Little Power Feeder Gloat

[Matt Meiser]

I stopped by a power tool place today that I haven't been to in several years. To cope with the economy they are selling some used/consignment equipment. I found this for my router table. The story is that the guy selling it on consignment bought it for the sole purpose of ripping strips for a boat he's building. It looks practically new. I'm pretty impressed with the power--I think it will be plenty for RT use.

I ended up getting it for $175. I was kind of kicking myself for not buying the Grizzly version back at Christmas when they were on sale for $279. Glad I waited. :)

[David Nelson1]

I stopped by a power tool place today that I haven't been to in several years. To cope with the economy they are selling some used/consignment equipment. I found this for my router table. The story is that the guy selling it on consignment bought it for the sole purpose of ripping strips for a boat he's building. It looks practically new. I'm pretty impressed with the power--I think it will be plenty for RT use.

I ended up getting it for $175. I was kind of kicking myself for not buying the Grizzly version back at Christmas when they were on sale for $279. Glad I waited. :)

Good steal ole man. Can't wait to hear how it works for ya.

[Peter Quinn]

Good for you! Sounds like a great deal. I've always wanted one of those. Do I smell review? Enjoy it.

[Van Huskey]

YOU SUCK! Is that the 1/4hp version?

[Bruce Page]

110 volt?
Let us know how you like it.

[Matt Meiser]

No, its 1/8HP, 110V

http://www.amazon.com/SHOP-W1764-Mini-Power-Feeder/dp/B001R23TFI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1275791286&sr=1-1

[Chip Lindley]

WTG Matt! Nice little Gloat!

The low gearing of even 1/8hp feeders makes them pretty darn powerful! A big 1hp feeder should be able to winch your truck out of a ditch!

[Joe Chritz]

I had the Delta version until the speed board went out of it. Actually still have it somewhere. There is plenty of feed power. Getting the down pressure is a little tricky sometimes. I found if I used a board about 1/8th inch thinner than my stock and pressed down on the feeder then tightened everything it worked much better.

Joe

[Curt Harms]

I'll be interested to hear how this works for you. I've always heard the "baby feeders" weren't worthwhile on a shaper which makes sense. A lot of don't have shapers but we do have router tables. Like most, I'm sure, I've had to sand out flaws in edges from having to reset while feeding stock on a router table. Hold downs help but I don't find them 100% effective. I'll look forward to your review.

[Phil Thien]

I'll bet you're thinking "this would have been handy for the parent's kitchen cabinets."

Nice find.

[Matt Meiser]

I'll bet you're thinking "this would have been handy for the parent's kitchen cabinets."

Nice find.

How'd you guess. Hundreds of feet of sticking cuts...

[Paul Greathouse]

Matt

I've got the same feeder (Branded Delta), its a great feeder for the router table. It works great for edge profiles. Prevents the stop marks you get when routing long pieces by hand.

I picked mine up second hand also. Got it right here on the Creeks Classifieds maybe a year or so ago.

[Matt Meiser]

Paul, that's one of the things I was really interested in it for. Doing raised panels would be nice, but definitely not mandatory.

[Paul Greathouse]

Paul, that's one of the things I was really interested in it for. Doing raised panels would be nice, but definitely not mandatory.

Matt

You could give the raised panels a try but narrow strips are probably this feeders specialty. The widest trim I've run with mine so far is 5 1/2". I was putting an edge profile on some baseboard for my bathroom remodel last year.

Since I picked up a used shaper last year I've been doing all my raised panels on it. I have done a fair amount of panels on the router table before getting the shaper but I didn't have the feeder then.

[Joe Chritz]

The baby feeder will do panels just fine. The power to drive the stock through is there plenty because it is geared down very low. It is the down force that is the limiting factor.

It is capable of climb cutting stiles in one pass but it is right on the edge. If it isn't set just right it will send a 42" stile through your drywall. If you do a couple passes it does fine.

Panels are a shearing cut and normally aren't climb cut so they work well with the feeder. Narrow panels can be a problem on any feeder. I usually gang them up to send them through.

Joe

[Matt Meiser]

Got this mounted today, tough I may decide to make a new mounting bracket. There's a bit more flex than I'd like--mostly I think its the back wall of my cabinet flexing so maybe just a stiffener is needed.

It worked well. On the first pass on this piece of oak I had the speed pretty high and got some tearout, but absent the burns I inevitably get. I slowed it down and ran the other side and it came out pretty much perfect. I also tried a piece of maple and it came out smoooooth. :)

[Brian Kincaid]

Matt,
I have a similar setup with a Delta powerfeed from Rockler's legendary $100 sale.

You are going to LOVE using it for rail/stile work. I use mine with an incra fence and I can do a full pass - 1/32 or 1/16, then do a final pass to clean up tearout. Nothing to clean up, no hokey hand feeding on narrow pieces.

-Brian

[Matt Meiser]

I had occasion to use this to run a bunch of cherry molding. I set the speed relatively low let the equipment do its work. The result--beautiful cuts that really don't need sanding and more importantly, not a single burn mark anywhere!