I inherited this NOS molding set from a neighbor of mine. Tempted to play with it on my Shopsmith. 

Anyone have any experience with these sets? Safety, cut quality, etc.

 

Will that 5/8" bore fit your ShopSmith John?

I've got an old Delta set that uses 3 cutters for both the table saw and shaper. Same cutters two different size heads.

They work well, but you have to feed the material slower than if you were using a router.

I've also often wondered how safe they are, and how well they are balanced.

Edited September 14, 20196 yr by CharlieL

The cutting knives get locked into the head by the hole in the knife with a set screw located in the head.

They are balanced well, and much safer than the old style slip knife cutters that got clamped between two plates top, and bottom. The slip knife cutter heads have a nasty reputation of sending knives flying.

43 minutes ago, Larry Buskirk said:

Will that 5/8" bore fit your ShopSmith John?

With an adapter it will Larry.

41 minutes ago, CharlieL said:

I've also often wondered how safe they are, and how well they are balanced.

Just seems like one cutter flying around at high rpm is a disaster waiting. Seems material could kick back easily or? I don't know. If I do test it out, I'll wear a Kevlar helmet, goggles and use a 24" push-stick.

Just now, John Morris said:

Just seems like one cutter flying around at high rpm is a disaster waiting. Seems material could kick back easily or? I don't know. If I do test it out, I'll wear a Kevlar helmet, goggles and use a 24" push-stick.

The head is balanced to compensate for the one cutter knife. The notch below where the knife mounts makes up for the knife weight. I'll have to post photos of my 3 knife heads so you can see how it is balanced for 3 knives. 

Just now, Larry Buskirk said:

The head is balanced to compensate for the one cutter knife. The notch below where the knife mounts makes up for the knife weight. I'll have to post photos of my 3 knife heads so you can see how it is balanced for 3 knives. 

Larry, the three knife sets make more sense to me, that one knife system, man, just seems awkward.

@Larry Buskirk, is that flat cut out of the wheel the balancing act?

2 minutes ago, John Morris said:

@Larry Buskirk, is that flat cut out of the wheel the balancing act?

Yes it is John.

Just did a little search for a 5/8" Shopsmith arbor adaptor, they have them but not for dado sets, only single blade set ups. Hmmmm

Here ya go, John.

molder arbor

48 minutes ago, John Morris said:

Just did a little search for a 5/8" Shopsmith arbor adaptor, they have them but not for dado sets, only single blade set ups. Hmmmm

Figures.  

1 hour ago, Gene Howe said:

Here ya go, John.

molder arbor

Duh, thanks Gene! But, what about if I needed to use a dado set, do they sell arbors for that too?

I'm sure that one can be used for both. 

Edited September 14, 20196 yr by Gene Howe

I had a set given to me and I used it to cut some fluting in a podium pedestal.  It worked surprisingly well.  No shake, rattle or roll.

I have one that was given to me but never used it.  I did use come of the blades as scrapers for my turning endeavors.  Craftsman offered one with a three blade system too.

 

John when you compare a large router bit to a shaper bit they are close to the same diameter but then what you got there is many times larger in diameter and only one cutting bit...….And I'll bet your Shopsmith won't turn the rpm as the other two mentioned...At least Dan has the model that has 3 cutters which I have the same set but every time I would go to set it up and use it I got scared and in the 40 years I have owned it, it never got used... I could envision when turning the wood and the end grain got to the one bit no telling how far it would get thrown and especially what direction it would be going. And it seems like every time I see those they are always new with no evidence they been used....that aught to tell you something.....

I also have the 3 cutter set, and I've had 2 of the single cutter sets. They are one of the few Craftsman accessories for saws that really work. The single cutter does cut more slowly, and you DON"T want to use any of them on an RAS (not a problem for you, I know....but trust me on this ).  Don't forget you'll need a throat plate that allows it to cut. Oh, those cutters aren't all that hard to sharpen either. I wound up selling my single-cutter sets on e bay, they are (or were) quite popular there.

I'm with Jesse. Those things scare me to death.