Table Saw Moulding Head

[Barry Burgess]

The current issue of ShopNotes has an article on table saw moulding heads.
Is this a similar no no as is the dado cutter??

 

[Philly]

Barry
Never seen them for sale in this country. I imagine if you made up suitable guards/fencing it would be o.k.
I reckon the router table would be a lot more versatile. Yes, you did hear me correctly :lol:
Cheers
Philly

 

[Barry Burgess]

Philly I will bring the article.

 

[Philly]

Cheers Barry
Philly

 

[jasonB]

I've seen Norm use them, with a lack of limiters I would imagine they are even more dangerous that Dado heads.

Jason

 

[Barry Burgess]

We will have to wait for the man over six feet in a raincoat who has been seen at the top shelves at the news agent(his description not mine)

 

[Jorden]

I have the block for one, no cutters though.

Dennis

 

[Scrit]

We will have to wait for the man over six feet in a raincoat who has been seen at the top shelves at the news agent(his description not mine)

Raincoat indeed - I'll have you know it's a genuine locally made copy (read cheap Yorkshire knock-off) of the famous Barbour waxed thornproof jacket........ Although I've always fancied one of those long "Ranger" type thornproof coats :lol:

As Jason says the American tooling is not chip limiting and so is more prone to kickback. Guarding is also a problem unless you have an overhead guard on the saw, but that in turn restricts you to the sorts of face mouldings you see on skirting boards, etc. If you want to put a moulding on the edge of material, such as a thumbnail edge moulding (used on tables, shelves, etc) then that means working the panel vertically - not particularly safe as you'll need to set-up a high fence on the table saw to support the work, a zero-clearance insert will be required to prevent the material dropping into the slot at the start or end of the cut and it will be impossible to guard the cutter at the end of the cut. On the upside this type of set-up excels at running a bead in the middle of a panel (well, it had to do something well!) - however, so does a £5 wooden beader or a £45 combi plane (#50/050 type). My feeling is that a router gives more bangs per buck, partly because a router in a simple table can do anything this tool can do (except beading in middle of panel) and safer, but also it can rout round the edges of curved pieces like oval table tops or kidney-shaped dresing table tops which the saw-mounted device couldn't do - at least not sensibly. I had a deWalt 3-wing shaper head for my radial arm saw way back in the days when they were legal. It was OK - until I got my first router and found out how much better the finish from the router was. Subsequently buying a spindle moulder did nothing to convince me that I should return to moulding on the RAS - I never did.

Scrit

 

[wrightclan]

I was wondering when these would make an appearance on here. I've never used one; but I grew up watching my Dad use one. They really have fallen out of favour in the U.S., as they are not as good all round as routing or a spindle moulder.

Having said that, you can always find several for sale on Ebay in the U.S., so some people must still be using them.

These and Dado cutters come from the American view of the table saw as the centre (center :-k ) of the workshop, and the view of it as being one of the most versatile tools in the workshop. I.e., a person could start up a workshop, with just a table saw, and proceed with a wide variety of operations, before purchasing additional machinery.

Brad

 

[Barry Burgess]

Thanks Scrit - I knew would know. The article showed how to quarter round,centre bead, twin bead, fluting, bullnose and thumbnail. They used a auxiliary fence and often buried the cutter in the fence
Barry

 

[Anonymous]

You must enter a message when posting

 

[misterfish]

I see that the operating instructions and parts list for my Wadkin bench saw include details of accessories (that were/are?) available - namely stacked dado heads, a wobble saw and a cutter block described as being 'of wedge type construction the block gives cuts up to 3/4 inch wide'.

Mind you, having seen Norm using one of these things I thought it looked as if extreme care and caution would be advised. And when you see how versatile a router can be that this would be the safest and most sensible route to take!

MF

 

[Anonymous]

You must enter a message when posting

 

[Scrit]

Mind you, having seen Norm using one of these things I thought it looked as if extreme care and caution would be advised.

Now you know why they're no longer readily available......

A router is a very limited little gadget compared to real machinery like table saws and spindle moulders believe me.

So my little pin router is limited? :? :shock: :wink:

and at 1350kg it's about twice the weight of an industrial spindle moulder...... (and murder to move)

Scrit

 

[johnelliott]

Router is a very limited little gadget compared to real machinery like table saws and spindle moulders believe me.

cheers
Jacob

May I recommend people not to believe Jacob in this particular statement. A router is not a gadget, nor is it very limited.

John

 

[Anonymous]

You must enter a message when posting

 

[johnelliott]

I meant router in the normal sense i.e. essentially the familiar hand held machines which everybody seems to have - amost no relation to your example.

cheers
Jacob

Another error. I have made a couple of overhead routers incorporating 'familiar hand held machines' (in fact an Hitachi M12 1/2 inch router), which bore considerable relationship to Scrit's example, and which I used for machining 1 and 1/2 inch recesses in 1 and 3/4 inch electric guitar bodies. Try that on a spindle moulder!

John

 

[Sawdust]

So my little pin router is limited? :? :shock: :wink:

and at 1350kg it's about twice the weight of an industrial spindle moulder...... (and murder to move)

Scrit

As you've started, Scrit, how about a full workshop tour ...

Mike

 

[Scrit]

I meant router in the normal sense i.e. essentially the familiar hand held machines which everybody seems to have - amost no relation to your example.

Yes, I know you did. Only joking . But as you know in the absence of a spindle moulder a modern large portable router can be pressed in to service to cut mortices and tenons, mould edges (including around tight radii), recess, dowel drill and biscuit slot, amongst a host of other things. The initial outlay isn't so enormous that it is out if reach for many people and it doesn't take up so much space. Yes, I wouldn't do without a spindle unless it was forced on me as it can do things in one pass that would take an age and many passes withna router, but I still feel a router in a table or hand held can run rings round a shaper head in a table saw, and declining American sales of the shaper heads might be seen as confirmation.

Regards

Scrit

 

[luthier49]

I use a table saw moulding block for a very specialized task when making my archtop mandolins. I use the block to make the neck dovetail that fits to the mandolin body. This joint could be made by hand, but it would take hours to make and would`nt be as good as this machined joint. I reground the rebate cutters for this three cutter block I bought years ago but never used. Now I have found a very good use for it.

The block mounted on the saw bence.

Here I`m cutting a test neck to get the right fit in the mandolin body before I cut the actual mandolin neck.

And here`s the finished result on a mandolin. Imagine doing that by hand. Once setup, It`s just a matter of a few minutes.