Router table or shaper?

A router table is easy to make by yourself.

All the Jessem router lifts and bells and whistles may
give pride of ownership but we got along fine
without them.

My first router table was a piece of melamine. It
worked fine. I built a fence out of MDF and
I still use that same fence. Later I bought a steel
router table by Veritas but still used the same
fence.

I would go with the shaper if you have $500 or more
burning a hole in your pocket. You can do
much heavier work on a shaper and they are more
versatile than routers in many ways.

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Both….

If you can afford a decent shaper right now I would do it. You will get the best results with crucial cuts like joinery (cope & stick, etc…), raised panels, and mouldings. But, a router table is a necessity, it is much more versatile, and the bits are less expensive than shaper cutters. It is great to be able to set up for different sized grooves, chamfers, round overs, etc… I’m with Loren; you don’t have to have a router lift and a high-end coping attachment/miter slide to make your table work well.

Also, if you are running alot of moulding or rails/stiles, you can set up a power feeder on a shaper. I don’t presonally know of anyone doing that on a router table, although it wouldn’t be difficult on a nice router table. Power feeds are nice to keep stock flat and up against the fence for better accuracy and consistency.

Just my opinion. I would (do) have both.

Regards, JM

-- Jarrod, Eagle Nest, NM

I have similar but different question. I have a shaper that used to belong to my father. It is much older than me and I think was built in the ‘40s and sold by Sears. My dad taught me how to use it when I was just a kid and it has a lot of sentiment attached to it. When I was 10 he used it to build our kitchen cabnets.

The problem is it only has a 1/2” spindle and the throat is narrow so many cutters will actually hit the table unless it is fully lowered. The whole table moves up and down to adjust the height of the cut. I have used some spacers to raise the cutter but there is not a lot of room left on the spindle. There is not a wide assortment of 1/2” bore cutters available. I can use a 3/4” with a bushing but radius of the cutter would be a limiting factor. It is small but solid and weighs a ton. I can’t part with it and don’t have room for it and a router table in my shop although I wish I could have both.

I would like to get more cutters and make it more versitile but as I said there are not a lot out there and shaper cutters are much more expensive than router bits. Any suggestions on this or how I could set up the router table to take less space would be appreciated. Because of the way my table saw is positoned I can’t add a router under one wing as I have seen sometimes, otherwise this would probably work.

Thanks and sorry Al for piggybacking on your question with another question, but I think any comments will benefit us both.

-- Ron, Kutztown, PA "The reward is in the journey."

If you already have a router,I think I would go with a shaper.I have a router table wityh a 3 1/4 router, the router still bogs down when I make raised panels.I burned up my 1 3/4 router and was told to get a bigger router to do raised panels.Wish I would have gone with a shaper

-- Bill in Mich

Buy the shaper if you can. I also agree with what’s been said about having the router table, it’s too versatile and makes life easier. I faced a similar decision a few months back, and I’m very happy with my purchase. This is overkill but I’m blessed in the sense that I could afford the luxury. On the downside, cutters are more expensive, takes up room etc… I bought a 3hp shaper with a sliding table, a few cutters that included a door set and really like the quicker setup and overall better results. My shaper also has the collet for router bits. I also replaced my old Rockler router table with a new one, and bought a 2hp Triton (that is awesome!) It’s used mostly with an Incra universal jig.
Beeguy, look at www.cutterbits.com , they carry a good selection of cutters with 1/2” bore.
Good luck to all and happy fathers day.

-- Nicky

I have both and in my opinion if it one or the other go with a router table. I use them both but use my router table alot more, even when i do some small cope and stick projects.. I have the Jessem lift with a PC 7519 on a homemade table and fence.. I would like to get the incra fence system, just havent sat down and ordered it :)