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Setting Shaper Cutter Height Accurately
Question
Forum Responses
From contributor D: Grizzly has a dial height gage, #G6918, for $40. I've been using one for a few years. Works great, if you remember to write down your settings. From contributor G: We never mess with the height setting on our shapers. The use of shims is the best way to maintain 100% accuracy quickly. When you take off a cutter, remove it and keep its shims with it. Then install the next cutter with its shims, and so on. It's always the same, right on the money, and you don't have to mic things in 20 times a day. From contributor L: For a slightly different application, we use drop-in auxiliary tables that have a miter gage strip on the bottom and stop blocks on the ends. The tables are made the right thickness for the change. The edge of the table serves to locate the fence. The shim trick works well per contributor G in a small shop (they get lost in larger shops). For one shaper we have a plastic H that fits over the spindle, long and short legs for the different cutters. Easy to bring the spindle up until it just touches. From contributor G: Shims are not a trick, but rather a quick and precise way to align shaper cutters. If things get lost in your shop, maybe you need to fire someone. I don't see how anyone could get precise alignment without the use of shims. Screw threads are not that accurate. From contributor O: I use Accurate Technology's digital height which I fitted on my Minimax shaper and is very accurate. Took me a Saturday afternoon to fit. Might be more than you want to spend, depending on how many shapers you have. From Dave Rankin, forum technical advisor: There a couple of suggestions that have already appeared that I use. I like the Accurate Technology ProScales. It is fast and accurate. If you are using existing tools, create an axial constant. For new tools, have them made to an axial constant. A few years ago, I wrote an article for "The Profiler" that explained how to use axial constant. It is fairly simple. From the reference point of the knife that lines up to the shaper table, establish a consistent dimension on all of your tools. Here we use .250" on all tools. If you use a variety of tools, you most likely can use .500". If the tool you are setting has a dimension of .170" from the edge of the knife to the table line, then you would add .330" of spacers and shims. You can either leave the spacers and shims with the tools or have a tool sheet that advises the operators of the offset requirement. Would you like to add information to this article? Interested in writing or submitting an article? Have a question about this article? Have you reviewed the related Knowledge Base areas below? 
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