I have a series of templates that I am using a router table and 1/2 inch trim bit with a ball bearing to cut out. I am cutting 1/2 Baltic birch plywood. I finish the edge of the plywood so I need a fast yet clean cut. Would I be better off with a shaper and a flush bit and bearing? If yes, any thing special I should be looking for in a shaper? Or the size/type of bit?

The most obvious answer is you need a CNC router. That said so do I, hope to have one in the next year. I have been doing template work for years using a C.R. Onsrud inverted pin router. These come up used at auctions and private party occasionally, sometimes on WoodWeb. The base model uses a 3 hp router and from there a 5 & 10 hp spindle. I use a 3/8" 2 flute compression spiral and cut full depth through 1/2" BB about as fast as I can move the board. There's also some tricks you can do with the pins to allow a finish cut. It sounds like maybe you're rough cutting the blank to you pattern and finishing up with the router? The pin router eliminates that, I just attach the template to the blank and plunge the material and cut to shape.

So much depends on the size and shape of your parts. We've go multiple ways of cutting curved parts. If CNC is out of the question then for parts with gentle curves I'd use a shaper. Lots of variations but if you can swing it get a reasonably heavy shaper, 1 1/4" spindle. I see used European shapers come up fairly often. Use inserted tooling, ball bearing collar. It is possible to use a single wheel feeder on some shapes and I would if you can. There are power fed pin routers (R9 SCM) and tilt table pin routers (R8 SCM) & the inverted pin routers that are much better than a table mounted router. Used ones are pretty cheap and work well. Plenty of power and you can just swap pins to do a rough & finish cut. If you are doing multiples in a reasonable volume a CNC router will take far less labor.

Larry, if you look at Alex's web site you'll see the shape and size of the panels he's trying to shape. Using a shaper or router table with a guide bearing is fine but the panel would have to be rough cut to size. You also have a minimum radius issue with a shaper. I often use a 1/4" diameter cutter in my pin router allowing me to cut 1/8" radius' without any rough cutting to the finished shape.

I looked at his design and lacking a CNC a pin router would work quite well. About 3K would pick up a good used Onsrud inverted router. The patterns, being on top, could be vacuumed to the part for cutting.

Ken and Bruce,

Thank you for all of your thoughts on this topic. I would love to get a CNC router but I have a smaller shop and that is more in my long term goals. I think both a shaper and a pin router could fit all of my needs. I like the idea of the shaper with just a couple moving parts and alot of power. The pin router would be able to do everything just under a CNC router.

alex

You can sub out the routing for 40-50 a sheet. Subbing the work out is a good way to go.

Each of the machines under discussion has pluses and minuses. Cost is always a major consideration but should be viewed in terms of total cost per item produced. You can't calculate that w/o knowing how many in what time frame. A cheap router like a Shopbot could well be the answer, depends. Know the limitations of each choice. Cheap router w/ a Porter Cable motor, w/o a drill box may do what you need. Plan on relatively short life out of the motor. Extremely limited drilling capability and no tool changer might not matter, at least for now. Part holding is also a consideration. I'd at least look into the Bot. Even in it's most basic form it is probably more productive (cheaper per part) than a pin router.

Go with a 1 1/4" diameter trim bit in a router. Completely different cutting than the 1/2".

Rich,

What does the 1 1/4 bit do for you? Cleaner cut? Faster? Do you have a brand or vendor that you like?

Larry,

I have looked at the shopbot and if the timing was right I would make a move on one. It seems like a great machine to make the jump into the CNC world.

alex

Larger diameter cutters will provide a better cut, all else being =. They can also provide a higher feed rate because of additional gullet space available. All rotary cutters leave a scalloped edge. The larger the cutter the less obvious the scallop. The other thing that enters the picture is the compression before actual cutting begins. Various arguments about the quality of cut from conventional VS climb are at least partly based on compression.

This mainly depends on the nature of your work and what type of work you are planning to do.

The CNC router machine is a computer numerically controlled machine tool that is very similar to the commonly used handheld milling machines used to cut various materials. The CNC equipment can help cut wood, steel, aluminum, composite materials, plastics, foam and other materials. Common CNC engraving machine applications: furniture manufacturing, cabinet manufacturing, sign making, handicraft and art, mold manufacturing and prototyping, construction wood products, foam cutting, metal processing, plastic processing, etc.

CNC engraving machine has the ability to efficiently produce disposable parts and reproduce similar parts. It can produce excellent and high-quality works while increasing the overall productivity of the factory.

A shaper is a type of machine tool that uses the 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 helical.