# Powermatic Shaper. Should I?



## believebraves (Jan 10, 2011)

Ok, so the guy I bought my Powermatic Table Saw called me this week and said he needs to sell one of his shapers along with other powermatic tools. This guy literally has 3 of every PMS ever made. He's a full time collector and part time woodworker! 

Anyway it is a shaper that was built in America in the early 90s and is in AWESOME shape! But, the problem is
I have never used a shaper and don't know if it would be worth it.. I make cabinets and know that it could help, but wondering if you use your shaper, And what do you use it for??

Also, the price is $750, which for a powematic seems almost like a steal??? But never priced a shaper.


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*steal of a deal!*

A 3HP Powermatic shaper is worth 3 X that. A new 3 HP Grizzly is a $1000.00. Any cutters to go with? Stay on the good side of this guy. :thumbsup:
Shapers are great for making doors for interior and exterior. They are a bit dangerous and require hold downs and a power feeder would be great.  bill


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## believebraves (Jan 10, 2011)

You cannot even imagine the tools this guy has... I am a hoarder, but this dude is over the top! Simply amazing! When I go back I will ask him if it is ok with him if I take a photo to show yall. Powermatic galore. And I didnt add in there, that this is a guy I trust 100% and he also fixes PMs so if there was ANY trouble there would be no doubt he would make it good!

From what I have found a used PM runs anywhere from 1000-2000 bucks, and this one is a 3HP single Phase in awesome shape.

While I am at it, A Powermatic Drill Press, everything is in fantastic shape except the table you drill into, someone before him didnt know what they were doing. Asking $500 for it.. Is that worth it?


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## WillemJM (Aug 18, 2011)

The shaper seems to be a good deal. I use my 3hp shaper a lot, stay away from my router table if I can and only use the latter as a last resort for very small parts. 

The drill press depends on size. New ones are not expensive and not a lot goes into a drill press.


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## eagle49 (Mar 22, 2011)

Just go on Ebay. Look at completed listings on the left column and you can see what they are worth. Also what the buyer is willing to add for shipping. Don't pay any attention to the asking for price. If I see something for sale I like, I get on line, price it and go from there. Also shaper cutters are pricey, so if ya got to buy them it might not be worth it. You can use a big router to do basicly the same thing or hand planes for that matter. Shapers are very dangerous too. Just my .02 cents.


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## BigJim (Sep 2, 2008)

You might ask him to put a large cutter in it and fire it up and see if you still want it. The larger cutters are not cheap and they scare the dickens out of me. If you do decide to buy it be sure all the spacers and spindles come with it. I have a small shaper now but use it mostly with router bits.


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## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

Unless you do production work, like running a lot of moulding, or doing doors, I would rather use a well set up router table. Shapers are usually like 7K or 10K RPM's, which can be limiting compared to what routers turn. It's not a lot of money for the machine, but if it doesn't make you money and just will sit in your shop taking up floor space, it's expensive.

If you still decide to get it, buy a power feeder before anything else. It does sound scary when you start it up, but not as scary as someone shootin' at ya.:laughing:


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## WillemJM (Aug 18, 2011)

cabinetman said:


> Unless you do production work, like running a lot of moulding, or doing doors, I would rather use a well set up router table. Shapers are usually like 7K or 10K RPM's, which can be limiting compared to what routers turn. It's not a lot of money for the machine, but if it doesn't make you money and just will sit in your shop taking up floor space, it's expensive.
> 
> If you still decide to get it, buy a power feeder before anything else. It does sound scary when you start it up, but not as scary as someone shootin' at ya.:laughing:


The lower RPM's on a shaper, is due to larger diameter cutters. My shaper cuts faster, neater and cleaner than my router any day and I can do much larger moldings if I need to.


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## H. A. S. (Sep 23, 2010)

believebraves said:


> Ok, so the guy I bought my Powermatic Table Saw called me this week and said he needs to sell one of his shapers along with other powermatic tools. This guy literally has 3 of every PMS ever made. He's a full time collector and part time woodworker!
> 
> Anyway it is a shaper that was built in America in the early 90s and is in AWESOME shape! But, the problem is
> I have never used a shaper and don't know if it would be worth it.. I make cabinets and know that it could help, but wondering if you use your shaper, And what do you use it for??
> ...




Powermatic is one of the best quality WW tools out there, but sounds like you know that already. $750.00 sounds like a great deal to me, try to get him to set up a set of large cutters, and he'll show you how to run it. Fixtures for running production, are pretty easy to make; and they will last a lot of years.

You never know, someone may ask you to make a thousand pieces for them in the future. I cut my eye teeth on a big ol PM shaper when I was a teenager; there is no comparison to the quality of cut, if compared to a router table. Smooth sailing!:thumbsup:

A shaper is a breeze making any curved cut, (just keep an eye on grain direction); set up is similar to a router table. Anything you can set-up or cut using a router table, will be a lot better; done on a shaper. Even if you don't use it every day, it will still be a great investment.

Be sure to show us some pics!


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## believebraves (Jan 10, 2011)

H. A. S. said:


> Powermatic is one of the best quality WW tools out there, but sounds like you know that already. $750.00 sounds like a great deal to me, try to get him to set up a set of large cutters, and he'll show you how to run it. Fixtures for running production, are pretty easy to make; and they will last a lot of years.
> 
> You never know, someone may ask you to make a thousand pieces for them in the future. I cut my eye teeth on a big ol PM shaper when I was a teenager; there is no comparison to the quality of cut, if compared to a router table. Smooth sailing!:thumbsup:
> 
> ...


 
Well that is the thing. I do know PM especially the ones that were built in the USA and are hudella (sp?) machines... you WILL NOT BEAT there performance. Not so sure how much I would use it at the moment, but as a long term woodworker hobbyist I could see it coming in very handy. And hey, I think even if I decided to sell it later it would at LEAST bring what I have in it, if not more... Thanks for your thoughts!!

Probably be a couple weeks before I get it, but will def send some pictures of this beast!


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