Moulders

[Dean Chapel]

Weinig has been the undisputed champ of moulder quality for years. I need a moulder for dowel making, and my previous one just could not maintain the tolerances I needed. Another one I am considering is the SCM model. Anyone have experience with the SCM moulder line and can educate me as to their quality compared to weinig?

Thanks, Dean

[Martin Wasner]

What's your budget?

I just bought a five head Leadermac used. Replacement cost is $54,000 as a reference.

I've got some SCM stuff in my shop, I can't speak for their moulders, but what I have doesn't blow me away. It's nice, and does a good job, but I feel it's lacking in beefiness.

I've been told Weinig isn't the company it once was anymore either.

[Dean Chapel]

Looking in the used market for less than $20K. Making a perfectly round dowel is harder to do than most people think. It takes a pretty precise machine to do that, I think. My old moulder sure wasn't up to the task.

[J.R. Rutter]

I have an SCMI Compact 23K, which is (was) their starter 5-head. It is precise enough for my needs, but is a bit fiddly to return to exact position for different profiles. The Superset is their main workhorse, and I think it would be versatile enough and precise enough for you. The Topset is their high end, high speed line.

[Martin Wasner]

Looking in the used market for less than $20K. Making a perfectly round dowel is harder to do than most people think. It takes a pretty precise machine to do that, I think. My old moulder sure wasn't up to the task.

There's a lot of machines out there in that $20k range.

Look for the bigger spindles like 1-13/16".

There was a really low hour Martin on woodweb a while back for around $30k. I was lusting after that, but just wasn't in the budget without sacrificing some other tool budget related goals.

I paid $12,500 for my Leadermac. It came with zero tooling or heads. I figure I'll have about $5k into heads and knives just for doing SiS and door sticking. Probably double that if I want to run the handful of mouldings I use with my cabinets.

[Martin Wasner]

Are you doing just dowels? Or will the setup change regularly?

JR brings up a good point about returning to settings. I'm just thinking about dedicated carbide insert heads that you just pitch once they go dull. That way you can either change out tooling without pulling the head, or just pull the head and all not have to make any spindle adjustments with having to counter for missing steel after sharpening.

I'm curious how dowels are made if you care to share that information.

[Darcy Warner]

Are you doing just dowels? Or will the setup change regularly?

JR brings up a good point about returning to settings. I'm just thinking about dedicated carbide insert heads that you just pitch once they go dull. That way you can either change out tooling without pulling the head, or just pull the head and all not have to make any spindle adjustments with having to counter for missing steel after sharpening.

I'm curious how dowels are made if you care to share that information.

By using a dedicated dowel machine?

Ledarmac is basically a weinig copy. Heck, lots of the parts interchange.

Use your counters, add a digital read out, and have some lumber laying around for set up sticks. It's not that hard to go back, only thing that changes is top an outside heads (ok could be two top heads).

[Dean Chapel]

Dowelling with moulder is just top knives making the upper 1/2 round and the bottom knife making the bottom half. If they don't meet up extremely precisely, it's good for tomato stakes only. Tomatoes don't grow well in MT.

[J.R. Rutter]

Seems like a custom shoe after the top cutter / above the last bottom to keep the stock steady will be the key.