We've been doing a fair amount of cope and stick joinery lately, and
I'm less than satisfied with our method for profiling the end grain.
Seems to me that a sliding table would be the way to go. Do most of
you have a dedicated sled for this type of operation?
On a related note, it seems like a 3 spindle shaper would be a "very
good thing" to have, so you can leave the profiles for the raised
panels, cope and stick untouched for the entire milling operation.
Any thoughts?
JP
On Fri, 25 Jun 2004 16:41:36 -0400, Jay Pique <[email protected]> wrote:
>We've been doing a fair amount of cope and stick joinery lately, and
>I'm less than satisfied with our method for profiling the end grain.
>Seems to me that a sliding table would be the way to go. Do most of
>you have a dedicated sled for this type of operation?
>
I have the Woodtek 3 hp shaper and use the sliding table for precisely
this purpose. I have a jig that is held down by the sliding table's clamp.
This jig includes a piece at the rear of the cut to reduce tear-out.
>On a related note, it seems like a 3 spindle shaper would be a "very
>good thing" to have, so you can leave the profiles for the raised
>panels, cope and stick untouched for the entire milling operation.
>Any thoughts?
>
I'm not a production shop, so I can't comment on this, but it seems that
for a production shop, the cost of time to set-up and zero in on profiles
would easily justify such a setup.
>JP
I've got the sliding fixture Delta makes, works fine for a lot of things.
I suppose 3 would be nice. Setup time's the same, though. If the work flow
is correct, should equal a single spindle.
"Jay Pique" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> We've been doing a fair amount of cope and stick joinery lately, and
> I'm less than satisfied with our method for profiling the end grain.
> Seems to me that a sliding table would be the way to go. Do most of
> you have a dedicated sled for this type of operation?
>
> On a related note, it seems like a 3 spindle shaper would be a "very
> good thing" to have, so you can leave the profiles for the raised
> panels, cope and stick untouched for the entire milling operation.
> Any thoughts?
>
> JP
Most cabinet shops will have at least three shaper for door making. Cope,
stick, raised panel and perhaps edge detail. More if they have different
door profiles. The problem with one, is that every time you change from one
cutter to the next, you almost always have to reshim to get the proper fit.
This is especially bad when you realize you have to run another rail and you
have to go through the setup again. Unfortunately, I only have two shapers.
I might get another one, but I don't have large runs of doors ( more than
50) very often, and I am out of room in the shop. One thing I did that
helped a lot (I got the tip off the Delta site) was to buy an extra spindle.
Once I had a cutter shimmed correctly and had to change to another cutter, I
took the the cutter and spindle off the shaper in one unit and put in
another cutter/spindle. I marked the height of the cutters with a dial
indicator, so when I put it back on, it was within a thousandth or so. So
much better. I just tried this out with a run of about 100 door last month.
As usual, a couple of pieces go screwed up and I had to remake them. Using
the dial indicator, re-setting up went much quicker. Setting the fences
properly took the most time and it wasn't too bad. It went much faster than
before.
You might also check out http://www.weaver-sales.com/ for their 3 shaper
system. The one I wish I had.
Preston
"Jay Pique" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> We've been doing a fair amount of cope and stick joinery lately, and
> I'm less than satisfied with our method for profiling the end grain.
> Seems to me that a sliding table would be the way to go. Do most of
> you have a dedicated sled for this type of operation?
>
> On a related note, it seems like a 3 spindle shaper would be a "very
> good thing" to have, so you can leave the profiles for the raised
> panels, cope and stick untouched for the entire milling operation.
> Any thoughts?
>
> JP
On Fri, 25 Jun 2004 16:41:36 -0400, Jay Pique <[email protected]>
wrote:
>We've been doing a fair amount of cope and stick joinery lately, and
>I'm less than satisfied with our method for profiling the end grain.
>Seems to me that a sliding table would be the way to go. Do most of
>you have a dedicated sled for this type of operation?
>
>On a related note, it seems like a 3 spindle shaper would be a "very
>good thing" to have, so you can leave the profiles for the raised
>panels, cope and stick untouched for the entire milling operation.
>Any thoughts?
>
>JP
balance out cost, footprint and time..... if you have room, funds and
need for it, you may not be able to justify *not* having one...
On Sat, 26 Jun 2004 21:05:26 GMT, "Preston Andreas"
<[email protected]> wrote:
>Most cabinet shops will have at least three shaper for door making. Cope,
>stick, raised panel and perhaps edge detail. More if they have different
>door profiles. The problem with one, is that every time you change from one
>cutter to the next, you almost always have to reshim to get the proper fit.
>This is especially bad when you realize you have to run another rail and you
>have to go through the setup again. Unfortunately, I only have two shapers.
>I might get another one, but I don't have large runs of doors ( more than
>50) very often, and I am out of room in the shop. One thing I did that
>helped a lot (I got the tip off the Delta site) was to buy an extra spindle.
>Once I had a cutter shimmed correctly and had to change to another cutter, I
>took the the cutter and spindle off the shaper in one unit and put in
>another cutter/spindle. I marked the height of the cutters with a dial
>indicator, so when I put it back on, it was within a thousandth or so. So
>much better. I just tried this out with a run of about 100 door last month.
>As usual, a couple of pieces go screwed up and I had to remake them. Using
>the dial indicator, re-setting up went much quicker. Setting the fences
>properly took the most time and it wasn't too bad. It went much faster than
>before.
>
>You might also check out http://www.weaver-sales.com/ for their 3 shaper
>system. The one I wish I had.
Thanks for the info. I'm thinking along the same lines as you. I
contacted Grizzly to see about their 3 spindle set up, and was amazed
to hear that not only can it not support 3 separate power feeders - it
can't support even one!! They say that the table is too small to
mount a feeder on it. That will definitely eliminate them from the
running, as I've found a power feeder to be indispensible for clean
profiles.
WRT the weaver system, do you know if it supports power feeders?
Thanks for the info -
JP
>"Jay Pique" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>news:[email protected]...
>> We've been doing a fair amount of cope and stick joinery lately, and
>> I'm less than satisfied with our method for profiling the end grain.
>> Seems to me that a sliding table would be the way to go. Do most of
>> you have a dedicated sled for this type of operation?
>>
>> On a related note, it seems like a 3 spindle shaper would be a "very
>> good thing" to have, so you can leave the profiles for the raised
>> panels, cope and stick untouched for the entire milling operation.
>> Any thoughts?
>>
>> JP
>