SHOP FOX W1701 1-Horsepower Shaper

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Price: $679.00    

Product Feature

• Heavy-duty miter gauge
• Table height: 34-1/4-Inch
• Spindle travel: 7/8-Inch
• Maximum cutter Diameter: 2-7/8-Inch
• Router bit spindles: accepts 1/4-Inch and 1/2-Inch

Product Description

This 1 HP Shaper provides the best of all worlds - a rock solid router table, which allows the use of most 1/4" and 1/2" shank router bits, as well as a powerful shaper, which opens up a new realm of 1/2" bore shaper cutters. A split adjustment fence also makes edge jointing and full edge profiling safe and easy. This Shaper should be a part of every woodshop.

SHOP FOX W1701 1-Horsepower Shaper Review

I purchased two of these based on my experience with the Grizzly G510Z, which I have had for 2 years now. These two units went onto mobile bases which makes it incredibly handy for me to move about the shop should i have longer lengths to run through or for cleaning the floor. It was a thoughtful decision to purchase the Shop Fox W1701 over the Grizzly and I very am happy with the decision.

The machines are almost identical except in 2 key areas. The Shop Fox has a faster spindle speed and a larger table. These two changes makes a very good machine into a great machine. The larger table is simply a huge improvement over the Grizzly and makes me wonder now why doesn't it too use the larger table.

This unit can be set up for a shaper bits or for router bits. A set of spacers for conversion to router bits are included though I suspect one could leave the spacers in and put the shaper arbor back in and place a 3/4 spacer on the arbor before setting the shaper bit. I personally leave it setup for router bits. A friend of mine leaves it setup for the shaper spindle. I dont bother with changing it over as some may do. I just consider it a great feature in being able to choose which machine you want to run, a shaper using shaper bits or a shaper that can use router bits

It came well packed and, a generous coating of the protective "stuff" that protects it during shipping. Assembly was easy and took me about an hour to complete.

There is virtually no vibration and cuts are smooth. The router bits do run a little slower compared to a router table but it does not seem to be a problem and I have had no burning. The cuts seems to be smoother and less chip out compared to the router tables. Although once in a while i get a bit of chatter in hard wood and at the beginning of the cut but mostly on smaller pieces of wood. I believe it is a combination of the hard wood, spindle speed, and the low mass of the wood.

The split fence is really interesting as you can lock down one side and adjust the other side relative to the first side or to the cutting bit. Or you can parallel the fences and move the whole assembly. I also have replaced the split fence on one of the shapers with a one piece fence board measuring about 24" long x 6" tall x 3/4" thick. This allows me to add my own holes for featherboards. One featherboard I have been using for the raised panel cutter is the Safety Guard Arched Featherboard by Peachtree woodworking PW3325. The bit is rather large compared to the style and rail cutters and I like the additional safety protection of this curved featherboard as well as allowing good airflow to the dust collection system. It really covers the raised panel bit well.

I said on the Grizzly that dust collection is a bit weak and the same is true here. But to be fair its weak on most shapers and router tables. A simple design for a dust collection hood solves this problem very well and I simply copied my prototype design from the unit I made for the Grizzly. I did make an extra fence that had taller boards so feather boards could be used. This is not a short coming of the machine but rather shows how flexible the machine can be to accept specialty jigs.

After having the machine in my shop for a while I came to appreciate what seemed to be a minor difference between it and the Grizzly but turned out to be a bigger convenience factor than originally thought. The miter slot on the Shop Fox is a T slot where the Grizzly is not. If you use feather boards or jigs and fixtures on the table surface then this is really a big deal. Items cam be attached to the table surface easily, quickly and, more importantly, securely with little concern that it will lift from the table surface.

I like the Grizzly, but really really like the Shop Fox W1701.

Update
I purchased a third unit and found an easy way to setup the shaper from its shipping box. Open the box and take out all the parts from the top side and remove the fence bolts and the two tapered pins from the top of the table, but leave the foam packing in place. Close the box and flip it upside down. Assemble the legs left and right and the cross bars. The bolts will need to engage the square hole on both the machine and the leg as well on the leg and brace, lightly tighten the bolts. The legs will taper from the machine base outwards toward the floor when upright. I used a framing square to make sure each leg tapers the same on both sides then tighten the bolts.

This shaper went onto a mobile base and I used a piece of flat plywood to quickly check to make sure the rubber feet on the unit were at least close to being level. Since the table is larger on the Shop Fox I then laid the machine down on its right side (side with the spindle lock knob (double check to make sure it is not going to be damaged when you flip the machine on its side). I placed a piece of cardboard to protect the leg as it lays on the floor. Then raise the machine upright. Then lots of cleaning, wd40 actually works as a bit of solvent for removing the protective grease that is used for shipping, then I used some brake spray and finally some cast iron protection (I used paste wax) on the table top. Then for some handy storage I cut a piece of 1/2" plywood to act as a shelf on top of the leg braces (tie bars the manual calls them). And a small 3" x 3" 1/4 plywood to cover the hole under the draw-nut to help keep most chips from falling on my shelf.

I also used the 3/4" spacer kit on this unit and like my way to install it better than the directions in the manual. There are 7 bolts in the kit abd of the 7 2 are shorter than the other 5, the 2 go on the very front of the table in the corner. For me the following steps work better.

Loosen motor and drive belt
Remove spindle lock knob (dont lose the clamp sleeves, I ran a zip tie through the holes)
Remove the 4 corner table bolts
Remove the table with the spindle assembly (2nd person helps)
Flip table upside down and remove spindle assembly (watch for shims and keep them in place)

Install 3 spacers, bolts and spindle assembly onto table
Place table back on to shaper and install spacers and bolts (2 shorter ones go on front corner of table.
Install spindle lock knob
Install belt and properly tension belt.

This unit had some shims on the table and spindle assembly so I kept them in place with their respective holes. They were not very thick (.002 each) and only moved the spindle assembly a tiny bit. Perhaps a bit disappointing that shims are used. At least it shows that Shop Fox made the attempt to square the spindle to the table, so I will take it as a good sign.

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