 90% (I just pulled that number out of my butt) of the work I do, a router is the way to go. In either a table, or hand-held. But for putting those bull-noses on a rack of oak stair treads, I'll take a shaper...with a power feeder. If you can only have one...a quality router. But that's just me. I'd love a nice shaper. had one before, loved it. made thousands of feet of t&g boards with it. damn thing ran all day, 2 shifts. A router would be a poor choice for that kinda work.

A 50 caliber takes out the engine block. A 7.62 mm takes out the driver.

FWIW

r

[Lew Hodgett]

That power feeder makes all the difference between a tool that can do the job and a "widow maker", IMHO.

Lew

[Robatoy]

For sure. I like them on table saws as well, but they're a pain to set up. On a shaper....it's a must.

[Lowell Holmes]

Yes, I mis-read Doug's post. I can't use router bits on my Rockwell shaper (1970's version), so using router bits on a shaper is something I was un-aware of.

I can tell you my 1 hp 1970's shaper is much superior for door making than my routers in a table are. I have PC 690, DW610 and DW620, they are good routers.

I have two sets of door cutters for my shaper, a Rockwell cove and bead and a Bosch ovolo. They just really do a smooth job. The bits are much more expensive that router bits. They are pretty much a lifetime investment though.

[Patriarch]

"Ghamph" wrote in news: [e-mail]:

The thing on bits is to remember that, for the most part, they accumulate as needed. Nobody, in a hobby shop at least, should go drop $500 on a drawer full of bits. Buy them as you need them.

Or buy a box of the $5 each bits when Woodcraft has their sale, and cover the immediate needs.

A good door set, or a cope & stick bit set, is going to cost you anyway. But buy it when you need it, not up front. Tell SWMBO it's part of the project cost, if she asks.

Patriarch

[B A R R Y]

Shapers typically go too slow for all but the largest router bits.

[Tom Bunetta]

I wish everyone were as cautious... I fit hearing aids to so many who weren't or didn't know better. They're not as good as the real thing. Tom

[Doug Miller]

Exactly.

Quite right, and in my experience the smoothness of cuts made by a shaper using shaper cutters, and that of cuts made by a router using router bits, are quite comparable.

For small or one-of-a-kind jobs, my preference is for the router in most cases, largely because router bits are typically *much* cheaper than shaper cutters. OTOH, for large or repetitive jobs, I prefer the shaper: it's quieter and faster, and the dust collection is much better.

[mike hide]

folks talking about mass etc ......

Horse power can be defined as 2 pie NT/33000 where N = RPM and T = torque

So the difference between a 3 HP router and a 3HP shaper is the router has lots of RPM and relatively low torque [low torque the cutting edge] while the router has low RPM and high torque [higher torque at the cutter].

Seems to me differences torques even out in the end as torque being force times distance basic router bits operate at a much smaller radius than shaper cutters so the actual cutting force tends to even out .

Using this logic a router using large diameter bits requires more torque and will bog down if the feed rate is not reduced so the machine is not to stall . So in my mind the router using large diameter bits is not operating efficiently, and not only that but as a personal preference, the more power the less control , I would rather be a couple of feet away using a shaper and a power feed than inches away from a thumping great router running at

20K revs .....mjh