Wood Shaper Versus Router

Shapers are used more often in industrial woodworking shops and i do almost all my machining of wood with a really good well built router table.

Wood shaper versus router.

There s very little a shaper can do that you can t duplicate with a router table. One way to look at the difference is that relatively speaking universal motors provide high rpm and low power and induction motors provide low rpm and high power. Larger shaper cutters and oversize router bits like panel raisers require slower speeds while small router bits need higher speeds to do the job. The results of using a shaper are smoother than that of a router.

This is often done by moving a belt on the drive pulleys. Companies do not make double duty tables because customers use shaper router tables and tools for different jobs. When we feel that the tool is being pushed to its limit it becomes not only bad for the final product but also a danger. A wood shaper is quite expensive but router bitsrequire little expense to use.

Even though the router bits are smaller they make far more revolutions per second rpm than a shaper does. Router bits are way smaller than shaper bits in diameter. As we were all taught by our elementary school woodshop teacher let the tools do the work. Heavy machining a shaper is designed for larger volume work while a router is a hand tool for lighter duty work.

Therefore the precision work and jobs that require repeatability need shaper as their equipment. You can however use a router as a shaper but you cannot use a shaper as a router. That allows you to work on smaller wood pieces as you get more control. Wood shaper vs router uses there is very less that you can do with a shaper and not with a router.

Shaper speed just as a router needs to be slowed to perhaps 10 000 rpm for larger router bits a shaper needs to be slowed even farther for the larger shaper cutters 7 000 rpm is common for large shaper cutters but even slower may be needed for very large cutters. Routers like shop vacuums and bench top planers run on a universal motor. The wood shaper or spindle molder cutter spurs a longer path but a router table can be used for shorter tracks. Rick white the short answer is no.

One option for those looking as a wood shaper vs router table is the ability to make reverse cuts. Shapers like most table saws jointers and stationary planers run on induction motors. Wood shapers tool can make deep and long cuts on the wood which is not the case with routers.