Anyone interested in a shaper (aka, spindle moulder, Toupie, Tischfräse) conversation?

purplezr2

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Thoughts on tilting shapers, forward vs rearward.

Also jealous of the deals you are able to find. I thought I scored on my RS-15 for 600 with a Maggi Vario 3 feeder. I did put new bearings in both the shaper and feeder.
 
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jar944

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Thoughts on tilting shapers, forward vs rearward.

Also jealous of the deals you are able to find. I thought I scored on my RS-15 for 600 with a Maggi Vario 3 feeder. I did put new bearings in both the shaper and feeder.

600 for a rs15 with feeder is a great deal, even needing bearings.

As for forward vs rearward tilt, it's mostly marketing hype imho. The common setup on the older euro shapers was 5 degrees back and 45 degrees forward. On some like the Martin (and invicta) you can spin the fence 360 degrees on the outer table ring to run in the back side if you needed the opposite tilt. I believe its only felder suggesting rearward tilt is somehow superior.
 
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jar944

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Expanding on tilting shapers (everyone needs at least one)

There are ways around it (by building fixtures to angle the wood when running through the shaper) however it's a lot easier to just tilt the spindle.

This picture frame material was cut with the amana rebate head up thread by tilting the spindle.
Screenshot_20260110_162142_Gallery.jpgScreenshot_20260110_161503_Gallery.jpg
Screenshot_20260401_194547_Gallery.jpg

Beyond matching angles, you can adjust profiles of existing knives to match the profile you are trying to create by tilting the spindle. Or alternatively you can have a knife ground to take advantage of the tilt to lessen the projection of the knife (typically limited to 3x the knife thickness)


Not the greatest use case but..
 
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Bessy

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Recently acquired a shaper that I had a line on for a good long while, tooling is definitely more expensive than router bits, but the quality of a heavy 3hp machine compared to my previous router-in-table situation is just far superior, as is the ability to use heavier duty cutters. I'm already looking at how I can justify and shoe-horn a second shaper into the shop, and this thread making mention of a tilting arbor has now made that a priority to find, as is the fact that the next shaper I want to either purchase with, or retrofit for a sliding table.
 
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