Shaper or Router
- Thread starter Hummy
- Start date
What tasks are you planning to use your router table/shaper for?
I have a table-mounted router, and have never found it lacking in either canoe work (rounding over rib edges) or guitar work.
I have a table-mounted router, and have never found it lacking in either canoe work (rounding over rib edges) or guitar work.
pklonowski
Unrepentant Canoeist
My router table works for making baseboard & various other kinds of trim. Just make sure your table stays flat, your fence is square & solid, and your fingers stay away from the cutter. Fingerboards (pressureboards) are a good idea.
Paul Miller
Canoe Nut
If you have the room for the shaper and the room to use it, I vote shaper.
I hardly use my routers since I've had the shaper. You can do more with it and put more pressure on it then you could ever put on a router table; the shaper does not move. Especially when working gunnels, although I still use a router on some gunnel work. Because it is so stable and you can go real small or real big with bits, you can get things done faster and more accurately.
They are the most dangerous tool after a radial arm saw, but they do have safety devices that can be used without much interference.
My 2 cents,
Paul
I hardly use my routers since I've had the shaper. You can do more with it and put more pressure on it then you could ever put on a router table; the shaper does not move. Especially when working gunnels, although I still use a router on some gunnel work. Because it is so stable and you can go real small or real big with bits, you can get things done faster and more accurately.
They are the most dangerous tool after a radial arm saw, but they do have safety devices that can be used without much interference.
My 2 cents,
Paul
OP
OP
Hummy
Canoe Dude
Thanx all. I'm going to be doing some gunwale fabrication on this OTCA and Rushton and a few other canoe odds and ends. For the sameish money I can pick up an older used stand alone shaper, probably have more power than most bench top router rigs and a longer table as well. I've had great luck with older equipment. Its heavy and bulky but not a big deal for me. When I got the tablesaw, I had looked at these plastic big box store machines for top dollar. I got a nice big heavy Craftsman with accessories for under a hundred bux....
Dan Lindberg
Ex Wood Hoarder
Hummy,
If you like old heavy machines, have you found the OWWM sites yet?
BTW, I plan to go to a light duty shaper (Delta), just don't need the larger heavy duty versions.
Paul,
This could be quite a discussion.
It's kind-of a Ford or Chevy discussion.
And I suspect if records are kept, the number of body parts lost to table saws is much greater than RAS.
With either it comes down to operator knowledge and care.
"They are the most dangerous tool after a radial arm saw"
Dan
If you like old heavy machines, have you found the OWWM sites yet?
BTW, I plan to go to a light duty shaper (Delta), just don't need the larger heavy duty versions.
Paul,
This could be quite a discussion.
It's kind-of a Ford or Chevy discussion.And I suspect if records are kept, the number of body parts lost to table saws is much greater than RAS.
With either it comes down to operator knowledge and care.
"They are the most dangerous tool after a radial arm saw"
Dan
pklonowski
Unrepentant Canoeist
The most dangerous tool in a woodshop is the operator... plain and simple.
Paul Miller
Canoe Nut
Hi Dan,
We will have to get an actuary involved here and do a per hour of operation of the RAS vs TS.
Same for the shaper.
I do recall a college forensics class I took about cause and time of death. There was a guy who cut his head off with a Band Saw. (not by accident)
Happy paddling and be safe,
Paul
We will have to get an actuary involved here and do a per hour of operation of the RAS vs TS.
Same for the shaper.
I do recall a college forensics class I took about cause and time of death. There was a guy who cut his head off with a Band Saw. (not by accident)
Happy paddling and be safe,
Paul
pklonowski
Unrepentant Canoeist
Everybody, just keep your body parts out of the way of the cutters, and we'll all be fine... really! Besides which, we'll keep the lawyers out of it...
Dan Lindberg
Ex Wood Hoarder
Paul K nailed it.
This would just ruin a guys day.
Being that the human body is just a bag of water, any sharp tool moving at speed would have little trouble doing a lot of damage.
Agreed, be careful and be safe.
Dan
This would just ruin a guys day.
Being that the human body is just a bag of water, any sharp tool moving at speed would have little trouble doing a lot of damage.
Agreed, be careful and be safe.
Dan
OP
OP
Hummy
Canoe Dude
I'm with Paul K on the operator. I was nearly killed as teenager in a tech class, took a kick back just below my nose, I was out before I hit the floor, woke a a few days later with considerable bone work done in my face. I learned an awful lot from that experience. Once we had a case where a home shop guy lost control of a piece of sheetmetal in a drill press and got himself in the carotid. He didn't even make it up the stairs. Awful.
I checked out the OWWM, that stuff is a bit too old for me...
I checked out the OWWM, that stuff is a bit too old for me...
pklonowski
Unrepentant Canoeist
I worked way too long in the trades, I guess... saw way too many similar injuries. My brother was knocked unconscious by a table saw kickback; just one of far too many incidents I've watched unfold... I have ten (not 9.7... not 7.3....) fingers, and all other parts are functioning as expected. I really hope everyone else here can keep it that way... whichever tool you choose, be careful; use the safety devices. Yes, it slows production... until you include in the "production" calculation the traumatic injuries...
Dan Lindberg
Ex Wood Hoarder
Don't let the guys with the real old stuff scare you off, there's plenty of very good machines made in the 50s and 60s that get talked about too.
I use an older floor model Delta shaper with a stock feeder for long runs. Very safe and accurate. As has been stated the most dangerous part of any bladed operation is the operator. I get a kick out of betting little kids that they have more fingernails than I do. They always win.
R.C.
R.C.
