Hi mammy
Well Mike and Corey made a good point
, The router can do more jobs than the shaper that said, it takes more Guts to run a shaper, the norm, i.e. a simple 1/2" dado can be tricky on the shaper the stock must be on edge and you can only get the slot about 1 1/2" from the edge of the stock the norm, let's take a Dovetail slot forget that one on the shaper, lets take a 1/8" slot cutters forget them on the shaper, but most of the other cuts can be done very well on the shaper and the cutters turn at 10,000 rpm and just right for the size of most shaper cutter and sometimes it's two fast. (it's a real Guts machine)
If you like a clean shop, the shaper is not the tool for you they make a big mess ,just the way they are setup they don't pickup alot of the chips unless you have a big Vac.System pulling them in.
Now for the router table , it's not so much the cost of the router table setup it's the cost of the bits, you will before long have more money in the bits than the table setup that's why you need to keep the cost of the router table down as low as you can by making your own router table and then get the best router you can get.
I should say one thing about the speed of bits in the router, SPEED KILLS,it kills most bits, they don't need to be ran at 24,ooo rpm to do a good job,speed is heat and that will kill bits in a heart beat the feed of the stock into the bit is the key, that's if you want to keep your bits the router will tell you want it needs to do a good job, it has a voice so to speak
Once you cook the bit that's it (turn in blue) it's done for good the norm.
It's like driving a stick shift for the 1st time you must learn how to do it.
I know this may not be a big help but it comes down to what you want to do.
There are more Cons. than Pros. for the shaper but it comes down to one point ,(what you want out of the system)
Bj
Well Mike and Corey made a good point
, The router can do more jobs than the shaper that said, it takes more Guts to run a shaper, the norm, i.e. a simple 1/2" dado can be tricky on the shaper the stock must be on edge and you can only get the slot about 1 1/2" from the edge of the stock the norm, let's take a Dovetail slot forget that one on the shaper, lets take a 1/8" slot cutters forget them on the shaper, but most of the other cuts can be done very well on the shaper and the cutters turn at 10,000 rpm and just right for the size of most shaper cutter and sometimes it's two fast. (it's a real Guts machine)If you like a clean shop, the shaper is not the tool for you they make a big mess ,just the way they are setup they don't pickup alot of the chips unless you have a big Vac.System pulling them in.
Now for the router table , it's not so much the cost of the router table setup it's the cost of the bits, you will before long have more money in the bits than the table setup that's why you need to keep the cost of the router table down as low as you can by making your own router table and then get the best router you can get.
I should say one thing about the speed of bits in the router, SPEED KILLS,it kills most bits, they don't need to be ran at 24,ooo rpm to do a good job,speed is heat and that will kill bits in a heart beat the feed of the stock into the bit is the key, that's if you want to keep your bits the router will tell you want it needs to do a good job, it has a voice so to speak
Once you cook the bit that's it (turn in blue) it's done for good the norm.
It's like driving a stick shift for the 1st time you must learn how to do it.
I know this may not be a big help but it comes down to what you want to do.
There are more Cons. than Pros. for the shaper but it comes down to one point ,(what you want out of the system)
Bj
mammy said:
