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Post by Scrit on Aug 22, 2008 23:58:59 GMT
1st off, can someone edit the long post that goes off the screen please ;D Done the fence is split and each side moves indipendently in and out and side to side Modern fences have micrometer adjustment which is quite important in terms of useability Wellllllll - what sizes are the spindle top pieces? Modern European cutter blocks have bores of 30, 35, 40mm and 1-1/4in in the main and it isn't advisable to step-up too far with top hats, so 1in to 1-1/4in isn't an issue but 3/4in to 1-1/4in might be pushing your luck a bit (more based on the size/weight of the blocks). One minor issue might be the size of the guard and the size of the table opening. For rebating in particular you need to be able to drop the block part way beneath the table so for that you'll need a big-enough opening (probably 100mm as there are few rebate blocke under that size). If it is big enough to accommodate modern blocks you might want to consider some of the ally blocks sold for the likes of the smaller Kity and Zinken machines. You'll need to be wary of the blocks speed rating, though. The other restriction if the size of the motor - 3/4HP isn't a lot to drive a cutter block and you'll probably find the machine slowing down in heavier cuts - part of the purpose of a spindle moulder is to take the cuts in a single pass if possible. It's safer and quicker to do that and that's one of the main plusses of the spindle, that and the fact that a full-size spindle will remove a 3 x 1/2in rebate in solid hardwood in one pass, more accurate and without the witness lines you can get with a router [that's for Wizer's benefit, too ;D] Personally I'd put the tooling in a drawer - the French top piece is illegal and they can be dangerous for reasons previously stated. Old-style Whitehill blocks are also not the safest things around (despite Grim loving them) and be careful with the groovers. They're non-limiter design makes them a bit more "snatchy" than modern limiter type tooling. I have another thread with more pics that I wont duplicate here ! As JFC and others are banned from UKWS would you mind putting up your other photos here as well? Scrit |
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Post by tusses on Aug 23, 2008 4:20:25 GMT
thanks Scrit. - the other thread is here too  I see you've found it. The fence has a knurled knob on the back of each side. You turn them to move the fence in and out. Is this what you call the micrometer adjustment ? the spindle tops I have are 5/8 and 3/4 as for rebating and lowering the head below the table - I presume a sacrificial false bed would do the same job ? I looked at the slot cutters and thought two things - 1st, you can make your own copies of moulding/beading details - 2nd, I thought , hmmmm. they look like they could come out whilst in use ! LOL Could they be used safely for moulding / beading if I made a totaly enclosed 'tunnel' to feed the wood through ? the whitehill blocks similar to above ? I'll do some googling, to see what the new style cutter blocks look like. Can you make your own tooling for the new ones ? EDIT > after wrting this, I have googled and learned a bit more - including reading the HSE sheet for vertical spindle moulders <EDIT as for motor power - I had always thought a spindle moulder was used for its namesake 'moulding' so I hadn't considered cutting large rebates and tenons. so , I presume that if I use it to make mouldings and beadings etc it might be up to the job. over all I am happy with it - even if I only use it as a large router table, or just use the fence on a home made router table , its worth the £26 I paid for it and a couple of gallons of petrol to collect ! |
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Post by Scrit on Aug 24, 2008 7:45:23 GMT
as for rebating and lowering the head below the table - I presume a sacrificial false bed would do the same job You tend to lose a lot of flexibility that way, but yes it can be done. I looked at the slot cutters and thought two things - 1st, you can make your own copies of moulding/beading details - 2nd, I thought , hmmmm. they look like they could come out whilst in use ! LOL Could they be used safely for moulding / beading if I made a totaly enclosed 'tunnel' to feed the wood through ? the whitehill blocks similar to above ? You'll probably not find a tooling dealer who'll sell you the blanks to start with. It;'s obvious you've never seen a spindle moulder in use; tunnel guards simply don't work on them - you need a Shaw guard (something your machine doesn't have) to provide downwards/inwards pressure and even then in the event of a cutter being thrown it can exit in your direction. Safety specs won't protect you if that happens. Why can't you understand that old knackered, rusty tooling simply isn't safe and no amount of tinkering around the edges will ever make it so? I'll give you an example. In the days of square blocks I was visiting a shop where the spindle was being used, with a scarificial fence plate and downpressure Shaw guard. There was a change in note on the spindle and the operator ducked. A few seconds later there was a loud bang. The cutter was found embedded 3in deep in a in a 150 year old solid pine beam about 20 feet away from the spindle moulder. As it exited it had smashed the Shaw guard wooden pad and removed a large piece of cast iron fence plate. This was the result of an over strained securing bolt having sheared. That's why old tooling can be a hazard - even if you choose to ignore advice on other aspects of it's safety. I'll do some googling, to see what the new style cutter blocks look like. Can you make your own tooling for the new ones ? You can try, and manufacturers do supply blanks, but cutters need to be balanced and ideally you should use them with limiters, so I think you're on a hiding to nothing. See reply eleswhere for links, etc as for motor power - I had always thought a spindle moulder was used for its namesake 'moulding' so I hadn't considered cutting large rebates and tenons. so , I presume that if I use it to make mouldings and beadings etc it might be up to the job. In that case you thought wrong. Rebates, mortises and tenons are very commonly produced on the spindle moulder. They are very common components in most pieces of work you'll ever use (although you won't necessarily find Norm doing things this way) Scrit |
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Post by tusses on Aug 26, 2008 21:23:05 GMT
gonna scrap most of it and make a router table ... pics to follow ;D
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