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Shaper to make flooring

3K views 42 replies 11 participants last post by  firefighterontheside 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
I'm going to make flooring for my master bedroom. I will use all wood that I have milled on my sawmill and then dried in my kiln. I've never had a shaper or a power feeder. I found one for sale not too far away. It is a Delta 43-375 with an unknown model Delta power feeder. I believe the $1500 asking price is a bit high, but it also comes with some cutters. Looking at feeders like this I see they can be quite expensive so maybe the total price is not too bad. I'm looking for anyone with more experience with shapers and power feeders. My plan is to buy, use for making flooring and then sell again down the road.
Wood Gas Machine Metal Engineering
 

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#4 ·
Seems high to me too but could be fair if everything is ready to go without having to fix anything or replace any parts. What spindles and how many cutters it comes with can play heavily into the value. I bought a similar setup years ago for a song just to fix up and resell, I only used it once. The spindle bearings especially have to be scrutinized as they're the most expensive should they need replacement. If everything is single phase, that certainly makes it worth more.
 
#6 · (Edited by Moderator)
You need a power feeder and guides to keep the stock tight to both the table and cutter. Any variation caused by hand feeding will echo directly into unevenness in the finished floor.

Generally you don't plan on sanding your brand new floor, but if you hand feed the entire rooms worth, you're going to have to.

Flooring needs to be tight and precise. I wouldn't even try without a power feed. The feeder not only feeds the stock, but it insures that the stock will be tight to the deck. Infeed guides help keep the stock tight to the cutterhead.

This is not a "hand fed" job.
 
#8 ·
Thanks everyone. I will maybe make an offer of 1250 and see what happens. I also found a smaller buffalo brand shaper with no power feeder. I'd have to find one or buy a smaller one from grizzly. Maybe I would get something I could use with my router table after I get rid of the shaper.
 
#14 ·
Do you have room to keep it for S&R?

Running door parts on shaper is much nicer than router table.

Personally If that delta is in good working order, you don't get much better than that for 1500$.

Then if you want to still get rid of the shaper, keep the power feeder for your router table.
 
#15 ·
I don't have room in my shop for sure. I'm gonna use it in the garage, which my shop is attached to. Someday I'd like to park my truck back in the garage. Lol. That hasnt happened in about 9 months. The delta is about a 2 hour drive and that's my reason for straying from it. I also found a very nice looking Jet that is not very far away. He's asking 900, but I would offer 700. No cutters or power feeder with that.
 
#16 ·
I go with a Delta over a JET given the choice and the power feeder will make things easier despite being possible without it as was done successfully for a very long time by many.
 
#18 ·
The baby has plenty of power, it's the mechanism that i don't like. Just too much flex.

If you look at the pictures on line, you will understand why.

The baby will definitely work for a one time deal. But If you wanted to possibly use it down the road, I'd take one step up.

- CWWoodworking
I don't have to look at a picture and decide, I've used it.
 
#21 ·
That price is high. I sold the same mode delta (w/o feeder) and a with pile of 3/4" cutter heads for $500 about a year ago. It still took a while to sell.

$1500 should get you a bigger and more capable shaper.

- Jared_S
Man I must live in wrong area. I just did a Craigslist 250 mi search. Best deal was a restored antique for 900$ obo.

It's not uncommon to see 15-20 yr old grizzly table saws for 1-2000$.
 
#22 ·
+1 Does not take a large shaper or feeder to run T&G flooring.

Shaper availability varies immensely in Arizona. Can always find an overpriced $1500-$2000 machine being sold somewhere in area. The less expensive shaper's last only only a few minutes on CL, especially with power feeder as they are expensive part alone. Lots of folks looking for a 'cheap' 3HP shaper with 3/4" spindle for home use.

Occasionally find a thoroughly abused PM26 cheap. Have bought, used for one project, then sold a couple PM26. The big challenge with a bargain priced machine, is most need new bearing's in a rebuilt cartridge. The cartridge requires precise re-assembly with bearing pre-load and run out adjustment, which is beyond most DIY mechanics ability. Sending out a spindle for rebuild is hundreds $$ + parts, so it can be wise to buy a working machine instead of cheap unknown.
Some folks over at OWWM claim the older Delta spindles can be rebuilt at home easier than most brands, which IMHO tends to inflate the prices the Delta shaper.

Another tip: When buying used power feeder, check tires for damage, and/or cracking. Also listen for bearing noises. Rebuilding a power feeder with all new parts can be expensive.

Best Luck.
 
#23 ·
Here is one west of stl..

You should be able to buy a bare delta hd for $500 any day of the week.

Wood Font Engineering Metal Art


I would personally buy the biggest and heaviest euro style shaper you can find. It will likely be pennies on the dollar compared to the hobby sized machines. There are advantages to large shapers and large cutterheads. Used industrial shapers are cheap..

Power feeders are interesting things, they tend to mutiply if you leave two of them in a room w/o supervision.

Really though you should be able to find a used feeder for 300-500. Ive not paid more than $150 for any of mine (all 1hp) alternatively if you are willing to buy a new feeder the comatic dc30 (grizzly easy feeder) is the best thing out there currently. Completely variable speed is a feature you dont realize you want on a power feeder until you have it.

You will also want to replace any stock rubber feeder wheels with some poly wheels (70 durometer.) Western roller usually has them in stock for the 1hp feeders. And will makenthem to order on the smaller feeders. The stock rubber wheels on power feeders are basically hot garbage that start to harden and loose grip after about 1 year from new.

Also and you may already know this, but you need to use a back fence (outboard fence) for running flooring. Its the only way to assure a consistent width.
 

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#24 ·
Thanks everyone. I found a few off brand smaller shapers that I'm gonna pass on. Another guy had a Jet, but turned out to be missing the spindles. Gonna pass on that too. I think I'm coming full circle and will try this with my router table that has a 3 1/4 triton. I will buy the grizzly baby and maybe be able to use it with my TS too at some point. I don't intend to run all the flooring in one day. I will make flooring as time allows and store it at my wife's office which has extra rooms.
 
#25 · (Edited by Moderator)
If you're not going to run all the material at once you're going to have repeatedly issues if you can't leave the setups locked down. And I do mean locked! Any slight variations in the shaper settings or the material thickness will show up in the final product.

This also means that your shop is locked in place until this job completes. How long do you figure on that?

Are you going to buy (expensive) S4S - which varies in thickness and width piece-to-piece? Even a few thou variations stack up and you'll have steps all over the place.

You'll have to rip all your lumber at once or it'll never fit. (Unless you have an Incra rip fence.)

Are you going to plane all the stock to the same thickness? How are you going to get to the same final dimension for all the stock if you don't plane it in a batch?

Are you planning on butting the ends or are you going to interlock them? Interlocking (done right) gives a better fitting floor but requires two additional setups and since you can't change the shaper back and forth …

You really need to plane the entire run and then do your shaper runs at once or you're going to have issues.

I know that you think you can measure your way out with DRO's but based on volume that ain't going to work. Mills set up, do the full run and repeat, no starts and stops.

How many sf are you talking about? Its more than a 10×10 bedroom or you could easily do it in one run. No, multiple runs & setups are a bad idea.

If you have to stack the milled flooring before use be sure to sticker it.
 
#26 ·
^ He's using wood he milled and dried. Property setting up any machine is important with any operation, this is something that Bill is more than capable of.
 
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