Jacob: you do what you have to hand and what works. I once talked to a fellow trademan who did not a unsimilar method to yours.
The modern template method and Router booth is a nice bit of kit and if you can draw it you can cut it and it is very accurate as you profile the cutter on the grinder so you get near enough spot on on all the wings. Alas this method is going like the dodo and disposables seems the way forward for the bigger manufacturers as it is less setup/sharpening and no costly employment of Saw Doctor. Like most things its done as progress and to be honest like good machine men the Saw Doctors are not numerous as they once were, well in my neck of the woods. I am still smarting listening to a recent broadcast that Kentucky Fried Chicken is getting apprenticeships in being a manager. What ever next, apprenticeships were for skills, I do not not to belittle Kentucky Fried Chicken but training their Managers is not an apprenticeship.
Back on track, I traded in our Unimat 6 Head for a Powermat 6 head, the new one is faster and is CNC setup, this was the way forward as setup or tool changing once programmed once can be 5/10 minutes so profiling is cheaper and less man hours so more economic. You programme the heads in to configure your mould say T&G, it even takes a picture of the head, got a web cam on it and the picture comes up when you are setting up so it stores all cutters or heads you have previously programmed in its memory and knows there dimensions. The programme then has HSK head configurations so there is no spindle only a tool head and pneumatic clamp, all my heads have been fitted on the carrier configured to the machine clamping system. The machine then when it registers the head is in place configures itself to profile setup which you have told it you are doing, it will not switch on and checks the operator has configured it and asks him accordingly and moves all but one head into position, if it goes off position it stops and asks to reconfigure. Now this system relys on moulded cutters be proifiled on the head or the alternative and cheaper method as no profiling outlay is replacement tip tooling. That is what I have done and sold our Grinders Rondomat and setup and all my tooling is more or less HKS headed so it can move between varied machinery. Except the Moulder, Weinig had there own head configuration and it does not fit on my CNC Spindle or CNC Router. I have now been informed by the rep that this is being fixed and future machinery will configure for tooling to be able to go on other machinery as they have recently bought into a CNC Router maker. As for finish the replacement tips gives me a great finish, the only better finish was a Waco I once operated but a real beast to setup as not fast and noisy but as far as I am aware is still going in the same Joinery/Building Company. The finish on Red Pine Sideboards finishings was glass.
