Going to build my own solid wood interior doors in my house as well as rip out my oak cabinets because I hate oak and there are some other projects I will get to eventually like some trim and crown replacement.

I am curious if anyone has recommendations on the best cutters and accessories for one and where to buy them.

If I am not doing mass production would a 1/8 HP power feeder be OK or do I spend the extra and get at least the 1/4 HP?

Also, if I have a shaper and a planer already, would it be beneficial to purchase a planer/molder to build my own trim and crown or would that only save me some time vs just doing it with the tools that I already have? I was looking at the Shop Fox W1812 since it can do 6 3/4" trim.

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Posted by Obtuse1

Westside Bodymore Yo

Member since Sep 2016

25541 posts

Posted on 6/11/22 at 2:03 am to stout

quote:
I am curious if anyone has recommendations on the best cutters and accessories for one and where to buy them.

The first rule of shapers is shapers are cheap, tooling is expensive.

For most shaper tooling I use inserts and heads. I have several heads but my favorite are White Hill combi heads. For general woodworking I also recommend having a spiral head (made like a spiral planer/jointer head), you can find tons of uses for them. Most of the quality insert cutters and heads come from Europe because router tables are rare and combo-machines are common so many hobbyists have shapers AKA spindle moulders compared to hobbyists in the US and ~$500 per profile for fixed carbide heads would be unsustainable for most hobbyists. People here bitch enough about the cost of Whiteside and Freud router tooling.

That being said if you are running a full set of interior doors say 10 or more I would go with a standard carbide tipped cutter head for that job. Freeborn is my favorite. Any of the made in the US brands are fine.

quote:
If I am not doing mass production would a 1/8 HP power feeder be OK or do I spend the extra and get at least the 1/4 HP?

First, it helps to know the shaper or at least the HP of said shaper. One of the mistakes people make when shopping for power feeders is not realizing weight is just as important as HP. The 1/8 HP baby feeders are both underpowered and underweight for even a small 3hp shaper. 1/4hp is OK 1/2 is much better. I prefer the variable speed DC power feeders and replaced all my geared ones when I bought my first one. They are called Easy Feeders in the Comatic line. Comatic makes almost all the feeders in the market no matter what name is on the outside. Don't be surprised if you end up wanting to upgrade the tires at some point. If you decide to do it Western Roller is your friend. I know LA sux for used woodworking equipment, I am spoiled by living an afternoon trip away from all parts of Western NC, but power feeders are one of the things that pop up regularly in most areas and don't have a line of people already ahead of you when you call.

A moulder might be worth the money if you don't have anyone to run it for you and you need stain grain from your own wood stock. I have a Woodmaster (can recommend and they are US made) and even though I got a great deal on it used I have never gotten my moneys worth from it.

BTW I didn't use google for any of these answers.

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Posted by stout

Smoking Crack with Hunter Biden

Member since Sep 2006

167071 posts

Posted on 6/11/22 at 6:57 am to Obtuse1

quote:
running a full set of interior doors say 10 or more

I have 27 to build for the main house and guest house. I built one already with the tools I have and told my wife either I get a shaper or this is going to take me forever and not be as good as they could be.

quote:
Freeborn is my favorite. Any of the made in the US brands are fine.

Do you have a site you recommend to order from or are they all pretty much the same price?

quote:
or at least the HP of said shaper

I didn't break the bank on it. I tried to find a good used one but as you say LA sucks for good woodworking tools and the few that did pop up for sale were either trash or sold before I could get to them and I looked between LA and Houston. That being said I ordered the 3HP Shop Fox. It had the specs I was looking for and for a decent price for what I will need. I tried to justify a bigger or more expensive one but couldn't because I also just dropped a chunk on a drum sander and still need a power feeder and maybe the molder.

quote:
One of the mistakes people make when shopping for power feeders is not realizing weight is just as important as HP

I didnt think about this but that makes sense.

quote:
Comatic makes almost all the feeders in the market no matter what name is on the outside

I kind of figured that looking around

quote:
A moulder might be worth the money if you don't have anyone to run it for you and you need stain grain from your own wood stock. I have a Woodmaster (can recommend and they are US made) and even though I got a great deal on it used I have never gotten my moneys worth from it.

I need to do like 1200 LF of baseboard too on top of some stain grain crown but the profile on the baseboard I can do on the shaper though it would be quicker on the molder. I also need some trim for the wainscotting I have in my foyer, dining, and office area. The way I figure it too is considering the price of trim right now vs what I can make my own for, the machine would pay for itself.

I also have a few of my rentals to remodel so I could run the baseboards and casing for those.

Thanks for the info

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Posted by Cracker

in a box

Member since Nov 2009

17667 posts

Posted on 6/11/22 at 5:28 pm to stout

I got a guy who makes tooling charges by the profile inch I’ll get his info he makes tooling mostly for commercial industry millwork companies nice size operation

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Posted by Obtuse1

Westside Bodymore Yo

Member since Sep 2016

25541 posts

Posted on 6/14/22 at 1:07 pm to stout

quote:
Do you have a site you recommend to order from or are they all pretty much the same price?

Sorry about the late reply, it got bumped from the first page and I forgot all about this thread.

I can't remember where you are, seems like maybe Lake Chuck but if you are farther east there is always PMC Machinery in Hammond who I am pretty sure carries Freeborn. Nice place to google machines though nothing fancier than Powermatic though. They also carry Festool and Mirka.

Not sure exactly how much you save via internet, I buy mine localish in NC. I would suggest calling W. Moore either the NC store (where I shop) or the NY store and discuss you actual short and long term needs for tooling. It may be that one of their insert heads with carbide inserts or MAYBE even steel inserts might be more economical. These guys are tooling gurus. They will square you away better than I ever could in this area. They have a web presence but it never looked conducive to online ordering but again I go in person. This is one of the vendors that serviced actual production furniture building.

I forget does the Shop Fox come with a 1 1/4" spindle or just a 3/4" with the 1 1/4" as an accessory? If you don't have a 1 1/4" spindle I would suggest it for making those big cuts using a power feeder ('course nobody sane would hand feed it). SF/Grizzly parts are usually incredibly reasonable. Never mind I think I remember now they only come with a max 1" spindle and I think Freeborn and a lot of other US tooling companies are only 3/4 or 1 1/4. Also before you order verify the max cutter size for the shaper.

One last thing, if the Freeborn prices freak you out, they very well may, check Infinity Tools they have some more reasonable 3/4" spindle carbide shaper tooling but IIRC they are pretty limited on profiles.

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