Shaper brand questions/opinion.

samandothers · November 26, 2015, 08:35:59 AM

Been half heartedly looking on Craigs List for a shaper. Uses would be molding, door (house and cabinet) and possibly tongue and groove work. There have been a couple come up recently. One is made by Accura and one by Woodtek.
I have read Woodtek is one of the brands carried by a certain retail chain is a Taiwanese brand with mixed reviews. The unit on CL has a slide table mobile base and many cutter heads.
The Accura I don't find much about. It too has a slide table.
Both are 3 hp single phase.

Anyone have experience with these brand names.

I have also seen a Delta unit listed and have asked for model number and some detail. The Delta appears to be one of the smaller ones. It is also about half the cost of the others.

samandothers · November 27, 2015, 08:38:50 PM

I looked at the Accura unit and Woodtek units today.

I liked the Accura. The person had the manual and a small tool box with the wrenches and the second spindle. It was well organized. It is about 500 lbs.

The Woodtek did not have the sliding table mounted and the cutters were spread around the shop. The person stated the had the wrenches, manual and table though they weren't together. It is about 400 or so pounds.

I may make offer on the Accura.

park ranger · November 27, 2015, 11:51:58 PM

Well I have a inca that is pretty old and found that the length of the table was too short to keep long stock down tight to the cutter. I have all the finger boards pushing down and to the side but I still had problems some time. I used my router table for a bunch of boat rub rail today, not the shaper. I use the router table much more it seems, eric

samandothers · November 29, 2015, 09:58:38 PM

Thank you for the info Eric.

Learning curve and skill development will take some time I am sure. Sounds like out feed/in feed table may help for long items. The sliding table will help doing the ends of rails and styles.