feeder frenzie II

[John Bush]

With all the great help from the experts here on SMC I mounted my Versa Feeder the right way. My idea of 3/4" melamine and lots of lead weights was quickly laughed off the drawing board and my concern for drilling and tapping my TS top was overcome. It is actually easy to do and is so stable I can't flex the arm with a good shake. Setting up the driver takes a bit of practice but once it is set you are ready to rip. I did test cuts with 2x10 framing lumber with a bit of twist and cupping and the bevel cuts were straight. I imagine several SMCers scored on the good deal at Rocklers last Sat. and these pics may be of help. Good luck. JCB.

[Brian Peters]

Looks good, nice sawstop! Glad you went with tapping the top; it's much safer than trying to clamp it down and the bags weren't practical. Happy ripping!

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Good job John, you'll love having a feeder. I just used mine on the jointer for the first time ever. Sure sped that job up, and FAR more accurate and safe than by hand.

[Sonny Edmonds]

"I love it when a plan comes together." Hannibal Smith, the "A" Team.

Happy ripping and power feeding.
Now sit a spell and look around your shop. See other places you could use it? :rolleyes: :D

[David DeCristoforo]

Looks good. But I have one question. Why no bolt in the front corner of the metal plate? That's where the most "lift" is going to occur. Unless there is some specific reason for omitting it, I would add the fourth bolt. In fact, I would just bolt the feeder base to the saw top and forget the metal plate altogether. But in any case, this is much better than MDF and lead weights!

[John Bush]

Thanks all,
Sonny, I hope you don't mind me "borrowing" your idea. It worked perfectly.
Dave, thanks for the encouragement to tap the top. I spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out the physics for positioning the feeder. I kept all the holes in the extension so if there was a CI failure I could easily replace it. The Sawstop has a wider table so I positioned the plate inboard as far as I could to overlap the main table and ext. joint, and punch holes where there was no ribbing beneath. I can still add another bolt on the front corner but it seems solid enough as is. ( and it wouldn't be perfectly symmetrical,--I'm just a bit anal as you can see). Again, not having used a feeder before I thought it logical to place the base as far back as possible to minimize the angle to the cut line and not worry about how far the bar is extended. The whole thing seems so solid I doubt 2+ inch would really matter and I could have placed it just about anywhere and it would still work well.

Couple of use questions. How much pressure should I use? I will be running 2x8s x 10' @ 12 deg.and 2x12s x5' @ 9 deg. bevels. The stock will be off the shelf fir so it will have twist. etc. I did test runs using a 1 1/4" spacer and a 1 3/8" spacer. The 1/4" bite made the feeder groan a bit but kept feeding OK and the 1/8" bit fed without groaning but seemed to have just a little play. I don't want to burn up the motor but I would like straight cuts. Do you prefer tight groaning or a little play(can I say that here??). Should I expect the ball joint between the feeder and the bar to flex slightly as the stock enters and exits the rollers or should the roller springs absorb the load.Thanks again for your help. JCB.

[David DeCristoforo]

Don't forget... this is a very light duty unit. It will have much more flex than a "full sized" feeder. As to how much pressure you need, that will be determined by the cut, how much force you need to keep the stock against the fence, how hard the wood is, etc. I usually start with the wheels 1/4" below the stock surface and go from there. But you will reach the limitations of this small feeder very quickly and it may not be long before you are wanting a larger (heavier, more powerful, more rigid) unit.

[John Bush]

Thanks again Dave,

[Sonny Edmonds]

Absolutely not, John, that's what forums are all about to me. Helping each other with idea's and sharing experience.
I used a thicker chunk of steel for more rigidity in my base, and probably a bit larger dimensionally. But what you have appears fine to me.
In the future, you might consider using studded knobs instead of those allen head bolds to mount it. It doesn't take a lot of torque to hold the base securely.

You'll find you need to experiment a bit with your new feeder to find the "sweet spots" for particular materials and thicknesses.
For 3/4" stock, like I said before, I use 5/8" set-up blocks under the feeders wheels, get it in position and locked down, then eject the pieces with the feeder. Good to go with the stock.
For your 2 x 8's, you will need to do a little trial and error (which you have). But I wouldn't go forcing the feeder and making it "groan". If a pass is slipping, just give it a bit of help by pushing it a little to keep it feeding.
Then maybe a little more downward pressure can be applied.
Here's a nice trick I use with mine:
Mine is set up to push stock. So if I need a touch more pressure, I will loosen the clamp for the arm and extend it just a little more. (When the feeder is far enough away from the fence) Then clamp it again.
That makes the unit crowd closer to the table, and exerts a bit more pressure on the material. It's a way to "fine tune" the pressure being applied.
Try it with yours and see how it moves your wheels closer to the table.
Be sure and watch you don't move it to where the blade will cut into your feeder though, or the wheels.

Also, make sure you have your table nicely waxed with paste wax to make it slick. If any pitch comes up on the table, it will make things sticky and hurt any feeders ability to feed well.
Have fun getting things dialed in for your needs. Pretty soon the pressure and feed speed will be fine for the task and away you'll fly.
Next thing you'll wish for is more wood to feed the beast. :)

[Peter Quinn]

Nice looking setup John. I'd guess that secondary plate attachment adds a lot of stability to the small feeder. The bigger units have a much larger base. I get David's comments about the fourth bolt but I'd guess the feeder arm is going to flex long before the rest of the base will lift, probably not an issue in use. I run a feeder at work with one threaded hole stripped, so it gets three bolts in a four bolt base as everyone is too lazy to tap it over or create some other remedy, and even on a shaper under heavy load it presents not problems.

I think keeping the table well waxed or otherwise lubricated will be critical with a smaller feeder, particularly if pitchy soft wood framing like SYP or fir is in your future. Some wood is stickier than others, and more down pressure is not always the answer. On longer runs I have had to stop and rewax the table several times, even strip the pitch from pine off with turpentine or thinner.

Glad to see this has worked out for you and enjoy that tool.