Shaper use without power feeder

[Larry Fox]

I have a bunch of raised panel doors doors to do for several cabinetry projects I am working on and really don't like my current router table setup very much. I am considering buying a shaper to do this work as it seems to be the tool for the job. While there is room in the budget for a shaper (something like the Grizzley G1026) there is not room in the budget for a power feeder.

I am not so much worried about doing the panels without a power feeder I am a bit worried about doing the cope and stick parts without one. Can anyone relay their experience - good or bad - of doing this sort of thing without a power feeder?

Thanks in advance for your time

[Larry Edgerton]

I did not have a power feeder for a few years, and found ways to make everything safely, you can as well. Shapers are not as scary to me as router tables. You can make safe jigs for everything.

[Ron Bontz]

I made my entire kitchen without one as well. I used a miter gauge for the rail cuts with a sacrificial rail fastened to the miter gauge to prevent tear out. You can always make a temp. coping sled. An arch jig for the tops. Having the adjustable off set fence made cutting the reversible glue joints for the panels and stile cuts easy. As mentioned; you can make a jig or guard for just about anything.

[Jeff Monson]

I made a coping sled for my powermatic shaper fashioned off of the "weaver style" coping sled. It was fairly easy to make and worked great (obviously no power feed is needed for coping). I think the important part of a good coping sled for the shaper is having good holding power for the workpiece. I did a few rail cuts before owning a powerfeed also, proper fence setup, featherboards and safety guards and I had no issues. I was not comfortable raising panels without a feeder though, I went back to the router table for raising panels until I came up with the money for a feeder. I know its do able, but it just wasn't for me.

[Jim Hager]

You can make doors and other parts with a shaper without a power feeder. Now mind you I would recommend one in your future but I made doors for a good while without one, now
i've got 4.

[Peter Quinn]

You can do all aspects of a five piece door without a power feed, just use hold downs or feather boards for the molding cuts, make a panel hood a la the Lonnie Bird shaper book that keeps your hands and the panels separated, and the coping can be done with either a t square or coping sled which you can make your self. The important part is keeping your stock controlled, using modern chip limiting cutters designed for manual feed, not the old three wing night mare cutters, and keeping your hands safely away from all cutters via push sticks or jigs.

The beauty of a stock feeder is minimal chatter and smooth cuts due to constant feed rate, so strive to simulate that in your set ups.

[Frank Drew]

A shaper with a feeder is better than one without, but a shaper without a feeder is still a whole lot better than no shaper at all.

[johnny means]

In the past I made a long sled with toggle clamps going down the long edge. I clamped my rails and stiles onto the sled before profiling them. This effectively made milling rails and stiles just like running a large panel through the shaper. I thought it was much safer and got better results than when I tried to run 2" stock through the "regular" way. It's also a good idea to cut most of the waste for your panel profile off on the table saw before profiling. I tilt the blade and run my panels through on edge. This makes profiling much easier and prolongs the life of expensive shaper cutters.

[Larry Edgerton]

In the past I made a long sled with toggle clamps going down the long edge. I clamped my rails and stiles onto the sled before profiling them. This effectively made milling rails and stiles just like running a large panel through the shaper. I thought it was much safer and got better results than when I tried to run 2" stock through the "regular" way. It's also a good idea to cut most of the waste for your panel profile off on the table saw before profiling. I tilt the blade and run my panels through on edge. This makes profiling much easier and prolongs the life of expensive shaper cutters.

Or make two passes across the shaper, one to rough it out and one to finish. I get a better finish cut that way with less sanding as a bonus.

Another thing I do to improve safety is I made a dedicated shaper fence for raised panels that is one piece of 3/4 ply with an opening in the fence for the cutter, and on the bottom is a piece of 1/8" x 3/4" aluminum bar stock, countersunk and screwed to the bottom of the dedicated fence. It [the aluminum]needs to have a portion cut out on the backside where it slides up against the spindle, but is still a continious piece across the front. The edge of the panel rides on this aluminum as it crosses what would normally be a gap between fences, so there is no diving into the cutter, especially with small panels. There is a cocabolo peice screwed to the fence over the top of the cutter for safety that is the shape of the cutter that is exposed plus 1/4". This fence replaces the fences on the shaper, otherwise you would not get enough depth. If I need a relief in the back of the panel, rare for me, I do that in a seperate operation. I do most of my panels by hand with no powerfeed still with this setup and get good results with no worries.

[Steve Ryan]

Coping sleds are easy enough to make and a few toggle clamps will make your day. Huge advantage of a power feeder is that you can make an aux fence that runs the sticking with the reference side being opposite the sticking side. You set up the main shaper fence just like you would for the cut, but with just enough clearance to allow the piece to pass. By running on the opposite edge you will get zero snipe, even on very short pieces. Just have to pitch the feeder to crowd the piece to the aux fence.

[David Larsen]

There are several coping sled styles out there. A person could also make their own. I ended up buying one of the Woodhaven ones and find it very easy to use, saves a lot of time, and is well built.

Though you don't use a power feeder for coping, a good coping sled will make your life easier.

For the stick work, I use featherboards and hold-downs and just slide the wood through. It works well enough for me.

Panels aren't too difficult because they are a larger piece that is easier to control.

I would like a power feeder, but it really isn't a priority at this time because I can live without it at the present time.

[Paul Greathouse]

Larry

I do all my raised panels on a shaper without a feeder, I am just very careful with my hand position. The only other thing you will have to watch is if the panel has even a slight bow, you will need to make sure the panel stays flat to the table to keep the panel edge thickness uniform so that it will fit into the cope & stick groove. A feeder would eliminate both of these issues but you can work around them if your careful. A helpful tip I can give you is to take off as much material as you can on the tablesaw or with a guided circular saw before going to the shaper. Doing so will save on your shaper bit life.

I still do my cope & stick work on the router table. I have two routers dedicated for this task, that way I don't have to fuss with setting them up each time. You can't imagine how much of a time saver this is until you've experienced it. The 2 1/4 hp routers have plenty of power for cope and stick cuts. I can't see how doing them on a shaper could be any faster. With the two routers set up all the time, I never have to adjust bit height or fence position. If you really want to add a feeder for shaping the stile, a 1/4 hp feeder (mostly used on router tables) is much cheaper than the larger ones used on shapers.

[Philip Rodriquez]

I have a Jet 3HP shaper (for 8 years) and I still do not own a power feeder. I just do not use it enough to justify another $1000 bucks. However, I have made a number of doors and raised panels.

As Peter Quinn said "...make a panel hood a la the Lonnie Bird shaper book that keeps your hands and the panels separated..." The key is to keep the cutter completely covered so your hands are never exposed to danger.

The rails can be done the same way you would do them on the router. Again, the key is to keep the cutter completely covered so your hands are never exposed to danger. Lastly, I would not cope the ends with anything other than a coping sled. If the piece is unclamped, it may just be ripped out of your hands.

[Larry Fox]

Thanks very much for the time and the great replies guys - I appreciate it. Seems like it is something that I can consider. Safety is definitely my major concern with these things. Based on reading so far these things seems like the Medusa of woodworking tools where you are in danger of injury by simply looking directly at one. I am going to look at a Delta one locally tonight so I will see how it goes.

[johnny means]

Sent you a PM.