Shaper or router for small crown molding?

[Jim Mackell]

I need to make about 50 lineal feet of miniature crown molding. The width of the face is just a hair under 2 inches and the molding will be roughly 1/2 inch thick. Can't find a similar profile in any of the catalogs I've looked at. So we probably need to buy a bit. We have both a shaper and a good router table setup. Any recommendations on which avenue would be best to pursue? Any recommendations on best suppliers for custom profiles?

Thanks!

[Mel Fulks]

I would use a corrugated head on the shaper. Insist on real M2 steel ,not something " same hardness as M2" . Make it clear the knives must have good sharp well defined points and corners. Put dimensions on your drawing , in case of distortion.

[Peter Christensen]

For 50 feet I would use whatever tools (router, table saw, shaper, hand planes, scrapers, sandpaper) with multiple cuts to get the profile rather than spend money on more tooling you won't use again. You'll have the job done by the time you locate a custom router bit or shaper tooling. Different if you expect to make more in the future but for a one off nibbling away in several passes is better to me.

[Jeff Duncan]

Depends on what your budget is and what tooling you already have. If you have a corrugated head and have a bit of leeway with cost I'd go with corrugated knives. There are plenty of suppliers out there but CG Schmidt is one in particular that will provide quality stuff. If on the other hand you had a Euro head handy I would have knives made for that....much cheaper and will certainly get the job done. Custom router bits I try to avoid as they're a bit spendy and if you have a shaper....why bother?

You may also consider the type of work you may be doing in the future. If you think you'll run into more if these situations it can be very handy to have a corrugated, or Euro, (though ideally both), head lying around

good luck,
JeffD

[Wayne Lomman]

Shaper will give you a better result. You know what your resources are but mouldings are always better off the shaper. Cheers

[Keith Hankins]

Could you post a pic of the profile. Could easily be made by CNC if profile cannot be found

[lowell holmes]

You can find shaper cutters, but they are expensive.

[Rod Sheridan]

You can find shaper cutters, but they are expensive.

Hi Lowell, I find the opposite, large router bits are expensive, steel knives for the shaper aren't...................Regards, Rod.

[Jim Mackell]

Depends on what your budget is and what tooling you already have. If you have a corrugated head and have a bit of leeway with cost I'd go with corrugated knives. There are plenty of suppliers out there but CG Schmidt is one in particular that will provide quality stuff. If on the other hand you had a Euro head handy I would have knives made for that....much cheaper and will certainly get the job done. Custom router bits I try to avoid as they're a bit spendy and if you have a shaper....why bother?

You may also consider the type of work you may be doing in the future. If you think you'll run into more if these situations it can be very handy to have a corrugated, or Euro, (though ideally both), head lying around

good luck,
JeffD

Jeff, I'm fairly new to the shaper world. So far all the knives we've purchased have been solid chunks of steel and/or carbide from Grizzly and the like. Could you explain the difference between a corrugated head and a Euro head? I've seen the inserts for corrugated, so I have the basic concept. But can't seem to find a good explanation of the difference with the Euro. We do make lots of molding in small quantities and being able to just changes inserts would be a considerable savings.
J

[Jim Mackell]

Could you post a pic of the profile. Could easily be made by CNC if profile cannot be found

Here's the profile.
miniature crown molding.pdf

[Mel Fulks]

I consider that a "bed mould", if you have been looking up crown, try term change. And if it has corners all rounded off the way the drawing is ...I would not use it.

[rudy de haas]

Shaper - if you have a power feeder; otherwise the router appraoch will be easier. What I find is that long thin pieces, like your moulding, are hard to keep straight and in place when hand fed to the shaper but a power feeder produces consistently good results even with long, thin, input.

As for cutters: they're painfully expensive - one solution I am told is great (but don't know, as I'm currently looking for a kit like http://www.kingcanada.com/detail/uni...erhead-kit/760 this one) is a kit that lets you set the knives to make your own profiles. Sometimes (I'm told) this means you have to make several passes, but if you're not getting paid on piece work then so what if it takes extra set-up time?

[Jim Mackell]

I consider that a "bed mould", if you have been looking up crown, try term change. And if it has corners all rounded off the way the drawing is ...I would not use it.

Never heard that term before, Mel. Thanks for that tip. Google does have some interesting and different results using that term. The drawing is my amateur attempt to show the "face" of the molding. It does have the appropriate shoulders to fit snugly into a 90 degree corner.

[Wayne Lomman]

Nothing wrong with the profile. It's your design so don't worry about the rest.

Having seen your sketch, this is best on a 4-sider but it will work with either router or spindle moulder. The difference will be quality of finish off the machine. You could actually do it in 2 stages - centre curve with the spindle, detailed edge with router or spindle. Cheaper cutters and more useful for other work.

Either way, it will machine much better if you start with wider stock, mould both edges and then finish to 1/2" thick accurately on the saw after moulding. This way you aren't trying to machine a floppy piece of timber and the sawn back face doesn't matter. (see, there are times to saw last!). The wider stock will much improve the router finish. Cheers

[Keith Hankins]

Well good luck if you don't find shoot me a note, If I had a piece I could do it on my CNC. Looks interesting.