Replies

1. 
   forestgirl | Nov 22, 2004 08:02pm | #1

   Oooo, I don't think you want to go there.  The Delta SH100 is a toy.  I was tempted by it a few years ago when I needed a decent router in a real table, but an up-close examination eliminated it quickly.  Fence is hard to adjust, table is small, spindle speed is s-l-o-w. 

   You could easily put together a good router in a home-made table for a similar price.  The Milwaukee 2.25HP is a good example.  You get above-the-table adjustment capability and good power for $179.  Your home-made table doesn't have to be real fancy, and if you're building cabinets, you'll have plenty of scrap around.  Make adjustable subfences for your main fence, such that the outfeed will accept shimming material, and you're in business.

   For $269, you can get the Porter Cable combo set (fixed and pluge base), again with above-the-table adjustment built in.

   Remember too that you can joint with a handheld router, using a straightedge and a bearing-piloted bit.

   forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
   Another proud member of the  "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>) 

   
   

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   Edited 11/22/2004 12:04 pm ET by forestgirl

2. 
   ian | Nov 23, 2004 03:09pm | #2

   Have to disagree with Jamie.  I have a Delta router/shaper with a 240V  1¼hp motor – standard Aussie suppy is 240V.  and I think it was a reasonable buy for what it does.

   Why did I get it?  At the time I looked at my options and decided that a variable speed router plus a table plus a fence plus a router lift was just too much of an investment.  I also realised (from lurking here) that a router table really meant owning two routers – one (must be variable speed) in the table and one (probably variable speed also) to use hand held.   About three years ago there was a lot of discussion on this topic and the consensus I gleamed was that whilst people started out believing that one router was all they needed, the convience of keeping one unit fixed in the table quickly won out.  So I ended up with the Delta plus a variable speed Makita and have recently bought a third router. 

   I have never found the spindle speed to be too low even with small (<½" dia bits) and when you spin a large bit (like a panel raising bit) S-L-O-W is just what you must have.  Others might jump in here but high speeds (>20,000 RPM) really demand high feed rates for a good cut – and this is often difficult to do by hand.  

   As to motor power, mine has an induction motor which means that it develops more torque (=cutting force) than a similarly rated universal motor as found on a hand held router.  Also, issues associated with teh quality of cut usually mean that wheer you need to remove a lot of material you do it in small bites.

   I have never found the table too small.  Whenever I have to run long pieces through the table saw, bandsaw, thicknesser or the Delta I wheel the machine to where I have the space required and use roller stands as infeed and outfeed supports.  

   The fence is, as Jamie says, a female dog to adjust.  On those occasions where a well adjusted fence is critical, I've simply attached a one piece false fence across both halves of the original.  One of these days I'll replace it completely with a shop built one.

   The height adjustment mechanism could be a lot better, but it's functional once you allow for the mechanism's backlash.

   In summary, for what you get, the Delta is not a bad buy.  Accept and learn to work around the machine's limitations and use the dollars you save for other tools.  This is not about accepting a shoddy tool, it's about recognising that a small shaper without the "problems" Jamie identified costs a whole lot more than the Delta does, so for me this was a case of the lower price off-setting the "problems". 

   More importantly, you suggest that you're looking to use a table mounted router as a replacement for a jointer — don't.  A jointer is designed to flatten one face of a board and to true one edge at 90deg to that face.  A router with a long straight edge will true the edge for you, but flattening the face or truing edges to angles other than 90deg are not tasks for a router.

   Ian

3. 
   mike4244 | Nov 23, 2004 11:12pm | #3

   I've used a delta router-shaper, do not know what model. I was very surprised that this little shaper could raise panels. The shaper did a good job, need multiple passes, but you expect that with a small machine. This shaper was used all day long for months , never broke down.We were working on a ship that was being converted to a restaurant, could not bring a large shaper over a narrow gangplank. All machines had to be contractor types because of the gangplank. Naturally ,when we were almost finished they installed a 10'-0" wide gangplank.

   mike

4. 
   jquinn | Nov 24, 2004 02:08am | #4

   I received one as a Christmas gift several years ago and I do use it, but I prefer the router table I built which is also the extension table on my table saw.

   I find the collet on the small Delta shaper very had to loosen when changing bits.  Count on skinning your knuckles every time.  The 1/4" collet was made of the most pathetic pot metal I swear and did not last long.  Another gripe is that when you set the height and then tighten it down, it moves - up and at an angle it looks.

   Also agree that the fence is poor - my complaint is mostly that it is very difficult to tighten the carriage bolts down because they spin alot and you can't really hold them tight.

   I have never tried to use it with shaper cutters. 

   Better to build your own router table - it can do the same work and more. 

5. 
   Malcolm2 | Nov 24, 2004 06:59am | #5

   I started out many years ago with a little French-built combo machine (a Kity) that had a shaper, as I recall. When I could afford to, I upgraded to a stand-alone Italian shaper that I could bolt a 4-wheel power feed onto for climb-cutting and production runs of T and VG.

   That was then. Now I have a big variable-speed soft-start Makita sitting under a shop-built extension of my dimension saw, with a unilift and a rotating fence (fixed at one end) and I'm very pleased with it. No, actually, I love it.

   I could have bought a decent shaper for the same as the router and lift, but for the small-scale precision work I now do, a router is more versatile. I also, incidentally, have two other routers - a mid-size Ryobi, and an entry-level POS that I never use.

   What's the point? Horses for courses I guess!

   Malcolm

   
   

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   Edited 11/23/2004 11:00 pm ET by kiwimac2