Hi Howard,
I have no experience with small shapers but do use the large shaper in my European combo machine all the time. 3/4" is the very smallest spindle I would be comfortable using and much prefer 30mm or 1.25". When the shaper cutter gets very big/heavy the smaller spindle can deflect and whip so be sure to size your cutter to this smaller spindle. Also, make sure the cutter is designed for hand feeding. Shaper cutters come in hand feed and power feed shapes. It is not safe to hand feed wood past a cutter designed for power feeding. I would avoid the 1/2" spindle as I do not think it stable enough to work safely.
The Jet machine link does not indicate where the router collets mount, but if they mount to the end of the 1/2 or 3/4" spindles then the cutter will be quite a ways away from the upper bearing and may wobble resulting in a less than steller cut. A good table mounted router has an upper bearing very close to the cutter and likely would provide more bit stability. For home use, over time I think you would be better seved by a good quality router table and industrial class table mounted router. If you plan to do production runs then get a much larger industrial shaper with a power feeder.
On a router table, use horizontal panel raising bits, not the vertical variety, and one that has chip limiters built in. Stay away from the cheap two wing cutters. Pay for a good quality bit that is well balanced and work safely. For a simple, elegant look that does not require hogging off a lot of wood, look at the 15 degree bits sold as "Shaker style" bits. Festool also sells an interesting panel cutter that uses a rounded, almost bead like profile that has a nice modern look. It does not require removing a lot of wood in one pass as you first cut a simple rebate to establish the tongue and then profile the edge of the rebate. Part of the appearance profile is cut by the R & S cutters and part with the panel raiser bit. To help you find it in the catalog the numbers are 491-129, 491-130, 491-138. Hope this helps.
Jerry
HowardH said:
Ok, folks. I am going to undertake a fairly big project, refacing all the cabinet doors in my kitchen. 31 to be exact. I don't have a router table and my original plan was to build Norm's cabinet and then attach an aftermarket table, fence and lift. I was in Rockler looking at options and one of the salesguys suggested to look at this Jet 1.5 hp shaper instead. He made some compelling arguments, at least to my mostly uneducated ears.
Pros: about half the footprint. Big with LOML.
easy to set up
powerful, even with only 1.5 horse since it is a true rating
110 or 220, don't need to necessarily rewire but I'm adding a sub panel anyway (tired of tripping
breakers when I have planer + DC going)
Less expensive - about $650 whereas the entire RT setup would be close to a $1000.
Cons: you tell me. I don't have any experience with shapers so help me out. I know I would not be
gaining any additional storage from the router table if I go the shaper route.
What do you guys think?
, I'm thinking flat or glass here because I don't see how any raised profile would work. Festool's panel cutter belongs with the other set.
