Spindle moulder or router table

[Transit 16]

Hi I am starting to make gate and will be rebating a lot of 4x2 timber and not sure what would suit best.
Thanks Peter.

 

[Sideways]

One gate or lots of gates ?

 

[Transit 16]

Lots of gates.

 

[dzj]

Router table is girly machine. (Schwarzenegger accent)
Get the spindle moulder.

 

[Transit 16]

Thanks for the reply Next question which one I have been looking at the charnwood w030 or the scm t130nst which are on ebay I have about £1000 to spend.

 

[deema]

The SCM machines are in a totally different league, they are designed for industrial series production. Buy a SCM without question of the two.

 

[custard]

I have about £1000 to spend.

You generally end up spending more for the tooling and accessories with a spindle moulder than for the machine itself. I'd advise you to write down exactly what specific woodworking operations your gates will require, and then cost out the tooling required for each of them.

For example the quality and safety of spindle moulder work is often hugely enhanced with a power feed, and cutting tenons efficiently on a spindle moulder may require a sliding table and a hefty double cutter block set up.

 

[deema]

For gate production I would have thought a rebate block and perhaps a Euro cutter (tongue and groove / chamfer) block would have been sufficient depending on how elaborate the gates are. The blocks themselves are extremely cheap compared to router cutters and the carbide inserts / profile cutters are again a far cheaper option fir any volume work.

A decent power feed is a really good addition to either a router or spindle moulder so for me this is neutral. A router should have approximately the same cutter projection as a spindle moulder with limiters. They carry about the same user risk level as a consequence.

A secondhand SCM T100 would come in budget and probably with the tooling needed. As standard they have an excellent sliding table.

Having said all of that I would personally use a table saw to cut the rebates and I have a big spindle. The reason being is that it will actually be quicker, produce less shavings / with and create a useable strip to make beading if needed.

 

[heimlaga]

SCM t130 is a good machine. One of my friends has one and I have used it. If you can get hold of one for less than 1000 pounds and have the electricity to poer it don't look at charnwood.

 

[Claud1]

Tried various setups with router tables and was never happy so bit the bullet and bought a Felder spindle moulder with a router spindle (costly I admit ) but never looked back but having said that I can't fault the SCM machines I have