Wood shaper
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A wood shaper, usually just shaper in
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or spindle moulder in the UK and Europe, is a stationary
woodworking Woodworking is the skill of making items from wood, and includes cabinet making (cabinetry and furniture), wood carving, woodworking joints, joinery, carpentry, and woodturning. History Along with Rock (geology), stone, clay and animal parts, ...
machine in which a vertically oriented
spindle Spindle may refer to: Textiles and manufacturing * Spindle (textiles), a straight spike to spin fibers into yarn * Spindle (tool), a rotating axis of a machine tool Biology * Common spindle and other species of shrubs and trees in genus ''Euony ...
drives cutter heads to mill profiles on wood stock. The wood being fed into a moulder is commonly referred to as either ''stock'' or ''blanks''. The spindle may be raised and lowered relative to the shaper's table, and rotates between 3,000 and 10,000 rpm, with stock running along a vertical fence. Wood shaper cutter heads typically have three blades, and turn at one-half to one-eighth the speed of smaller, much less expensive two-bladed bits used on a hand-held
wood router The router is a power tool with a flat base and a rotating blade extending past the base. The spindle may be driven by an electric motor or by a pneumatic motor. It routs (hollows out) an area in hard material, such as wood or plastic. Routers a ...
. Adapters are sold allowing a shaper to drive router bits, a compromise on several levels. As are router tables, cost-saving adaptations of hand-held routers mounted to comparatively light-duty dedicated work tables. Being both larger and much more powerful than routers, shapers can cut much larger profiles than routerssuch as for
crown moulding Crown moulding is a form of cornice created out of decorative moulding installed atop an interior wall. It is also used atop doors, windows, pilasters and cabinets. Historically made of plaster or wood, modern crown moulding installation ...
and raised-panel doorsand readily drive custom-made bits fabricated with unique profiles. Shapers feature between belt-driven motors, which run much more quietly and smoothly than typically 20,000 to 25,000 rpm direct-drive routers. Speed adjustments are typically made by relocating the belts on a stepped pulley system, much like that on a
drill press A drill is a tool used for making round holes or driving fasteners. It is fitted with a bit, either a drill or driverchuck. Hand-operated types are dramatically decreasing in popularity and cordless battery-powered ones proliferating due to i ...
. Unlike routers, shapers are also able to run in reverse, which is necessary in performing some cuts. The most common form of wood shaper has a vertical spindle; some have horizontal; others yet have spindles or tables that tilt. Some European models variously combine sliding tablesaws, jointers, planers, and mortisers. Shapers can be adapted to perform specialized cuts employing accessories such as sliding tables, tenon tables, tilting arbor, tenoning hoods, and interchangeable spindles. The standard US spindle shaft is , with on small shapers and 30 mm on European models. Most spindles are tall enough to accommodate more than one cutter head, allowing
rapid tooling Rapid tooling (RT) denotes manufacturing on a slim timeline. Some of the main advantages to rapid tooling trades is that it decreases the time and cost of the product. With rapid tools being fast and easily reproducible, it requires less stock for ...
changes by raising or lowering desired heads into position. Additional spindles can be fitted with pre-spaced cutter heads when more are needed for a job than fit on one. A wood moulder differs from a
shaper A shaper is a type of machine tool that uses linear relative motion between the workpiece and a single-point cutting tool to machine a linear toolpath. Its cut is analogous to that of a lathe, except that it is (archetypally) linear instead of ...
, which typically has one vertical cutting head and none horizontal. The term "tooling" refers to a moulder's cutters, knives, blades including planer blades, and cutterheads.


Safety

The primary safety feature on a wood shaper is a guard mounted above the cutter protecting hands and garments from being drawn into its blades. Jigs, fixtures such as hold-downs, and accessories that include featherboards, also help prevent injury and generally result in better cuts. The starter, or fulcrum, pin is a metal rod which threads into the table a few inches away from the cutter allowing stock to be fed into it in a freehand cut. In addition to aiding productivity and setting a consistent rate of milling, a power feeder keeps appendages and garments out of harm's way. They may be multi-speed, and employ rubber wheels to feed stock past the cutter head.


Types

Before machines, men worked as "moulders" shaping wood by hand. *Single head moulders: *Single head moulders have a top (horizontal) head only. *Single head moulders are more economical but they also feed through slower than multi head moulders and, as the name implies, a *single head moulder will only cut one surface at a time. Multi Head Moulder: Standing from in front of the infeed side of the machine where the stock is fed into the machine. A common cutter head configuration is; Bottom horizontal head, a right hand vertical side head, a Left hand vertical side head, and a top horizontal head. This is a common configuration (in order of layout), but there are countless other configurations available. For instance; a multi head moulder may have two bottom heads and two top heads in order to size the lumber with the first top and the first bottom head, and then finish cut the lumber with the remaining top and bottom head. Machines with two or more right heads more common in the
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to give the ability to run shorter stock and more detailed, deeper cuts on the edge of the stock.


Tooling

Tooling refers to cutters, knives, blades, as well as planer blades, and cutter heads. Most blades are made from either a type of
tool steel Tool steel is any of various carbon steels and alloy steels that are particularly well-suited to be made into tools and tooling, including cutting tools, dies, hand tools, knives, and others. Their suitability comes from their distinctive har ...
known as
high speed steel High-speed steel (HSS or HS) is a subset of tool steels, commonly used as cutting tool material. It is often used in power-saw blades and drill bits. It is superior to the older high-carbon steel tools used extensively through the 1940s in tha ...
(HSS), or from carbide. Cutter heads are normally made from either steel or aluminum. High Speed Steel, carbide, aluminium, and steel for the cutter heads all come in a wide variety of grades.


References


Bibliography

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Welcome to the Architectural Woodwork Institute
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wood Shaper
Shaper A shaper is a type of machine tool that uses linear relative motion between the workpiece and a single-point cutting tool to machine a linear toolpath. Its cut is analogous to that of a lathe, except that it is (archetypally) linear instead of ...