Table Saw Molding Head

Hi,

I never have any experience with Table Saw Molding Head, maybe the experts in this forum could give their opinion.

I saw a tabl saw molding head with one blade. Is it good? Would it worth buying? How does it compare to the typical 3 blade head?

Thanks in advance for any opinion given.

Best Regards, Jo

Reply to
Jo
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SFWIW, I threw my Craftsman set, unused, in the trash years ago.

Lew

Reply to
Lew Hodgett

What brand? I saw a sewing machine that was electric, is it good?

A 3 cutter head will last longer.

Reply to
Leon

Har! I never used the set I bought 30 years ago. I'm sure it's around here somewhere, but damned if I know where.

Reply to
Upscale

Before I had a properly tooled shaper I used a three knife molding cutterhead quite a bit with a great deal of success. never used , nor even have seen, a single knife cutter.

The downside to molding cutterhead is low surface speed, I would say, and because of it , controlling tearout is much more difficult. You can get acceptable results, however if you are careful about backing your cut and use slow feed rates. At least that was my experience.

Reply to
Frank Boettcher

Personally, I have never heard of a one-blade moulding head. I have had a three-blade cutter for 30 years. It used to get a fair amount of use but bigger, better routers and router bits seem to be replacing it,

The three-blader can do a fairly good job if you feed slowly. Remember that most routers are running in the 18,000 to 22,000 rpm range. A shaper (which the moulding head is trying to simulate) also runs quite a bit faster than your table saw, which is in the 3,000-4,000 rpm range. If you start shallow, and work up to final cutting depth, and feed slowly then can do the job - but not as well as the router or shaper. I would approach a one head cutter with a fair amount of caution.

RonB

Reply to
RonB

No, they do make them. Presumably they are balanced more or less properly. But 3 cutter heads are dangerous enough; using a 1 cutter would be crazy.

Reply to
Toller

It is absolutely necessary that the molding head is balanced when it is running. I've never heard of a one cutter molding head, so I suspect that it's a 2 cutter molding head with one cutter missing. DON'T USE IT, until you are absolutely sure that it's got all of the knives in place that it's supposed to, and make absolutely sure that all of the knives are properly secured in place before you even put it on your saw. Even then, always stand well out of line of it when you turn the saw on, as these molding heads have been known to throw a knife occasionally.

I have had a 3 knife Craftsman for over 30 years and I have used it quite a few times, but less and less as I get older and less brave. I've always felt very un-safe whenever I have used it, even after taking extra time to be sure that all of the feather boards and necessary guards were in place. I feel much safer doing the job with a router or shaper. These table saw molding heads can get the job done, but they run much slower, cause more chip-out, and are much less safe then doing the same job with a router or a shaper. I have had pieces of molding completely shatter when cutting them with one of these, sending large splinters all over the shop. They definitely aren't for the timid or un-skilled user. I haven't trashed mine yet, because every once in a while I still find a need for it, but I avoid using it whenever possible.

Reply to
Charley

Yeah - I have occasionally been tempted to calculate the tip speed of the cutters running on my table saw and compare it to a 30-06. I'll bet they are in the same neighborhood if one came off. Like I said earlier, mine is on the shelf but doesn't get a lot of use.

Of course you could say the same about other tools.

RonB

RonB

Reply to
RonB

"RonB" wrote

I had a safety freak shop teacher in high school who used ask questions on his tests of how many times a tool could hit you or cut you before the signal would reach the brain to react. The big damage is done long before you pull the hand away.

Fast moving metal and flesh are not compatable.

Reply to
Lee Michaels

Don't you think he'd notice if there was a cutter missing?

In fact, there is such a thing as a one-cutter head. Sears used to sell one, but it seems they don't any more. It's not perfectly circular; there are strategically-placed flat spots to keep it balanced.

Somebody sold one on eBay recently:

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shows both 1-blade and 3-blade Sears molding heads.

FWIW... I've never heard of a 2-cutter molding head. All I've ever seen is 1- and 3-cutter heads.

Reply to
Doug Miller

Not even close, actually. Following is a very rough approximation:

Typical molding head has a diameter of 7 or 8 inches. Circumference then is about two feet. 2' x 4500 rpm = 9000 fpm = 150 fps or about 100mph.

Much too fast to dodge, but nowhere near the muzzle velocity of any rifle.

Reply to
Doug Miller

Craftsman had the 1 cutter version also. The cutter head that that cutter fits into is not perfectly round and compensates of the single cutter.

Reply to
Leon

No, the tip speed on you TS is no where near a 30-06, or a 22 for that matter. The typical 10" blade turns at about 3600 rpm. The blade is 31.4 inches around or 2.61 feet around. 2.61' x 3600 + 9420' per minute. That comes out to about 107 MPH. IIRC the typical 22 has a muzzle velocity of around 1100 feet per second and that comes out to about 7 times faster. A

30-06 with a 150 grain bullet travels at about 2700 feet per second or about 17 times faster than your saw blade. If you are spinning a smaller diameter dado or molding cutter the tip speed would be slower than the 10" blade.
Reply to
Leon

Could you explain how 1 cutter would be crazy?

Reply to
Leon

It would still earn you a trip to the emergency room - or worse.

Reply to
RonB

Leon, wrote the following at or about 3/27/2007 3:46 PM:

Not sure that it would necessarily be crazy but I think it might be a bit more prone to get a bit too much material in there, a bit too quickly and watch it (hopefully that's all) go flying.

Three bits, means you're removing the material 3x faster. This makes for a smoother finish. It also means that at a given feed rate it will remove 3x the material. Just seems that it would be more likely, with one cutter, to be able to feed a bit much in and wind up with a big ker-chunk and a load of splinters flying or the whole damn thing taking off on you.

I've had the 3 head unit from Craftsman for about 35 years and recall that they sold the single head at that time as well. The three head cutter (on a RAS, no less) and set up with proper guards, fencing, feather boards, etc. is pretty scary.

It does a nice job if you take your time on setup and feed slow. One thing you won't like get is complacency when using that puppy. It seems to provide its own wake-up call every time you power up

Reply to
Unquestionably Confused

I have had the 3 head set for almost that long. LOL Since 1978 IIRC.

I agree with probably a smoother finish but at a given feed rate, the material removal would be the same on either the 1 or 3 cutter design. The single cutter would actually be removing more material at that given feed rate.

Just seems that it would be more likely, with

Perhaps so but with the cutter tip speed being approximately 50 MPH (73' per "second") and your feed speed being say 5' per "minute", a double feed rate of 10' per "minute", the ratio of feed to spin speed is still quite steep. I think the feed rate would have to be much higher, 100 peet per minute before the 1 cutter design would be more likely to take a huge bite than the

3 cutter design.

Yeah I had this set up on a RAS also.

I absolutely agree. ;~)

Reply to
Leon

If the whole cutter came loose and hit you I would agree. If a small fragment came loose, probably not.

Reply to
Leon

Hello,new here but seems strange that tommorow I will be using the cutter head (3) again and yes I am afraid of it, the weird noise and the wind it makes. Although have you tried it on a radial arm? Now that is spooky but hey by the end of this year I will have the router completely set up, and I feel fairly safe with the router. Have a good evening Jim in WI

Reply to
Jim

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