Mikron adds router capability to molder

Mikron has re-introduced its M652R multi-molder and router, which features all the molding capabilities of its staple M645 molder, with the addition of the routing abilities of a 3-1/4-hp five-speed Porter-Cable router with a 1/2" shank. The combination machine is primarily designed to simplify applications involving architectural curved millwork, such as circular, curved and elliptical molding.

The M652R features an adjustable tilting spindle (zero to 52 degrees); a 7-1/2-hp, three-phase Baldor motor; variable speed feed rate; floating worktable; adjustable fence and a linear tracking system. The machine can rout insets and channels on both straight and curved moldings for applications such as windows, mirrors, pictures, paintings, cabinets, doors, flooring and more.

“The Mikron, because of the tilting head, enables you to perform everything with the piece of wood laying flat on the table, so you’re adjusting the head to match the angle,” explains Rick Paul, president of Charles G.G. Schmidt & Co., the main U.S. distributor of the Canadian-manufactured machine. “And that also eliminates a deep projection on your knife because you tip the head to follow the molding. It’s safer to use and there is an ease of what you’re doing.”

Switching from a molder to a router is a five-minute operation, according to Paul. The user removes the belt cover from the back of the machine, flips a lever that takes the tension off the belts, removes the belts, loosens the lock nut, and takes the cutterhead spindle off. The router head is put on and locks into place, with room for fine adjustment.

The machine’s spring-loaded table, also referred to as a floating table, allows for the use of curved and straight molding with the same setup as long as the pieces have fairly similar widths. If the user goes from a straight piece to a radius piece, the table will move, depending upon how tight or big the radius is. As it is goes through the machine and starts to curve, the spring-loaded table holds the two rollers against the piece of wood while the fence in the back, which comes up through the table, holds the other side in place.

Paul describes the two machines as “the first and only molders with a horizontal tilting spindle and feed system for circular, elliptical, curved and straight moldings combined in one unit.”

The machine’s table measures 38" x 24". It’s sold with a 4" diameter, two-knife corrugated back cutterhead.

“The cutterhead can go reverse and forward,” Paul says. “It would depend on whether your knife was made for one side of the machine or the other. Generally, people feed from right to left and you grind your knives accordingly. If your knives get made backwards or you have to do something differently, you can feed from left to right. The cutterhead is Charles Schmidt-manufactured, HSS or carbide, whatever your application needs.”

The Mikron M652R multi-molder and router sells for about $22,000. An optional digital readout from Accurate Technologies is available.

Contact: Charles G.G. Schmidt & Co., 301 W. Grand Ave., Montvale, NJ 07645. Tel: 800-724-6438. www.cggschmidt.com

This article originally appeared in the October 2008 issue.