Shaper wire brush head? Does such a thing exist?

[Peter Quinn]

I'm looking for a wire brush head for a shaper, either metal or abrasive nylon, for texturing open grain wood such as oak or ash. I use a brushing machine at work similar to a drum sander, but it won't do edges of wide boards, and it won't do curves. I know they have sanding heads.....anyone ever seen such a thing for the shaper? I have the proper speed range, sure would be handy, but does it exist? I'm sure the company that does the brushes for the machines at work could make one, but custom is never the cheapest option unless its the only option. Makita makes a hand held tool for this that runs $500, I don't do enough of this for that to make sense presently. Thanks for any ideas.

[Mark Bolton]

swfasteners catalog shows some 6" diameter nylon brushes with a 2" bore. Not sure if they'd work but would be easy to bush especially if you are running low speed.

The only other larger bore wire wheels I know of are 10" od with 3/4 bore. The od would be a challenge.

[Tony Joyce]

Be sure any brush you mount on a shaper is rated for the high RPM's most shapers turn.

[curtis rosche]

get a cheap bench grinder and mount it vertically on a post on a table top

[Peter Quinn]

swfasteners catalog shows some 6" diameter nylon brushes with a 2" bore. Not sure if they'd work but would be easy to bush especially if you are running low speed.

The only other larger bore wire wheels I know of are 10" od with 3/4 bore. The od would be a challenge.

Thanks Mark, that's what I'm talking about. Seems they have both crimped steel and nylon abrasive in 6"D with 2" bore as a standard, and they sell bushings to almost any size including 1 1/4". The steel crimped is max rpm 6k, my shapers go well below that, my Minimax will do 1800rpm for sanding. I could spin a 10" head, but no need if they are available smaller. And the 6" heads are stackable to reach the neccessary thickness, which on occasion can be 8/4. I'll give them a call tomorrow!

[John TenEyck]

For small quantities I've had good luck with a cheap wire wheel mounted in an electric drill motor.

John

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[Peter Quinn]

For small quantities I've had good luck with a cheap wire wheel mounted in an electric drill motor.

John

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Thats beautiful work John, just the sort of texture I'm talking about. I have a wire wheel, but a job is coming up that requires hundred of lineal feet of edges to be textured, too much hand work for the clients budget. I've actually spun a 6"x1" wheel on a TS with a tall fence with good results. I'm looking for a convienent and repeatable solution that any operator can achieve.

[Joe Calhoon]

Hi Peter,
Let us know how the brush works on the shaper. I have been thinking about trying that also. Re the Makita brush sander- it works fine on soft woods but will not touch hard wood like oak. Unless they offer more aggressive heads now.
A small side grinder with a cup type brush head works good on hard wood. Probably not for the quantity you are looking at though.
joe

[John TenEyck]

Thats beautiful work John, just the sort of texture I'm talking about. I have a wire wheel, but a job is coming up that requires hundred of lineal feet of edges to be textured, too much hand work for the clients budget. I've actually spun a 6"x1" wheel on a TS with a tall fence with good results. I'm looking for a convienent and repeatable solution that any operator can achieve.

Hi Peter, I wouldn't want to do hundreds of feet the way I did those mantel parts. I looked into brushes I could mount in my Foley-Belsaw molding machine, but never came up with an option I could justify for the few feet I needed, but if I had to do hundreds of feet that option would be on my short list. Your approach with the shaper should work fine, too, provided you have a power feeder. Good luck.

John

[Bruce Page]

Be sure any brush you mount on a shaper is rated for the high RPM's most shapers turn.

That is an EXTREMELY important point! It would not be good to have thousands of tiny spears flying into your gut!

[John Lanciani]

That is an EXTREMELY important point! It would not be good to have thousands of tiny spears flying into your gut!

My Rojek, (and Peters MM as he mentioned), as well as most of the Euro shapers have lower available speeds than most of the American style shapers. My machine goes from 1650 rpm to 11k rpm in five steps. Many options are available when you get away from the standard two speed 3 hp machines.

[Mark Bolton]

Not to mention, as Peter also stated, the brush I posted is rated at 6k RPM which is well within the capabilities of many imports.

That you'd insure your tooling was rated for the speed you intended to run it at goes without saying, well, actually I guess that's not so for many.

Any idiot who put a wire wheel, or any other tooling, on a shaper (which is always lauded as one of the most dangerous tools, especially here) and spun it at far above it's rated speed, deserves to walk around with wire quills sticking out if his midsection anyway.

Sometimes this cautionary stuff goes a bit over the top.

[Bruce Page]

Mark, what you might consider over the top cautionary may not be over the top for someone else just getting into woodworking.

[Mark Bolton]

Bruce, every aspect of every cautionary post in this thread was covered cleanly and clearly in peters single post.

We can swaddle adults in pampers all we want, but it will in no way circumvent idiotic behavior.

[Peter Quinn]

I called swfastener, they have both crimped steel and nylon with 120G silicone carbide abrasive in 6" heads with 2" bore that can be bushed down to 1 1/4". Steel is $24/head, nylon $55. THey are stackable. Both max out at around 6K rpms, the big boy shapers I'd be using all spin well below that. I appreciate the words of caution guys, but rest assured I'll be working within speed tolerances. We have a brush machine at work that has a front head, standard counter feed rotation in steel wire, back head a climb cut in nylon abrasive brush, its a clean up head of the first one. I'm not sure which type of head is going to be better for this, but I'm thinking steel. Joe, thanks for the info on the Makita. It would be mostly for white oak or ash. They have a variety of heads listed for the makita, but at just over $200 each, experimentation could get expensive! My boss will be making the final decision on this, I'll let you know how it goes. First time we ever brushed anything it was with a hand brush…would't like to go back to that. Not sure if this brush thing is a fad our hear to stay, but its been growing more popular for 5 years or so in our area and shows no sign of stopping. We got the faces covered, time to conquer the edges.