Grizzly Moulding Head Cutter, Mini-review
 

I needed to make some crown moulding for my entertainment center
project and wanted to use the same wood I'm using for the entertainment
center (cherry). I got the moulding head cutter from Grizzly
http://www.grizzly.com/products/item.cfm?itemnumber=G2320 and the
profile, http://www.grizzly.com/products/item.cfm?itemnumber=G2349. I
had a chance to try them out today. Several observations:
1. Fit and finish of both the cutterhead and the moulding head are good.
2. There are serrations on both the cutters and the head to assure that the
knives stay in the cutter head
3. The cuts I got from doing about 25 feet worth of cutting were very good.
I'm pleased.
4. Aligning the knives is very easy, using a flat bench allows easy
alignment during assembly.
5. Standing to the side while feeding is a definite requirement, while I
did not have any instances of kick-back, there is no doubt in my mind that
kickback from this would be particularly nasty.

This cutter definitely has a pucker factor of about 8.5+ I took a
great deal of time to assure that the knives were secure, and that the
cutter head was secure before turning on the shaper. The sound alone is
enough to make one think twice before putting wood to cutter. The thing
just hums with power. Before cutting, I set up the feather boards and
made a couple of dry run-throughs before applying power. I took the
approach of using only wood that was wide enough to extend above the shaper
fence; I'll cut the molding free later. For several boards, I made two
moldings per board, one on top, one on the bottom. I would not want to use
wood that just barely fit above the cutter unless I had a power feeder. By
using extra wide wood, I was able to keep my hands clear should something
have gone awry. I did have a couple of tense moments when a piece did not
want to feed onto the outfeed board of the fence. Moving the board outward
slightly allowed the board to feed, but resulted in a definite divot in the
workpiece as the cutterhead re-engaged. Given the siutuation, this seemed
to be the least dangerous method of correcting the situation.

Bottom line, this is probably not what one would use for a
production situation. But for limited runs of moulding with a relatively
cheap cost for different profiles, this seems to work very well. I'm a
happy camper.


The entertainment center design is from Woodsmith #149:
http://store.yahoo.com/backissuesstore/wsback149.html Instead of shelves
in the lower cabinets, I've made drawers instead; they will be used to
store games, tapes, DVD's etc.


+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
The absence of accidents does not mean the presence of safety
Army General Richard Cody
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Ditto on the pucker factor!
I have the same molder head sitting on my bench.
I try to use it when on very I really really have to!
I use the Grizzly 5 HP shaper, every time I fire it up, I say to myself.
Now where are my fingers going to be on this run.
Then after making sawdust, I count each one to make sure.


Mark & Juanita wrote:

I needed to make some crown moulding for my entertainment center
project and wanted to use the same wood I'm using for the entertainment
center (cherry). I got the moulding head cutter from Grizzly
http://www.grizzly.com/products/item.cfm?itemnumber=G2320 and the
profile, http://www.grizzly.com/products/item.cfm?itemnumber=G2349. I
had a chance to try them out today. Several observations:
1. Fit and finish of both the cutterhead and the moulding head are good.
2. There are serrations on both the cutters and the head to assure that the
knives stay in the cutter head
3. The cuts I got from doing about 25 feet worth of cutting were very good.
I'm pleased.
4. Aligning the knives is very easy, using a flat bench allows easy
alignment during assembly.
5. Standing to the side while feeding is a definite requirement, while I
did not have any instances of kick-back, there is no doubt in my mind that
kickback from this would be particularly nasty.

This cutter definitely has a pucker factor of about 8.5+ I took a
great deal of time to assure that the knives were secure, and that the
cutter head was secure before turning on the shaper. The sound alone is
enough to make one think twice before putting wood to cutter. The thing
just hums with power. Before cutting, I set up the feather boards and
made a couple of dry run-throughs before applying power. I took the
approach of using only wood that was wide enough to extend above the shaper
fence; I'll cut the molding free later. For several boards, I made two
moldings per board, one on top, one on the bottom. I would not want to use
wood that just barely fit above the cutter unless I had a power feeder. By
using extra wide wood, I was able to keep my hands clear should something
have gone awry. I did have a couple of tense moments when a piece did not
want to feed onto the outfeed board of the fence. Moving the board outward
slightly allowed the board to feed, but resulted in a definite divot in the
workpiece as the cutterhead re-engaged. Given the siutuation, this seemed
to be the least dangerous method of correcting the situation.

Bottom line, this is probably not what one would use for a
production situation. But for limited runs of moulding with a relatively
cheap cost for different profiles, this seems to work very well. I'm a
happy camper.


The entertainment center design is from Woodsmith #149:
http://store.yahoo.com/backissuesstore/wsback149.html Instead of shelves
in the lower cabinets, I've made drawers instead; they will be used to
store games, tapes, DVD's etc.


+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
The absence of accidents does not mean the presence of safety
Army General Richard Cody
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+