Power Feeder installed--am I just stupid or should I be unimpressed?

[James Baker SD]

I just finished installing a Delta 36-851 (3 wheel, 4 speed, 1hp) stock feeder on a Delta Heavy Duty, 2 speed, 3hp shaper.

Either I am clueless about what I bought and what it is intended for, or it is incredibly stupidly designed. I have mounted it according to the instructions, but the rollers can get no closer than about 2" from the surface of the table. No matter how I adjust the tilts on the feeder unit itself, it just cannot get any closer (I can get 1 roller closer, but not all three).

Seems to me that either:
1. the vertical height adjusting lead screw is too short (there is a bolt blocking the descent of the feeder downward, but it is necessary as you run out of lead screw if you go any lower) or
2. that the vertical column is too tall (if effect lifting the lead screw further from the table than necessary.

I bought the feeder to work mainly 3/4" stock in doing panel doors and moldings for picture frames and I do not see that it can grip anything this narrow. The vertical column would allow me to raise the feeder high enough to run 12" thick stock with it, but I cannot imagine too many instances I would want to do that. Am I wrong in thinking I should have less capacity for very thick stock to gain capacity for thin stock?

I am missing some obvious point here? Did I buy something that was not intended to do what I want?

Before I take the vertical column to a machine shop and have 2" cut off the top of it (which I think would solve my problem), I was hoping somebody can tell me I am doing something stupid here and set me straight. Thanks.

James

[Chris Fournier]

I'd love to see a picture of the set up but I'd agree that something is outta whack! Perhaps you bought the 8/4 feeder by mistake? I'd be asking Delta for a new post before I paid to cut the one you have. Naturally you likely need the feeder for tomorrow.

[Tom Hintz]

Maybe you need to take a break and go back at it tomorrow. I have had "revelations" the next day when I got frustrated with something. I had a few Powermatic feeders and they all would reach the surface of the table easily. I think that I could put the main column in upside down, something like that. When I assembled the first on that i had the cross arm wouldn't go down very far but I found the column thing, turned that right side down and all was fine with it. I have no idea how similar the Delta stuff is but it is free to look.
good luck! I know how this kind of thing can get aggravating.

[Mike Heidrick]

I own that feeder. Here is some pics of it on my shaper. The pics were intended to show the shaper so if you need better feeder pictures let me know. I have zero issues with mine so I am guessing you have something flipped. Show pics of your install to us. Maybe your post is not fully seated in the table mount.

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e169/BloomingtonMike/t1002s6.jpg

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e169/BloomingtonMike/t1002s4.jpg

[Chris Fournier]

Tom has a very good point regarding fresh eyes! I prefer to throw a few things and set myself back even further before I shut off the lights.

I have an Italian power feeder unit and you couldn't get the column upside down on mine but it was pretty sticky trying to get the column full seated in the table mount casting. Perhaps your 2" lies here?

[James Baker SD]

Thanks for the suggestions. Fresh pictures help also. I put it together exactly as shown in the owner's manual (with what Delta calls the end bracket on the horizontal column as shown in the manual). Looking at the feeder on Amazon's web page, their photo shows the end bracket mounted rotated 90 degrees relative to the owner's manual photo. Doing that allows the feeder to touch the table, but costs me 1 degree of freedom in positioning the feeder. If I need that degree of freedom back for a particular cut that can tolerate the loss of contact with the table, then I will rotate it back.

James

[mreza Salav]

I was going to suggest that you may have flipped the column and arm tube/rod (as you say the column is too tall and the arm is too short)...

[Harvey Melvin Richards]

On my Delta power feeder the two bars are reversible. One of my screws was damaged in shipping so Delta sent me 2 new ones. I modified my feeder so that both bars used the longer screws and I was able to drop the feeder head below the base. My original thought was to use it on my joiner, but I never got around to doing it.

[Peter Quinn]

There is nothing wrong with the feeder, it is very well designed, you have something installed wrong.Trust me, I've been there. It could be the vertical column is not fully seated in the table mounting base and that is causing part of your problem, probably not all if any though. Last year I bought a Steff feeder very lightly used from a guy, and he had the knuckle at the end of the horizontal arm that connects the angle adjustment mechanism/motor/feeder assembly to the arm upside down. This is the part with the hex bolt on it, not the vice like handles, as its not regularly adjusted with most feeder set ups. With it upside down I couldn't get any lower than 8/4 either, I spun it around and I can lower the wheels to the table. You should be able to bring the wheels right down to the table for removal of the feederl, should that be necessary, so the wheels of the feeder are level with the base. This makes it much easier to get the bolts in the table off should you have to. I move mine from TS to shaper for instance.

I have seen more than one seasoned cabinet maker rotate the head to get it in position for running the wheels against the fence, such as for running crowns, and get very vexed trying to return the feeder to the original position. Its a bit like a rubix cube but without all those handy colors to keep things straight. Is it possible for you to post pics of your present set up and orientation of the various parts? That would make it much easier to diagnose. Its important to stay calm with it, its not always easy to get the XYZ axes all playing nice together for every set up even when you have done it many times, and the first time can be a real head scratcher. If this doesn't straighten it out let us know and post some pics. Once you get it set up you'll stop cursing it and start wondering where it has been all your life!

[Chris Fournier]

My Felder unit came in two pieces, the motorized head assembly and the stand assembly. Of course my Felder unit came in single phase rather than the three phase I had ordered and the replacement motor was actually a redundent stand rather than a three phase motor...

On these Deltas do you actually have to install the rack on one of the tubes and afix the raising and lowering unit to the other tube etc.? If this is the case I could understand the OP's dilemma! I know I'd mix them up first time around.

The joy of new machinery is most always partially extinguished by the hassles of new machinery.

[Jeff Duncan]

Yup I agree with most of the others, take a step back and come at it fresh later. I have the same feeder and it can be set in just about any position you can come up with. As Peter said going against the fence is a PITA that makes me cringe whenever I have to do it. When I get my new shaper set up I may mount the Univer to it instead. On the Univer the motor is mounted in a way that allows quick and easy rotation from horizontal to vertical.

good luck,
JeffD

[J.R. Rutter]

http://www.maxtool.com/images-400/36-851.jpg

This is correct.

[James Baker SD]

That is the way I have it now, but I have the exact same motion on two bearings. The way it shows in the owner's manual (first axis off the horizontal column also horizontal instead of vertical) gave me another independent motion, but without the rollers reaching the table.

James