Waht do you make of this?

[mailee]

Just seen this offer on the Rutlands site and wondered if it was worth buying? www.rutlands.co.uk/cgi-bin/psPromotions.cgi?promo=18 Not knowing much about Spindle Moulders I thought I would ask the experts.

[jfc]

It has two speeds and a sliding carrage but i think the biggest block you could use is a 50mm one . Good for mouldings and ( as ive just gone and checked ) It will take a 7* cill cutter in a 50mm block ( That needs 140mm ) It will do the main of the work i use mine for .
Downsides are obvious , Alley beds , cheap machine badged up . £300 , well worth it i would say but remember its the tooling that costs the money .


Edit , Cast Iron tables

[woodworker]

I saw this the other day, made by Fox, who make some reasonable small machines. It doesn't mention which model it is. This machine is on sale at various other firms for much much more money than this . Maybe they are selling them off due to poor sales or there is a new version on the horizon.

If all you want to do is make small items, mouldings, small panels etc then on the face of it it's a hell of a lot better than using a router table making endless small passes . You'll be able to do the above in just one hit.

Just think of it as a larger router table or a grown up router table ;D.
You would be hard pushed to make a router table for that money.

The Trend block on offer is a good price also which will easily spin up on the 2hp motor of the machine. Trend like Freud make Ok ish tools imho.

If I was looking at a router table I would buy this instead as with a bit of tweaking it would be more versatile bet.

[jfc]

You should be able to run off your own window and door sections with it aswell as mouldings .

[woodworker]

Nov 12, 2008 12:23:59 GMT jfc said:

You should be able to run off your own window and door sections with it aswell as mouldings .

Been there, done that ;D ;D ;D

I'll stick with the machine I've got ;D ;D

[jfc]

ok what you got ? I run all mine off in one on the bursgreen .

[dom]

85kg is not as impressive as it sounds and there's not that much table width fore of the cutter.

[andy king]

That's the Chinese version of the Kity 429 spindle moulder.
I reviewed the Charnwood one a while back, same machine, differet colour, although you can't be sure if there are differences in the inside gubbins that alters the pricing.
At this price, you would have to assume that the otor won't be durable enough for a trasde environment, but if its built as well as the Charnwood (and being a clone, its likely from the same factory, so will be) its a solid bit of kit.
I had a 100mm diameter block fitted taking 50mm deep moulding profiles with no problem, and a spindle with a sliding carriage at anything under £1000 is pretty much unheard of until now.
The carriage is the same as Kity use on the 419 saw, so it can flex a little with heavier longer stock, but for tenoning door rails or similar lengths, it shouldn't be a problem.
For 300 quid you'd struggle to buy a top end router and table, or even a router and a few cutters!

[jfc]

Just had a quick look at some of my tooling and i would say you need at least £600 worth of tooling to make a spindle moulder worth having . Would other spindle owners agree ? Apart from Dom of course because hes to scared to put a block on his ;D

[andy king]

Nov 12, 2008 12:44:19 GMT dom said:

85kg is not as impressive as it sounds and there's not that much table width fore of the cutter.

You're right there Dom, it's only around 300mm of infeed on the Charnwood version.
You can swing the fence through 180 degrees if you want wider support for general work though, about 225mm table width, only 50mm on the carriage side, so the carriage has to support the work.
There are tapped holes in the bed that should allow a powefeed on the Charnwood version.

Andy

[dom]

Oh really, Mr. "I put the big blocks on and then press the start button while I'm crouched on the floor" scaredy cat. ;D

[jfc]

Hide behind the router table actually ;D

[woodworker]

Nov 12, 2008 12:36:55 GMT jfc said:

ok what you got ? I run all mine off in one on the bursgreen .

One of these Thingy whatsits

[cnc paul]

I have ordered one...... The little use I have, a rebate and a bit of moulding here and there, it will do me fine. If I was making windows and doors it would not be something I would buy.

I will keep you posted when I get it.


Paul

[jfc]

If I was making windows and doors it would not be something I would buy.

Really ? I was toying with the idea of getting one and leaving the window and door cutters set up in it freeing up the bursgreen for other uses .

[cnc paul]

I don't think it has the guts to rebate and tennon large frame section all day long ... fine for sash rebates and ovolo's etc.

I will have a better idea when I get it


Paul

[jfc]

Sorry , i did meen for the rail , stile rebates and ovolos not tenoning .

[cnc paul]

I will let you off then ;D

For you it would be a great second spindle. You couldn't buy
a decent router table for £300 ........without a router.



Paul

[jfc]

I aint putting that crap in my workshop ;D Actually i did buy a fox planer thicknesser . It looks like a fisher price my first planer ;D But i have shoved some serious sections of oak through it and it still works fine . I was half expecting it to explode

[lynx]

Here's the one i just picked up





Now sat in the workshop awaiting the sparkie to do his thing

[cnc paul]

Lynx,

I very nice purchase, I don't think you will need to upgrade for some time.


Paul

[modernist]

I thought it had to be running by today ;D ;D

V nice machine and sliding table - really solid

Cheers

Brian

[jfc]

Very nice .
I notice over there They are saying spindle tooling is cheaper Could have blinking fooled me considering the dosh i have spent on it over the last two years !

[lynx]

cheaper, f**k me, i've nearly spent the price of the spindle again on tooling.

Should have opted for the trition and 12mm cutter again !

Brain, it should have been but the bloody useless suppliers ent getting my timber here until friday, or even monday. 10 days he said, a month ago!!!!

[lynx]

With reference to the Fox SM. If using it for smaller DIY items i would say yes but i can't see it running a cill block without having to take 20 cuts at it. (well i'm going to be taking 20 passes to start with)

But when you look at the £299 price, thats what i paid for a router and single cutter to run some desktop edgings. If that spindle was about then, I would have snapped it up straight away.