Best Spindle Moulders for Wood: Router, Router Table or Stationary

A spindle moulder has a tool spindle of its own, usually Ø 30 mm, and takes full-profile cutters. A router table has no spindle: a router is bolted underneath it. A hand-held router has a 6, 8 or 12 mm collet. They are three different machines that in Italy all go by the same name. The Bernardo spindle moulders we carry run from €1,122.44 (T 500, 1.5 kW) to €3,123.31 (T 800 F with tilting spindle), plus the TS models quoted on request. An official distributor since 2007.

The confusion comes from the fact that all three spin a cutter. What changes is what holds it and how much material can be taken off in one pass.

The hand-held router weighs 3 or 4 kg and is held in the hand. It has a 6, 8 or 12 mm collet and puts out around 1,200 W. It is fine for edges, grooves and small profiles on pieces already assembled.

The router table is a top on which the router is fixed upside down. It has neither a motor nor a spindle of its own: the machine is still the router, the table adds stability and fences. The Bernardo RT range starts at €287.93.

The spindle moulder has a built-in tool spindle, Ø 30 mm across the whole Bernardo range, and a motor from 1.5 to 5.5 kW. It takes full-profile cutters and works continuously. It is the joinery machine, not the site machine.

Anyone searching for "best wood routers" finds almost nothing but hand-held routers. If the work is profiling doors, frames and rebates in batches, that is not the right machine.

The T 500 series is the way in to machines with a spindle of their own. Motor of 1.5 kW S1, four speeds from 1,400 to 8,650 rpm, Ø 30 mm spindle, Ø 100 mm extraction.

The T 500 at €1,122.44 has an MDF table and a 230 V or 400 V supply. The T 500 PR at €1,385.04 brings the cast iron table, adds the roller table and a fence already fitted, with 110 mm of vertical travel: it weighs 99 kg against the few kg of a router table, and the difference shows up in vibration. The T 500 PF at €1,476.25 adds the drilling table.

From here on the machine stands on the floor and the work becomes continuous.

The T 600 R at €1,634.86 has 2.2 kW S1 and 3.0 kW S6, two speeds (3,500 and 7,000 rpm), a 700 × 560 mm table with roller table and a 220 × 320 mm angle fence. It weighs 196 kg. It comes in 230 V single-phase and 400 V three-phase at the same price.

The T 650 at €1,830.06 goes up to 2.8 kW on 230 V single-phase, with four speeds from 1,800 to 9,000 rpm and 100 mm of vertical travel. It weighs 160 kg.

The T 700 costs €1,800.06 in 230 V and €1,854.46 in 400 V: €54.40 of difference for the same machine, with a 700 × 700 mm cast iron table. This is the case where choosing three-phase costs almost nothing.

The T 750 at €2,061.87 is the first with a spindle tilting from −5 to +30 degrees, a 710 × 640 mm cast iron table and a fence with built-in extraction. Tilt is what makes undercut profiles possible, which a fixed spindle cannot cut.

At €3,123.31, in 230 V or 400 V, the T 800 F brings together two things absent below it: a spindle tilting from +5 to −45 degrees and a 1,000 × 360 mm sliding table.

The sliding table changes how you work. The piece travels on the carriage instead of being pushed by hand against the fence: on frames and long rails repeatability goes up and hands stay away from the cutter.

Motor 2.8 kW S1 and 3.9 kW S6, four speeds from 1,800 to 9,000 rpm, cast iron table.

Above the T 800 F sits the industrial class: T 1300, T 1300 E, TS 900 F, TS 1000 F, TS 1300, TS 1300 E, TS 1300 TC e TS 1300 TCE. They are quoted on request, not listed.

All of them carry 5.5 kW three-phase with star-delta starting, five speeds from 1,500 to 9,000 rpm and cast iron tables from 900 × 700 up to 1,310 × 970 mm. Tilt runs from −10 to +45 degrees.

The TC and TCE versions add the tenoning carriage, which lets you cut tenons on the ends of stiles without separate jigs. The TS 1300 TCE has a 1,910 mm table with an extending top.

The T 1300 weighs 530 kg, the T 1300 E reaches 665 kg. At those weights the machine has to sit on a checked floor, and lifting gear is needed to unload it.

Anyone who already has a good router and works only occasionally can stop here.

The RT 2 at €287.93 has a 36 mm MDF table, 800 × 605 mm at 860 mm height, adjustable fences and a twin extraction port Ø 70 and Ø 63 mm. It weighs 26 kg.

The RT 3 T at €464.83 moves to cast iron, with a table tilting from 0 to 45 degrees and Ø 100 mm extraction. It weighs 57 kg. The RT 3 F at €658.82 adds the 785 × 310 mm sliding table.

The limit is still the router you fit on top: an 8 or 12 mm collet and around 1,200 W. Full-profile spindle moulder cutters cannot be fitted.

Occasional work on pieces already assembled. A hand-held router is enough. In the catalogue the Güde OF 1200 E at 1,200 W costs €79.00.

Profiles and rebates for the serious hobbyist. Bernardo RT 3 T router table at €464.83, if the router is already there.

A joinery profiling in batches. A spindle moulder with a Ø 30 mm spindle. The T 500 PR at €1,385.04 if space is tight, the T 600 R at €1,634.86 if a floor-standing machine is needed.

Production with complex profiles. T 750 at €2,061.87 for the tilting spindle, T 800 F at €3,123.31 if the sliding table and the −45 degrees are needed too.

Continuous production. TS series with carriage, quoted on request.

Up to the T 700 there are 230 V single-phase versions. The 2.8 kW T 650 is single-phase, and the T 800 F comes in both supplies at the same price.

From the T 750 up, and across the whole TS series, it is three-phase 400 V only: at 5.5 kW star-delta starting is not optional. Before ordering, check the real contracted power and whether the three phases reach the room where the machine will be installed.

The advice I give most often: do not look at the power, look at the weight. Between a 99 kg cast iron T 500 PR and a 26 kg MDF router table the difference is not the motor, it is how still the machine stays when the cutter enters the wood. You see it in the finish straight away.

Sandra Gaspar, founder of Krollit

The machines in this comparison are in wood routers and spindle moulders and in router tables. To work out what supply your installation will take, we have written a guide to kW and amps. Anyone working metal will find the equivalent machines in universal milling machines.