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Shop Fox vs Williams and Hussey Moulders

Started by AAnderson, August 29, 2016, 12:17:08 AM

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AAnderson

I have read many topics and the most recent one on this page , I would like to know exactly what people like and don't like about these moulders, I like the knife holder of these units a lot better then the Woodmaster . I mainly want to cut Crown Moldings and Other basic Moldings, Bull Nose decking . How do these machines function when used as a planer? Any feed back would be appreciated.

pabst79

I can't speak about the moulder part, but I bought a shop fox finger brake as I work with metal more then wood. Although its functional, the shop fox is not built to very tight tolerances IMO, and is a part time tool at best. It should be noted that I paid 800.00 for it brand new, and a good 4' finger brake made in the USA would cost 4-5k, so I guess you get what you pay for.
Not sure which came first, but I have chickens and eggs.

lls256

I have an older W & H molder/planer and found that the unit does a decent job if you recognize  it's limitations. My molder appears to be the same unit as the Shop Fox clone.  I used my W & H to replicate some the intricate molding while renovating my old Victorian farmhouse.  From using the machine I found that it's primarily intended for light duty use. If I run the molder  continuously the gearbox can get pretty hot. Hot enough that's uncomfortable to the touch.   Maybe the oil bath in the gearbox could be larger, I dunno.   The molder works OK as a planer.  I think you could get better results with a dedicated planer.  My molder does not have a pressure bar and no bed rollers while the feed rollers are not adjustable.  These features are standard on a decent planer.  The open side design does give you the ability to make curved moldings with just a simple homemade jig.  Don't buy the accessory curved molding jig. 

The quality of the moldings produced are decent with a little snipe when the molding leaves the machine.  If I  feed back to back boards into the molder, I  can eliminate the sniping but I'm  now using the machine continuously which  at least on my machine could potentially cause the gearbox to get hot. It takes about 20 minutes of continuous molding to heat the gearbox.  I really think this machine was never intended for  commercial use but mainly for the DIY'er.  All in all,  my W&H is a low cost molder that yields  molding that I'm quite happy with.

Kbeitz

Shop Fox is part of Grizzly tools. same machine different color...

Collector and builder of many things.
Love machine shop work
and Wood work shop work
And now a saw mill work

Larry

I bought the first generation of the Shop Fox moulder.  Shortly after buying Grizzly had a tent sale at there Springfield location.  There was a lot of returned moulders with broken gear boxes.  Seeing the future, I upgraded my machine to the optional variable speed motor and never used it with the gear box.

Results from the machine were excellent.  I ran all the casing for my house along with some other trim.  I also did a couple of small custom jobs with it.  The only difference between it and the W&H was its not designed to take a board wider than 7".  The W&H will accept any width of board but of course moulding can only be done on the first 7".

I wouldn't even think of using either machine for a planer.  Cantilever head, no chip breaker, and no pressure bar.  I suppose a few boards might be ok but its something I never even tried.

Knife steel and changes are the same with either the Shop Fox or W&H.  Only takes a few seconds to change profile.  Custom profiles are made by a lot of shops.  Knife steel can be bought and you can grind knives at home with a grinder.  The W&H has a proven track record of dependability while the Shop Fox is still a question just because it hasn't been around as long.

To run small quantities of moulding my choice would first be a shaper due to its versatility and superior finish.  Second would be the W&H/Shop Fox machines because of the small footprint and knife design.  Third would be a Woodmaster/Belsaw machine.






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