Raised Panel Doors: Shaper vs. Router

[Kenneth Crisler]

Doing a small run of raised panel doors in the shop, currently outsourcing these to a local manufacturer. There's a pretty good chance I'll need these regularly in the coming year. If I choose to make these in-house, will a router table with a Porter Cable 7518 router suffice, or should I start looking at getting a shaper? Thanks!

[Larry Edgerton]

When I first went on my own I did one job with a 7518 and Bosch Supersharp bits, and then went out and bought a shaper. Gave the bits away.

It can be done, but it is just not the same.

Larry

[Gene Howe]

I've done several raised panel kitchens using the 7518. Not a problem. Never used a shaper. Might be faster.

[Derek Gilmer]

A shaper especially one with a power feeder will give you faster and probably better results. That said I have made them on a 3hp router table as well. Just takes more passes to keep tear out and chatter down. If you go with a router take a look at freuds quad cutter bits. They do an excellent job.

[Kenneth Crisler]

When I first went on my own I did one job with a 7518 and Bosch Supersharp bits, and then went out and bought a shaper. Gave the bits away.

It can be done, but it is just not the same.

Larry

That's my gut feeling. Another consideration: For now they're milled from Cypress, but if say Oak comes into the picture, I think it'll be a completely different experience.

[Moses Yoder]

If you look at a 1-1/2 HP motor on a router then look at the 1-1/2 HP motor on my Powermatic shaper, the shaper motor is about 4 times as big. What that means is it has more torque. If you are going to be building a number of 5 piece doors with cope and stick joints, the shaper is really the only way to go. On the other hand, a good cabinet door is not made with cope & stick joints, it is built with mortice & tenon joints. A 5 piece door with M&T joints on the frame will last practically forever, and if these are for sale your clients will apreciate it. We buy our doors from Fryburg Door in Ohio. http://www.fryburgdoor.com/test.html They make a great quality door, mortice & tenon frame, for a reasonable price. You have to set up an account with them in order to do business with them.

[Jeff Duncan]

You can do a lot with a good router in a table, but if you do enough you get to the point where it's time to upgrade. The shaper has the advantage in almost every way, it's faster, stronger, more accurate, can run all day long...(depending on the quality of shaper), and produces better cut quality. The only real downside is cost....shapers cost more, and so do their cutters. So it comes down to how many doors are you going to make? Is this your business or a hobby? How much do you want to invest? Personally I find the shaper indispensable to my business and would have 10 of them if i could fit them. Their just so versatile I use them all the time.

good luck,
JeffD

[John TenEyck]

I have a shaper that I almost never use EXCEPT for raised panels, and cope and stick doors. Fast, smooth, precise.

[Don Wacker]

I have a shaper that I almost never use EXCEPT for raised panels, and cope and stick doors. Fast, smooth, precise.

Im just the opposite. I have a router table and only use it when I have to run out and buy a router bit for a profile I dont have for the shaper. If its something I will need again I'll order the cutter and the router bit will collect dust. I do quite a few doors probably 50 - 100 a week and couldnt get by without the shaper.

Don

[Kenneth Crisler]

You can do a lot with a good router in a table, but if you do enough you get to the point where it's time to upgrade. The shaper has the advantage in almost every way, it's faster, stronger, more accurate, can run all day long...(depending on the quality of shaper), and produces better cut quality. The only real downside is cost....shapers cost more, and so do their cutters. So it comes down to how many doors are you going to make? Is this your business or a hobby? How much do you want to invest? Personally I find the shaper indispensable to my business and would have 10 of them if i could fit them. Their just so versatile I use them all the time.

good luck,
JeffD

Strictly for business, so picturing dust accumulating upon a $3000 shaper drives me crazy. For now I think outsourcing is the best option. Besides labor, it's one less piece of equipment to call my insurer about.

[Kenneth Crisler]

Thanks again to everyone for your insight. Thinking outsourcing the doors is best for now. They arrive fully sanded and ready for finish so I can't really ask for more. Sure, they're not free, but that cost is offset by my own labor expenses. If things pick up, I'll definitely go for a shaper.

[Don Wacker]

Thanks again to everyone for your insight. Thinking outsourcing the doors is best for now. They arrive fully sanded and ready for finish so I can't really ask for more. Sure, they're not free, but that cost is offset by my own labor expenses. If things pick up, I'll definitely go for a shaper.

Im not sure what it is your business does but I use my shaper to make up for the slow times. Many shops and contractors sub out doors. Ive managed to get a decent clientele of generals that do reface jobs and rental properties along with other one man shops that dont think that doors are worth doing. I can stay busy all day long as long as I have some doors to do during the slow times or while watching finish dry.

Don

[Paul Grothouse]

One thing that noboby here has mentioned is that shapers do not have the tearout problems that routers do because the larger cutters reduce the shear angle. This reduces the need for climb cutting, and multi-pass requirements.

My two cents is that there is no comparision for volume work between a router and shaper for profiling operations. Routers are a just not heavy or powerfull enough. Most brands of routers last about 4-8 months in my shop before they need a bearing job (festool is on 1-1/2 years at this point), Our shaper is ~8 years old and still runs true, and it is used several hours a week. We are able to end tenon exterior 2-1/4" thick door stiles with 4" tenons and the cope cuts (both sides) in one pass with our shaper.

The other thing I will say is a shaper can be used for a lot more than making doors. I use mine as much or more as handheld router, the trick is getting a good one that is easy to change over from operation to operation, repeatability is key. There are some really great books out there on using a shaper if you want to explore it more.

Door outsourcing is very popular even in very large cabinet manufacturers. You can always do it that way while you grow the buisness, and bring it in-house when the return is positive.

[Randy Dutkiewicz]

I have a shaper that I almost never use EXCEPT for raised panels, and cope and stick doors. Fast, smooth, precise.

+1. That's really the only time I use mine either.

[Jeff Monson]

RP doors can be made quite nicely with a router table. My 1st kitchen was done with a M12 Hitachi router in a table. I moved up to a shaper now and its quite a bit nicer, the cut quality is better with far less tearout. Adding a feeder makes it even better. I'd recemmond to budget for a shaper, a router for doors in a commercial environment would not cut the mustard in my book.