What is the main difference between a shaper and a router mounted in a table?
Are shapers basically just more powerful routers?
After I install my HW flooring I will need approx 100-120 ft of base moulding. The wife also want to put up some crown moulding.
Sounds like an oppertunity again for a new tool (bigger router?) to me.
Would a 3HP router (PC 7518) be usable for making crown moulding and the like?
ThankX, Ron
You *could* get the job done with a large router, the bits are available however a shaper (one of suitable size) is really the machine for the job.Cutters are more expensive for a shaper generally. Add a decent stock feeder to either machine to make it even better. A shaper is just more muscle and usually a steadier heavier machine.
Jim
If you want a machine to make mostly moulding, look at the thickness planers that will take some moulding knives. Grizzly and Jet both sell them, Grizzlies 1037Z sells for $725. Most crown moulding starts at 3 5/8 wide and that is a really big bite for holding stock vertically and running on a shaper or router. I'm pretty confident that only small furniture size crowns can be made with router bits. Base moulding is a different story. The router is perfect for that. I've always used the cost of cutters as a decision maker for considering a router or a shaper. A door set for the shaper will cost over $200 for the shaper, less than $100 for the router.
See the
Well said Chris. I might add also that rail and stile cutters for the shaper do not have to cost over $200. I have used some of the cheaper cutters in the $60-100 range with fine results. One reversible set I have cost me about $49 five years ago and I actually just dug them out yesterday to make a door and they still cut great on ash. I made a cherry kitchen set with them when I bought them and a couple of other doors for various projects. Check MLCS for both shaper cutters and router bits. They can save you big money and trust me they are just as good as anything else you pay more for.
Jim
One basic formula for HP is as follows HP = 2pi NT /33000.
2pi/33000 is a constant .....thus HP =KNT where K = constant , N = RPM, and T = Torque.
Say the average shaper runs at say 7000 RPM and the average router at
20000RPM then the shaper is going to have nearly 3 times the torque of the equivalent HP router...mjh
Not to mention the shaper cutter design allows you better access to the face of your cutters for cleaning after use and touching them up with a diamond paddle before.
Funny how you keep bringing up the same misguided, wrongheaded nonsense every time this topic comes up. You still haven't figured out that the first step in _any_ project is proper selection and preparation of the stock.
A router _mounted_in_a_table_ won't follow a twisted or warped board any better than a shaper will, and is every bit as dangerous.
What are you doing, using twisted, warped lumber, anyway? If your boards are not flat and straight, *nothing* is going to produce *good* results.
Go buy yourself a jointer, Wilson, and stop posting this foolishness.
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Using warped or twisted lumber is just not an option if you are looking for any type of accuracy or consistency when working with wood. There is a rule that I was taught during my apprenticeship 20 odd years ago and I feel is one of the cardinal rules:
START SQUARE END SQUARE
If not use lots of "FM"
FM=F**kin Magic.
And if you believe in magic then I guess you can use warped or twisted lumber and expect good results.
Thanks: Chris
AM or FM, just like radio maintenance?
Another Miracle....
Is this the place to mention "George Nakashima"? 8-)
Funny how you keep bringing this up. There is NO difference between using a router in a router table and a shaper on stock. Say again, zero, zip, zilch, nada difference between the effects of a router in a router table and a shaper for the condition you describe. The OP was comparing the advantages/disadvantages of a TABLE-MOUNTED router and a shaper. Using the router in a hand-held configuration was not an element of the question or discussion.
You can also remove the shaper fence and use a cutter/collar/start pin combination to shape an edge of any non-psychotic shape. j4
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