what spindle moulder to buy to make windows and doors?

[Yorkie]

Hi,

i have got myself all but one machine to start making allsorts of joinery products but the last piece of the puzzle is a spindle moulder.

I would like to make windows and doors.......box, casement and high performance. I am experienced in making them from when i worked for a joinery but now i'm self-employed i want to make them for myself for customers.

I want to know what size machine would be best to deal with the job. The joinery i worked for had a MASSIVE moulder but i cant afford £250k!!!! So a smaller second hand spindle will have to do. Any ideas on what to go for.

Cheers in advance, Yorkie

 

[jasonB]

You will still want something of a reasonable size for cutting tennons on doors and preferably with a sliding table. And don't forget to allow for tooling such as tennon heads, cill block, door profile set such as Omas, rebate block and a block for say 55mm knives

Have a look on the other side most of the joinery boys hang out there

 

[Yorkie]

ah yeah, forgot to mention about a sliding carriage and tenons

 

[tjwoodms]

are you looking for new/modern or good old heavy english my a advice would be the later
A rebuilt wadkin EQ with sliding table can be had for around £3500+vat The EQ is a very old machine but just about the best spindle ever made a quality rebuild will see you into retirement (there are a few around alot cheaper but i would be very wary)

New your looking at £3500 upwards for a basic sedgwick (im not a fan of these) or you can go for one of the many italians for around £4500 but you wont find any new manchine that has the durabillity of the a good old wadkin or robinson.

The advantage for new over old is however you can spec the sliding table but i know where there is an EQ with the sliding table at the moment

 

[clewlowm]

hi.
if you are looking to set up to be productive? do not spend 3.5k on a spindle, buy the correct machine a tenonner! you can get them from 1.5k second hand, then buy a decent 2.2kw 4 speed spindle, again about £1 k.

if you where closer to hampshire you would be more than welcome to try the set up.

 

[tjwoodms]

Hi again
a tenoner would be the correct machine in an ideal world if you already own a spindle
My advice would be the other way around go for a decent spindle 1st as you can do a wider varity of jobs on it if you only spend £1k you will more than likley be buying somone elses rubish but on the other hand you may get lucky one of my customers just picked up a wadkin 5 head moulder with loads of tooling for £500 with no major faults but the odds are stacked against you.

Go for the tenoner later as funds allow as i said earlier im no fan for sedgwicks but ther tenoner isnt a bad machine nice and compact and for the most part fairly reliable

 

[clewlowm]

i disagree. i picked up my tenonner for £1.5k, sedgwick twin head, a spindle moulder is a valuable asset! but not for cutting tenonns. to much faffing around also the tenon blocks are a stupid price. can a tenonn cutter on the spindle cut a 200x100 tenonn in one pass?

 

[tjwoodms]

it seems to me there has to be some comprimise here
no a spindle wont cut a deep tenon in one pass just the same as a tenoner wont produce a moulding in my expirience most people when setting up a workshop go for the spindle 1st and then the tenoner and no it isnt ideal but at least with the spindle a wide range of processes can be carried out rather than just shoulders and tenons

Im not saying a tenoner isnt required just the spindle should come first and then mabe go for a tenoner later on but i guess the only one who can say for sure would be yorkie

lets face it im sure yorkie would love to have a workshop equiped with a dedicated machine for just about every operation but how many people can aford that kind of outlay when starting up a new bussiness

I look after plenty of small joinery shops who have a spindle and no tenoner but i cant think of any who own a tenoner and not a spindle (i will now be prooved wrong by all the people who have a tenoner and no spindle lol)

 

[Yorkie]

hi all

cheers for the replies. Have decided to go for a little machine for now.....a Fox F60-105....managed to get a spankingly well looked after one for £250.....3-speed not the advertised 2 speed. Should do me for now until i have th efunds to get something bigger and far more dangerous.

cheers agian for all the advice and chatter

Yorkie

 

[greg@hilltop]

hi all

cheers for the replies. Have decided to go for a little machine for now.....a Fox F60-105....managed to get a spankingly well looked after one for £250.....3-speed not the advertised 2 speed. Should do me for now until i have th efunds to get something bigger and far more dangerous.

cheers agian for all the advice and chatter

Yorkie

Hi Yorkie,
How did you get on with the Fox? I have the chance to get one although not for £250 and wondered what you thought of it now you have had it for a while.

Greg