Shaper, how would you cut this

[Rick Fisher]

I see 4 passes ..




I have a 3hp Shaper with a 3/4" Spindle and a 3 wheel Maggi Feeder.

How would you cut this ? Would you cut curved top first ? Upside down ? The second cut would leave a somewhat unstable piece ? would someone actually run the cutter above the wood and run the handrail between the cutter and the table ? That seems sketchy to me ..

If you broke it up into 4 passes, which would you do first to last .. How do you keep it stable for the curved top ?

[Rick Fisher]

I see 4 passes ..




I have a 3hp Shaper with a 3/4" Spindle and a 3 wheel Maggi Feeder.

How would you cut this ? Would you cut curved top first ? Upside down ? The second cut would leave a somewhat unstable piece ? would someone actually run the cutter above the wood and run the handrail between the cutter and the table ? That seems sketchy to me ..

If you broke it up into 4 passes, which would you do first to last .. How do you keep it stable for the curved top ?

[Jordan Lane]

running the rounded over portion with the cutter on top is similar to raised panels on the shaper. Then the flat bottom would help support the cut. Appears to me to run it just like it shows in the picture. I agree with you though seems sketchy. Maybe someone with way more experience than us will chime in.

[Kevin Jenness]

I would keep the piece in normal orientation throughout. Take care to set up the feed so that the wheels are parallel to the table, centered on the width of the stock, clear of the cutter and all adjustments securely tightened. Top or bottom first should not matter as long as the feed is set correctly.

[Wayne Lomman]

Rick, if your cutter drawings are correct, the radius cutter has to run on top. I don't like this as a rule. Does your spindle moulder have reverse rotation? If it does, I would run the top radius in passes 1 and 2 with the handrail upside down and the cutter safely on the bottom of the work piece. If you can't reverse the rotation, I think you would have to remove the middle wheel of your power feeder to allow the radius cutter to clear the other wheels. This will work but you will have to take care to support the timber at the start and finish of the cut as it will want to wander a bit when held by only 1 wheel.

To run passes 3 and 4 you will need to make sure that your power feeder rollers are properly centralised on the top of the rail so that the workpiece does not tilt. At worst, you may have to do each cut in 2 passes to reduce the outward pressure on the workpiece. If you get the rollers set correctly, it will work OK. At least with this profile you can do dry runs to check the feeder set up. Cheers

[Walter Plummer]

I agree with Wayne that the radius cutter goes on top. I think they are meant to stack and cut together. Whether or not I would try would depend on the shaper's spindle size and horsepower and even then multiple passes. If the picture of the radius cutter is accurate and you run it on the bottom the feed would be reversed to left to right to avoid climb cutting. Is your shaper reversable? Good luck

[Andy Giddings]

I think I would cut the curved top first. Even on the 2nd cut you should still have a sizeable vertical area flat against the fence. Then the bottom 2 cuts would need to be done but I'd be more comfortable with adding out feed fence support (probably a small batten secured to the fence to stabilize the base. Really depends how narrow the base is going to be

[Rick Fisher]

Shaper is reversible .. but I would rather do the top cut with a router if its stacked on top .. I dunno .. I have a buddy who's been running a shaper for years and years. I may ask him to help me.

[David Kumm]

I'm not a fan of those cutters on a 3/4" spindle but I'd probably set the feeder to run vertically, cut the tops on a piece deeper than needed. Leave enough extra on the bottom so a piece of 1/4 ply could act as an outboard or secondary fence and change the feeder to horizontal to run run the bottoms. Then joint the bottom to get back to the depth you want on the piece. I've not done that and i've found that experimenting usually changes my initial plan. I'd run some 2' scrap first. Dave

[J.R. Rutter]

I run cutters up above the table all the time with a hood and feeder guarding them. If I had to run this, I would set the feeder wheels at about 45 degrees to press the bottom corners into the fence-table. Might run a test piece to see where to position the feeder for the lower cuts after that.

With just a 3/4" spindle, I would take multiple passes with each portion of the profile.

[Mel Fulks]

Agree with J R. Those cutters need speed ,use the fastest. Look at the wood grain ,if you think there might be tear out round off the sharp corners before running on shaper ; using a round over router bit climb cutting or even a sander.

[Martin Wasner]

I'd get one in a different rotation and stack them, then do it in one pass with an out board fence. That way you don't have to worry about resetting a height. You'll be hogging a ton of material though so you'll likely need to make a bunch of small passes unless you've got a pretty serious shaper.

The notch in the bottom for the the spindles I'd just do with a dado head in a tablesaw for a small run after the rest has been milled.

Looking at the picture closer they are made to run the same direction.

[Larry Edgerton]

With a 3/4" spindle, and the limited HP you are working with I would do them with both cutters stacked but it two passes. First pass all but the last 1/4", then after all the parts are run both sides set up for the final pass and run that. Can't tell from the picture, but you will probably have to adjust your outboard fence out a touch for the final pass,, or do as has been suggested and set up an outboard fence. I would prefer the outboard fence but I am set up for that. I have a similar set, and its not as bad as it looks.

[Andy Giddings]

Rick, I knew I'd seen a similar shaper op on YouTube. If you watch from about 4:30 in you'll see a similar cut to the one you are doing. Bear in mind that the Hammer has a larger spindle and 4HP https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvR5k99PMiE. Looks like their feeder is setup to run parallel to the fence

[Joe Calhoon]

There are several ways this could be done and as Larry says it is not as bad as it might seem. It looks like your cutters will require removing the entire edge. I like Larrys idea of running stacked with 2 passes. The last pass you would either use the split fence removing a little from the edge or use the outboard fence. If you cannot stack that much on a 3/4" shaft you will have to do it in 4 passages.

We do a lot of custom handrail usually with corrugated cutters and sometimes using existing cutters and making a few passes sometimes with a tilted shaft just to use existing cutters.

Handrail cutters.jpg

When using the cutters shown we run with the round up and remove a millimeter from the edge in one pass. We have 1.25 shaft and a lot of HP. I would never climb cut these. If you have a solid machine and good tooling climb cutting is hardly ever necessary.
Sometimes you can remove one feeder wheel to get in closer but with 3 wheels this is not a good idea. Our feeders now have split wheels that work well for this.

When we have done these in several passes I have run the round both up and down. There is pro and con to each way. When running down you loose support the last few inches and likely to get a little snipe. Usually for something like this your lengths will be over by a few inches.

If new to the shaper take it slow and check the setups carefully. As Kevin mentioned the position of the feeder over the work is important. Too far one way or the other will cause tilting as the profile gets narrower.