I added a 5hp shaper to my shop and after securing some tooling I was able to try it out. Wow, I now get why people like these machines over routers. The quality of the milling is remarkable… I may have a hard time going back to my router table again.
That big chunk of spinning tooling sure does make you want to take advantage of every piece of safety equipment, it’s a little intimidating at first.
Replies
Welcome.
Now think what might happen if you get a sliding tablesaw. You might never look back again.
Enjoy...
David Ring
http://www.touchwood.co.il/?id=1&lang=e
David,I wish people would stop mentioning the mighty slider. Every time I convince myself that I wouldn't need one of these (I have a Festool TS55 and don't want to do that much work with panels), I see a post that makes me second guess myself! Hmm... maybe I should think slider!
OK, I won't bring it up again for at least a week. But don't kid yourself that its advantages are limited to panels. Ripping and crosscutting are light years better too...David Ring
http://www.touchwood.co.il/?id=1&lang=e
Ring, You're killing me!!!!
I do have a sliding tablesaw, 12" 5hp.
With 5 horses you need a feeder, and I sincerely hope you have had suitable instruction on the use of possibly the most versatile machine for woodworkers.
You will definitely be using the router table as well as there is a whole range of applications which is not shared between the two. that is if you are doing furniture making and the usual woodworking stuff.
With 5 horses you need a feeder..
My so called junk bandsaw will work wonders. The only thing lacking is ME pushing the 'stick'!..
I would think an adjustable speed power feeder would give a almost perfect cut!
Woodman ,
You are smart to be cautious when it comes to safety and shapers .
Really think of it as a larger router table with more capabilities . The safetys are much the same common sense you use with a router table , if it dosen't feel right don't do it .
dusty
Welcome to the club. The shaper is one of my fav machines, rock solid and cuts all day long without complaining. If you want some nice safety items you might want to take a look at the Aigner accessories. Martin sells them in the US and has a catalog online along with a complete price list. Panhans has a bunch of safety items too (both german companies), but it seems more difficult to get them in the US. The Aigner products are expensive, but they have some pretty great ideas to keep you away from the spinning mass.
Brad
A friend of mine has the Aigner fence, it's a really nice piece of engineering and a great example of quality manufacturing. At $1,200'ish, the price tag does cause one to pause.
The integral is something I sure want, but I think I would need a better hood first. The aigner parts are expensive, but once you get one its pretty easy to see how they end up costing what they do. The only piece I have yet is the Distometer. It is very handy.
If you want perfect stock take a look at the thickness stop. Many use an outboard fence, but that takes a bit of time to setup. I built a similar jig to the thickness stop out of wood and some 3/4" shaft stock that has worked very well. I flip up the power feeder and can run stock as quick as I can feed it in there without ever getting a hand close to the head.
Brad
Can you point me to a U.S. source for Aigner products? Thanks
martin-usa dot com. I suggest you not drool too much over the Martin machines. I dont think Aigner distributes to anyone else.
Brad
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