What is the English name for this profile shaper cutter

[TimR]

Good day. I'm using an old spindle shaper from the 1930s instead of a modern router, and was thinking of widening my search for cutters to include auction sites in the UK and Australia, but I'm not sure what the British name for these profile cutters is. Do you call them "shaper cutters" too? The machine has a spindle that can be flipped over, accepting cutters with 5/16 inch bore on one end, and cutters with 1/2 inch bore on the other. The 1/2" bore cutters are fairly easy to find but the 5/16" bore cutters are not.
Thanks, Tim

 

[Sgian Dubh]

Look using the term 'spindle tooling'. Contemporary spindle tooling has limiters to reduce the chance of kickback occurring. The versions you show are no longer compliant with the law in this country in a professional (business) workshop, especially if the workshop has employees. Non professional users may still be using that sort of tooling on their spindle moulders (aka shapers in North America), because Health and Safety legislation meant for industrial users doesn't really apply to hobby woodworkers. For modern versions of profiles and the blocks they're part of you could look at the link below to start with. Slainte.
http://www.wealdentool.com/acatalog/Spi ... ng_91.html

 

[Myfordman]

I've not come across such small diameter spindles here in UK.
Older machines here use 1-1/4" and modern ones 30mm. The only exception is a older modest machine produced by Kity in France used 20mm spindle but they have now upgraded to 30mm on later machines.

There are a couple of enthusiasts of older machines from your side of the pond and they might be worth approaching.

Look out for Kirkpoore1 and Tool 613 members here as well as other ww forums.
You could also ask on OWWM where they specialise more in N American machinery.

HTH

Good Luck
MM

 

[bugbear]

Even in the 1890 books I have, spindle moulders have blocks with separate blades fixed on (more or less securely )

I'm more of a hand tool historian than a machine tool one - can anyone tell me if these one-piece cutters are/were common?

BugBear

 

[Racers]

Roy Underhill used a foot powered shaper with similar cutters here http://video.pbs.org/video/2263882759/

Pete

 

[Sgian Dubh]

I've not come across such small diameter spindles here in UK. MM

It crossed my mind to mention something about that when I posted MM. Like you I haven't often seen something with such a small bore, although a long time ago I recall seeing some spindle moulders with small spindles, but perhaps not as small as 5/16" or 1/2". They were small machines I saw back in the 70s, and I suspect they had something like a 3/4" spindle, and it wouldn't surprise to learn these small moulders were made in the 1920s- 1950s.

The other part I found interesting is, like bugbear mentioned, even back in the early to middle 1900s I think most profiles fitted to spindle moulders were mounted and locked into a block of some sort, even in the case of the long discontinued French head cutters. I've seen a few moulding cutters like the ones TimR is asking about, but that was when I lived in the US. I suspect the style or pattern is peculiar to that continent, although I'm not sure of that. The ones I've seen similar to that pattern I most frequently saw mounted in table saws (a typical nerve jangling and rear ring clenching experience [You have to love the Americans for their healthy disdain for anything that might hint at being a safe working practice!]), but if remember rightly most of the smaller table saws in the US have a 3/8" spindle, which doesn't fit in with the 5/16" and 1/2" bores he's talking about, although obviously a 3/8" spindle could be shimmed out to take a 1/2" bore cutter. Slainte.

 

[Giff]

English name?….Dangerous !

 

[Benchwayze]

In the 1960s Arcoy supplied similar cutters for their drill-attachment 'rebating' tool. The tool was supplied with a saw-blade of about 3" diameter, and the 'wing' moulding cutters were available as optional extras. Somewhere, I have one of these rebating attachments, (And much use was made of it, back in the day) and one moulding cutter which was a freebie, when I bought the attachment. (Even then, tool suppliers brokered "buy this, get that free" deals!
The Good Old days 8)

 

[TimR]

Thank you all for the replies, and the information.