Replies

1. 
   ron61 | Aug 09, 2003 08:05pm | #1

   What are you talking about making with the cutters? They take more set up time

   They use them where I work to make doors and stay on the shapers- The reason they use them for doors was hard to get the cutters to match each other when sharpened- Inserts put them on when dull throw them away replace with new. They last about a year using them every day many many doors.

   They are great If you are not needing to change to do different operations all the time

   I don't know much about chip limiters - but do know that a Feeder on a shaper is worth  the money
1. 
   harry11733 | Aug 09, 2003 08:23pm | #2

   I will be making one-off pieces of furniture and short runs of mouldings. I want to keep the price for the cutters to a minimum so an insert system seemed a better choice than individual cutters. I won't be using them for any serious production runs.

1. 
   clampman2 | Aug 14, 2003 07:50am | #3

   I don't know what type of head you are talking about by brand name, nor the size moldings you are after so it is difficult for me to answer your question.

   I think you are talking about the aluminum heads costing about a hundred bucks that use 2 small knives each held in place by one gib screw. I have several of these heads for making small moldings of up to about 1 1/2 inches wide - approximately the max width of the knife. These are fast to change knives in, needing no measuring devices since they are auto- aligning. They are very quick to set up and well worth the investment. They cannot normally be used with rub collars.

   Corregated back heads are typically made of steel, very heavy and unsuitable for a 3/4 spindle in my opinion. They are used for much wider profiles. They cannot be used with rub collars either.

   Lockedge pinch collars are expensive, relatively slow to knife up, more subject to potentially fatal operator error, use the most expensive steel for knives, but can be used with rub collars. I use a dial indicator to set the knives. They are the ones I use most often for radius work. Again, I would hesitate to use them on a 3/4 spindle.

   In fact, I would buy a 1 1/4" spindle, and an Italian or German power feed if you can possibly swing it, with the power feed first on the list. Grizzio, Stephi, Maggi, Holz Her, even new, are not much more than the other brands.

   Good luck,

   Clampman

2. 
   rslatm | Aug 14, 2003 03:45pm | #4

   Check out the Magic Moulder by LRH.  You can use the same knives in a tablesaw head or the smaller diameter shaper head. The advantage to using the table saw is being able to tilt the arbor so one profile becomes many profiles.
3. 
   migraine | Aug 14, 2003 06:12pm | #5

   If your are talking about loose knive profiles such as Clampman has stated, then the knives work great and the profiles are reasonably priced.  That is for high speed steel.  Now, if you are talking carbide for moulding profiles or cope/stick, then I would suggest you stay with 2 or 3 wing cutteres.  Again, this depends on the amount of use you have in mind.  I have seen some of the insert sets that come with 4-5 different cope/stick profiles and they have sparked my interest.  My favorite cutter brand is "Freeborn" and they have different levels of cost, depending on the diameter, # of cutters, etc.  I also have a cutter set that has about 50+ stock profiles that mount in an aluminum head.  Most of these profiles are not worth any thing, so I have reground them to different profiles with a "Viel Profile Grinder" as seen in Fine Woodworking.   My set is made by Weaver(I think) and I believe Amana and some other companies sell these sets.  Try calling Ballew Saw and Tool, their # is 1-800-cut-rite.  Their service is great and they have great prices on grinding also.

   I also have one insert knife set that is used for flush trimming with a custom sized rub bearing.  This thing was worth every penny spent since I do alot of mold making and template profiling.  The knives last a great while, even in MDF, PB, and plywood.  The best reason for this set was that once a regular flush bit is sharpened, it doesn't match the bearing any more