Thread: Moulder Knives - sets.

My best advice is to by blanks and grind them up yourself. This may seem daunting but it is not that difficult once you know the basics. First you need a good quality bench grinder that is fixed down correctly. Second you will need the correct type of grinding wheel (normally white/cream colour) and of course thickness. Draw your profile on to a piece of stiff cardboard and using masking tape fix to your blank. Now slowly grind away being careful not to over heat. I have was taught this method during my apprenticeship and have being doing this for years. Sure I have had a lot of experience, and I may make it sound easy but it saves time faxing of profiles to a manufacture to get them made. Naturally I only do this when I am stuck and need a profile straight away.

Another way is to go straight to manufacture and order them direct and by pass the major on sellers. They only keep the basic ones anyway and everybody buys them, so basically everybody has the same boring profiles. If you want your work to be something different stop use mainstream profiles.

The main reasons you have trouble buying sets of moulder cutters are cost even at $50 a set this equates to $500 as you suggest for a 100 peice set, also remember that there are many different spindle moulders in the domestic market, this means the manufactuer/retailer would be would need to carry 100 peice sets for each and every model, on the subject of having stop during a project to go and source the required cutters a more productive method is to to source the cutters before you start your job as is done in an industrial situation

I like your math China - if I'm buying something from you but not if your paying my wages.

100 sets @ $50/set is $5K.

Years ago I had a set in a orange plastic box - cost around a few hundred dollars...

There has to be cheap sets - heck I can buy 50 router bits out of China for $100 or 2 bucks each - these knives are ground by CNC machines - the companys CAN produce gazzilions of them just like router bits at 5/8ths of what paddy shot at (SFA), cost wise.

There will be sets available somewhere at reasonable cost - I just haven't found them yet is all..

Given time, I will.

Originally Posted by Timless Timber

I keep searching all these tool suppliers sites for spindle moulder cutter block knives and - you can download a brochure and buy any grind of knifes & limiters you could want, for 10 - 15 or so UK pounds, Plus postage....

Which in an ideal world might be OK if you don't mind the wait for them to be delivered.

Good Morning Timless

Its not just you and its not just cutter blades.

We are in Hobart and nothing ever seems to be in stock. "... We'll get it down by overnight courier from Melbourne/Sydney...." is the mantra, and overnight is commonly about ten days. Apparently, the supplier gives it to the courier that evening and the courier chucks it into a shipping container where it sits until the container is full, and then it is delivered overnight.

We buy an increasing amount from overseas - UK, Germany, Switzerland, USA, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, even China - and delivery usually takes 5 - 10 days. Frequently we find goods at around 40% of the Aus price, deduct VAT and you are down to a third of the Aus price, add in freight and still less than half price. Often prices are even less. Recently we got some Clinique ladies stuff from USA landed for around 20% of Myer price! Recent purchases include shoes, clothing, books, computer stuff, watch, tools, electrical gear, needlework stuff, car parts, etc.

Doesn't help when you want something yesterday, but in my case, local suppliers are no faster, often slower. I am very good at failing to pre-plan.



Fair Winds

Graeme

Believe me I hear you.

Just recently when I bought the X 31 Robland second hand - it came minus a heap of things that normally come with it like fences and clamps and crank handle for the tilt arbor saw blade etc etc.

So I found photos online of what I was missing & line drawings..... and emailed the W.A. Robland agent to see if they could be sourced new from the manufacturer in Belgium as spare parts and what they'd cost etc.

Weeks later after no answer... I contacted an agent in the UK - and nothing was too much trouble... he ordered all the parts and they are on the way to me as I type.

Then after a couple months I get an email from the Aussie Robland agent apologizing for not replying - he was on holiday and no one checked his email account while he was away.

That's an order worth almost a grand they dipped out on.
Service is dead in this country.
Nothings kept in stock any more.
I guess the internet will eventually kill off retail shops as we know them.
I did try local first.
I've had business relationships down in the southwest for over 20 years - you know them and they know you and nothings too much trouble - but here in the city?... well it's a different world here.
Service is a thing of the past it seems.
Wait until we find what we want on the internet from anywhere in the world, pay for the 3D cloud file design download and print it off on a 3D printer in the garage as we need it!.
Then the shops will be out of a job and Aussie post as well!

Probably just a question of time I reckon.

If you want to 3D print something bigger than your current 3D printer can handle, you'll download and print off the parts to assemble a larger 3D printer on your existing 3D printer and hook that up!

I used to watch old star trek when Scotty would beam people up, and they had a box they would computer generate any spare part they needed etc... and it seemed like (well at the time it was) "science fiction magic', and today its science fact.

Tis a brave new world...

Im left wondering - do we print a large tree only to mill it into planks with a saw or just print the already sawn planks?

Do we assemble the timber into furniture or just 3D print the assembled product?

Should I be selling my wood working machinery for a 3D printer?

The mind boggles - truly!

Originally Posted by Timless Timber

Service is a thing of the past it seems.
Wait until we find what we want on the internet from anywhere in the world, pay for the 3D cloud file design download and print it off on a 3D printer in the garage as we need it!.
Then the shops will be out of a job and Aussie post as well!

Probably just a question of time I reckon.

If you want to 3D print something bigger than your current 3D printer can handle, you'll download and print off the parts to assemble a larger 3D printer on your existing 3D printer and hook that up!

I used to watch old star trek when Scotty would beam people up, and they had a box they would computer generate any spare part they needed etc... and it seemed like (well at the time it was) "science fiction magic', and today its science fact.

Tis a brave new world...

Im left wondering - do we print a large tree only to mill it into planks with a saw or just print the already sawn planks?

Do we assemble the timber into furniture or just 3D print the assembled product?

Should I be selling my wood working machinery for a 3D printer?

The mind boggles - truly!

I like the way you think.

Apparently the feed stock for a 3D printer costs $50 per kilogram. A Ferrari weighs 1,500 kgs, so should require about $75,000 worth of feedstock. Who wants a Commodore?



Fair Winds

Graeme