Review on Grizzly Industrial G0510Z 1 HP Shaper Woodworking Machine by Dave Tapia

A friend of mine bought one of these two years ago and he still talks about how well it works. I purchased one a couple of weeks ago and I am absolutely thinking of dumping all 3 of my router tables. All of my router tables are aluminum cast top with extension wings and all have 2hp routers. But I must say that even though this shaper is rated at 3/4 hp it has more than enough power to do the job.It can be set up for a shaper bits or for router bits. Grizzly includes a set of spacers for conversion to router bits 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. It came well packed and,as with all things Grizzly, a generous coating of the protective "stuff" that protects it during shipping. I don't mind the clean up as the alternative is a rusty machined surface. Assembly is straight forward and simple. A mobile base may be in order for some but keep in mind the unit can be a bit top heavy when moving it around. It has a solid cast iron table and spindle assembly. There is virtually no vibration and cuts are smooth. Router bits do tend to run a little slower than what one may be used to but it does not seem to be a problem and I have had no burning. rather the cuts seems to be smoother and less chip out compared to the router tables.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. Dust collection is a bit weak 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 my prototype has been copied by a few already. 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 is to one making specialty jigs. An interesting tip was when my friend used a 3 inch straight cut bit 1 inch diameter mounted to the shaper. He then set the left fence flush with the bit and locked it down. He could then adjust the right fence back a bit and he had a sideways jointer.I definetly am going to get another one of these. For a good router table and a router you will be really close to buying this machine. A perfect shop would have 3 of these. Two for styles and rails and a third just for raised panels. Then all 3 could be set exactly to the right depth.