shaper molding head help requested.

[bridger berdel]

I have a delta HD shaper. the HD stands for Heavy Duty, which I guess it is, for a home shop machine. it sports a 1HP repulsion/induction motor, which if my calculations are correct is pullied to spin the spindle at about 9000RPM. I just ordered a power feeder for it, and am considering investing in a cutterhead which accepts replaceable knives. the sort of thing I'm looking at are like:

http://www.grizzly.com/products/3-Mo...h-1-Bore/D1701 (for which I'd need to buy a 1" spindle)

http://www.oellasawandtool.com/produ...4%22-Bore.html


less interesting to me are this type of head:

http://www.cmtutensili.com/show_item...pars=HK~692A~2

which has a larger diameter and shorter cutter length. I have a couple of similar heads from sears. they don't seem particularly safe or useful.


Of the above, the schmidt head looks to be the better quality, steel rather than aluminum as in the grizz unit. one question I don't see an answer to is if the corrugated cutters are exchangeable between the two- if I buy the schmidt head can I use the grizz knives in it?

But I also am seeking more general information. Is this a Bad Idea? are there better, easier, safer, cheaper solutions that I haven't considered? Other manufacturers of similar heads to look at? someone out there with used tooling they'd sell me cheap?

[Rod Sheridan]

The Euro block heads are safer for 2 reasons, pinned knives and they are available in chip limitation design.

Corrugated heads are common commercially, however I never recommend them for hobby users.

On the same note, your shaper may not be capable of running these heads, considering power and spindle size.

I would concentrate on finding a more current, capable shaper..........Regards, Rod.

[Jeff Duncan]

I'll echo what Rod said....for a small home shop the CMT (Euro head), is the way to go for a first purchase. Additionally if you search older threads we've discussed the different heads fairly extensively and you'll find a lot of good advice.

Oh and I did try one set of Grizzly knives several years ago to try and pull off a profile for as little cost as possible. I had used their router bits before and they were decent enough for the cost. It was the worst looking shaper knife I've ever come across and looked like it had been cast as opposed to milled and ground! However it did fit my head and worked well enough to get that small job done. I threw the knives out after that though they were just so poorly made.

good luck,
JeffD

[Mel Fulks]

I've never tried any steel Grizzly knives. I'm guessing that there is no stock of knives ,but only templates. They just make them per order. Jeff's purchase sounds like a case of Grizzly employee "ain't gonna knock myself out for one set of cheap knives". As I've said before ,the quality of knife grinding was better when it took some skill.

[Dave Cav]

I have two HD shapers. (It's only heavy duty when compared with the Delta "Light Duty" shaper.) I have the CMT set you referenced and it works fine as long as you don't try to take a huge cut with it. I also have a number of carbide cutters from various sources, mostly for making doors or rabbetting; most of them I picked up used as odd lots of stuff. Like the guys said upthread, the corrugated heads are for bigger shapers and professional shops that use them.

[John Lankers]

Rod pretty much nailed it, also another limiting factor is your spindle rpm which is to high for cutters over 3" diameter and the 3/4" spindle is not stiff enough to keep it from flexing during operation, even with the cutters you are considering. It just isn't safe IMO.

[lowell holmes]

I have a shaper and use it occasionally. I've had it for 25 years. I consider shapers and router tables to be inherently dangerous tools to use.

Regardless of the the push blocks and guards, my fingers end up too close to cutters flying at very high speed.

I also fear a board exploding as it approaches the cutters.

None of this has ever happened to me, but still . . . . ............

[Ronald Mancini]

A feeder is an excellent accessory for a shaper. It protects the operator from the knives and it insures a steady feed rate.

[Mark Wooden]

I use a small(2x 2-3/4) 16-60 corrugated schmidt head on my 3/4" spindle frequently, no problems if you keep your knives sharp. A 3" tall head might be a little too big of a cut for that machine.
Any 1/4" & 5/16" 16- 60 corrugated knives will fit the head. I'd stay away from aluminum heads

[Mel Fulks]

Agree with Mark on all points. The aluminum heads seem to always be unbalanced even though they show failed efforts toward balancing .

[John Lankers]

A feeder is an excellent accessory for a shaper. It protects the operator from the knives and it insures a steady feed rate.

I couldn't agree more, but most if not all power feeders bottom out at 10'/minute which is much too fast for a 1hp shaper spinning a cutter this size.

[Jeff Duncan]

I've never tried any steel Grizzly knives. I'm guessing that there is no stock of knives ,but only templates. They just make them per order. Jeff's purchase sounds like a case of Grizzly employee "ain't gonna knock myself out for one set of cheap knives". As I've said before ,the quality of knife grinding was better when it took some skill.

No these were a stock item which is why it was so cheap, and I wish I had a pic of them as my explanation is probably not great. They literally looked like they were cast as a profiled knife.....cutting edge and all, not one part of the knife looked as though it had undergone and type of grinding, from the corrugations to the edge. Like I said though it did work.....to my surprise, so take it for what it's worth.

I have used a couple aluminum Euro heads and had no trouble, although I did not use them on light machines so can't say what they'd be like on a little Delta.


good luck,
JeffD

[brent stanley]

You're going to be fairly limited by the spindle size and power, but if you invest in a larger spindle, you could consider a multi-purpose combination head that does more than one thing for the price of one head. If I had it to do over again, I would go this route, but you may not be able to safely run even the smallest head: http://www.whitehill-tools.com/catal...?cid=2&c2id=60

The smallest head is essentially the very popular euroblock (with a shear cut rebate block to boot) which takes the 40mm knives as well as the 55mm ones though 55mm of profile would certainly be too much for your machine!

B