Do I need this spindle moulder

[Lazurus]

A day before moving house to our new bungalow (which as yet does not have a workshop) I purchased a Kity 629 spindle moulder. it is currently sat in storage awaiting a new home in the yet to be build workshop. However having had time to reflect do i really have a use for this or would i be better off selling and getting a decent router table. I have never used a spindle moulder, as a hobby woodworker (although approaching retirement) I thought I would have a lot of uses for the moulder, but I am now wondering if a router table would be of more use to me, easier to set up and use, and be more in keeping with my general wood working needs? opinions welcome.

 

[Ollie78]

Well both is ideal of course. However as you already have a spindle moulder I would stick with it.
My reasons are.
Better finish, I think this is to do with the weight of the block and the power, but also the fact that the cutting edge is taking a much larger arc than a router bit. For instance a small ovolo on a router is about 30mm diameter but the same profile running in a spindle is spinning at 130mm
.
Cheaper tooling. Once the initial cost of a couple of blocks has been swallowed then the actual knives and limiters can be found pretty cheaply. Euro cutter and limiter sets for as little as £15 depending on pattern.

There is almost every standard moulding off the shelf and some cutters have multiple uses depending on the height etc.

Custom knives, it is not actually very much to have knives ground to whatever pattern you fancy for copying something etc.

Nicer to use as they are a heavy cast iron machine with a sort of solidity rarely found in a router table, I would not agree that a router table is easier to set up or use.

For extra luxury get a little power feed for consistant finish and less effort.

Ollie

 

[Ttrees]

Just curious as I have neither.
Can you reverse the direction of the motors like you could do with switches on a vfd?
Does anyone change rotation of these machines for direction of grain, or does that change everything and need for over swapping bits and bobs. if even possible atall?

Thanks

 

[Ollie78]

Some spindles do have reversable motors. I believe its for superior finish on certain tasks. To be honest a sharp spindle knife at the right speed is quite forgiving on reversing grain.

Ollie

 

[TFrench]

Does a 629 have a 30mm spindle? I had a kity that was only 20mm, it was a bit of a useless halfway house between a router and a moulder. I have a router table ("Norm" style) and an axminster trade moulder. The router table is great for whizzing chamfers or roundovers on panels - I rarely use a router freehand. Of the two the moulder gives better finish, but setup time is a lot longer. It's certainly nice to have both.

 

[Trevanion]

KEEP THE SPINDLE MOULDER!

I'm a spindle moulder guy, through and through. There are quite a few advantages a spindle moulder has over a router table, namely the finish produced from the larger diameter cutter blocks is superior, a heavier cut can be made than a router table with much less effort on yourself and the machine and the cutters themselves last far longer than equivalent router bits which makes them cheaper in the long term as they're usually of the replaceable cutter type. Also, spindle tooling holds it's value extraordinarily well even when quite well used should you decide to sell stuff on, you can't say the same for used router bits. I would also argue it's a safer machine compared to a router table as there is a lot less cutting resistance and kickback risk with the bigger tooling (It just looks scarier is all), and it's ALOT quieter.

Just curious as I have neither.
Can you reverse the direction of the motors like you could do with switches on a vfd?
Does anyone change rotation of these machines for direction of grain, or does that change everything and need for over swapping bits and bobs. if even possible atall?

Reverse rotation can be handy if you're shaping deeply curved components and you don't want to cut against the grain and cause blow-out, sometimes it can be helpful when doing odd mouldings where a particular cutter will work but only upside down and in reverse. That's why you sometimes see those massive spindle moulders for sale on eBay with two spindles poking out of the table, one would be ran anti-clockwise and one clockwise and set up identically but in reverse, so when you're shaping curved components you have both spindles at hand to be able to work from each side of the work piece.

Does a 629 have a 30mm spindle? I had a kity that was only 20mm, it was a bit of a useless halfway house between a router and a moulder. I have a router table ("Norm" style) and an axminster trade moulder. The router table is great for whizzing chamfers or roundovers on panels - I rarely use a router freehand. Of the two the moulder gives better finish, but setup time is a lot longer. It's certainly nice to have both.

The 629 is the bigger sibling of my 623 which also has a 30mm shaft, it's got an extra horsepower and a tilting function. It's quite a good machine. I always find the router takes ages to set up compared to the spindle but I do use the machine every day and the router table perhaps a couple of times a year.

 

[Doug71]

Keep the spindle, faster and better finish

 

[Sandyn]

If you don't have to sell it, keep it. Once you get your workshop set up, you will use it and it will expand the type of work you can do.

 

[Lons]

Like the others I'd say if you don't need to turn it into cash then keep it until you can make a proper decision on how useful it will be for what you do in your workshop. You can get all the good advice available on here but none of us can say whether or not it's worthwhile in your situation without knowing a lot more about what you actually want to make.

I had an old Kity 623 which I sold a few years ago to make space and there are times I wish I hadn't though I do have a table and 4 routers the spindle moulder was much more pleasant to use and it was a decent solid machine which did everything I asked of it.

 

[Lazurus]

Thanks for all the advice, seems the overwhelming majority says keep it and grow into it - so thats what i will do.
Again my thanks

 

[johnnyb]

it helped me to have someone who was familiar with it and not intimidated but would use it all the time.. it then became less scary and more like a.n. other machine.table saw planer etc etc.
the scm t40 I brought was like new with a very quick stop also really quiet and smooth. this helped my confidence plenty. then it becomes a go to machine esp for grooves rebates