Spindle Moulder vs Router Table

[Chunky Monkey]

Hi all,

How many of you with spindle moulders still use a router table?

I currently have both but having just had a second router motor fail in 4 years I'm considering ditching the router table and doing all my moulding on the spindle.

At present I use the router table for smaller detail stuff, eg glazing beads where I feel I have a little more control, the spindle seems total over kill for this kind of work, whereas the spindle moulder is used predominantly for rebating on larger sections of timber.

Does anyone regret not having the use of a router table?

Thanks
Jon

 

[Claud1]

I personally wouldn't go back to a router table but I do have a facility to fit a router spindle in my moulder but I seldom use it I find I can do almost anything with the moulder albeit a lot more expensive just my opinion

 

[Trevanion]

Oh, I do love a spindle moulder thread

Got both, never use the router table but the spindle gets absolute miles of donkey work but that really is more to do with the fact that I do what most would consider "large" work, I.E. doors, windows, staircases, space shuttle parts, a bit of cabinetry, etc...

If I was making stuff that would fit in a 12" cube then perhaps the router table would be the preferred weapon of choice since it is a better machine for small and piddly stuff that could be dangerous to run on a full-sized moulder. There are a few things a router table can do that a spindle can't, but there are a lot of things a spindle can do that a router table can't (in a reasonable timeframe).

How do you run your beads? I tend to leave them in a full-width, full-length board, mould two edges and then rip off the two beads to exact size and run through the moulder again and repeat until the board is gone and you've got a stack of beads. Doing it this way you keep the beam strength up in the stock and it won't have a tendancy to pull into the cutter on the first and last 3 inches. Circular saw marks can be a little rough but this is on the face that's up against the rebate so it isn't seen.

 

[Doug B]

Personally I wouldn’t want to be without either.

 

[Lazurus]

I would be happy to have either - Must admit a moulder does appear to be more versatile.

 

[Doug71]

I use the spindle moulder for almost everything, never owned a proper router table.

I have a piece of MDF with a hole in the middle which the router gets screwed under on occasion that the router is the best tool for the job.

 

[Chunky Monkey]

Thanks all, you've given me plenty of food for thought..........

The router and table have received a stay of execution, on stripping the router down, I found one of the brushes was excessively worn, so with new brushes fitted it's back up and running. If nothing else it buys me time to increase my collection of spindle cutters to replace the commonly used router bits.

Trevanion, I wish I could produce my glazing beads that way, I have a saw / spindle combo, and using the saw requires removing the spindle fence #-o so I machine to size then run the bead over the router table to profile it. Maybe in the future with a bigger shop I'll replace the combo with separate machines but presently space is very tight.

Doug, I hadn't considered that, I have several hand held routers which could be quickly inverted in a flat worktop somewhere, should I need a router once I've gone over to solely using the spindle.

Thanks again

 

[Doug B]

I have a saw / spindle combo, and using the saw requires removing the spindle fence #-o so I machine to size then run the bead over the router table to profile it. Maybe in the future with a bigger shop I'll replace the combo with separate machines but presently space is very tight.

Also my dilemma, being able to leave the router table set up whilst using the saw/spindle for other operations is such a time saver.
The problem I found with worktop is it reduced the router plunge, I put an aluminium plate in a piece of 1” MDF with a piece of aluminium angle for a fence, the whole thing fits neatly under my work bench so takes up very little space but can be a real time saver.