Shaper or router table

[buckmaidt]

With the release of the CMS, I am now torn between the 2.  Is there a place where on is better than the other?  My operations will mainly be cope and stick (rail and stile) but there will always be the occasional edge shaping ect.

 

[mastercabman]

I would go with a router table
They are just fine for what you want to do.Lots of different bits and many places to get them.
Shapers are more for production work and/or large cutters.Cutter heads are more expensive and not avaible just anywhere.

 

[Alan m]

allthow the 2 set ups apear very similar they do two different jobs.
its like comparing a farrari and a land rover. on a track the farrari would be better but off road the 4 x 4 would easily work better than the farrari
the routertable and spindal moulder are like that . one is great at one job but not the other.
ideally you would want both

i would start with a router table because it will do everything  some jobs great some ok . the spindal moulder will only do some types of jobs and be great doing it but fail miserably at others.

 

[jacko9]

Cutting the end grain half of the cope and stick in woods like oak is going to be very difficult with a router.  I have multiple routers and a shaper but,  I suggest you decide on how much of this work your going to do before investing in a shaper.

Jack

 

[buckmaidt]

I should explain my situation better. One man shop mainly producing euro cabs with carcasses from melamine. Produce my own doors and drawer fronts as well as end panels, but I work out of a 600 sf building so space is a valuable commodity.  This is a one man one kitchen at a time shop doing own installs. Currently using a homemade router table but really looking to upgrade.

 

[polarsea1]

One other thing to consider is that while a high end router table may cost roughly the same as a shaper - tooling for a shaper is very much more expensive. 

 

[junk731]

With the release of the CMS, I am now torn between the 2.   Is there a place where on is better than the other?  My operations will mainly be cope and stick (rail and stile) but there will always be the occasional edge shaping ect.

I had a Jessem setup with the remote 3.5 HP Milwaukee router, the total package was around $1800.00. I went to a Felder F700Z shaper. The shaper has a tilting head, sliding table and replaceable spindles. I got the router spindle to run 1/2 bits. Currently with the tooling and accessories I've got about $15000.00 invested with more to come. It an expensive investment but it can do a lot more then any router table with the same footprint and opens up more avenues of work. It depends on what you want to invest in your business.

John

 

[tiralie]

With the release of the CMS, I am now torn between the 2.   Is there a place where on is better than the other?  My operations will mainly be cope and stick (rail and stile) but there will always be the occasional edge shaping ect.

I went to a Felder F700Z shaper. The shaper has a tilting head, sliding table and replaceable spindles. I got the router spindle to run 1/2 bits.

John:
That set up sounds sweet. Good to hear things are going well.
Tim

 

[junk731]

Hey Tim

Poverty is wonderful and things are going OK. I've had the shaper just over a year now and while the router table worked good, once you cross over to 30mm/1 1/4" insert shaper  tooling you don't want to use anything else. Setup time is about the same. I'll try and get a hold of you for coffee next visit to Oakville.

John