Using a feeder on a jointer

[Jeff Monson]

I found a used jointer/planer and the owner has a feeder mounted to it right now. It looks like a nice thing to have...but it got me thinking. A feeder is going to put alot of downward pressure on the board correct? It seems to me, that removing a bow or cup in a board would not work, with the pressure of the feeder wheels. I'd like to know if I'm thinking this all wrong. I may offer to buy the feeder with the j/p if its a worthwhile add on.

[Cary Falk]

I also don't see a reason for a feeder on a jointer for the same reasons.

[David Kumm]

Generally they are mounted on the outfeed a little behind the cutterhead so they pull the board after it has been jointed. You have to take big enough cuts to flatten in one pass. Dave

[David Nelson1]

I played with mounting a unifeeder to a small 6 inch jointer the results where good as far as passing the wood over the cutter and keeping it square to the fence. For badly cupped and twisted boards you are correct its better to run those by hand, cross cut the defect to minimize it, or just move to another board. The unifeeder was not intended for use on a jointer. Even though the results where good with fairly straight wood, joint the edge to match the face would require removing from the machine. To much goofing around for me, so I did all my flooring blanks by hand. Like David K said if you can't get it one pass ........

This link (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?142037-Possible-mini-gloat.....) will take you to the post. BTW I already caught a lot of flack for footwear, lack of sox, and camera technique. Nuff said:rolleyes:

[J.R. Rutter]

Generally they are mounted on the outfeed a little behind the cutterhead so they pull the board after it has been jointed. You have to take big enough cuts to flatten in one pass. Dave

Yes, except that if you use little wooden shims strategically placed to prevent movement, you can take multiple passes. They only need to be tiny, sawdust piles even work. [But you should ask yourself if it is worth it to try to flatten severely warped, cupped, or twisted wood in the first place.] Before I got a moulder, I used 2 jointers with feeders - one facing, one edging.

[Jeff Monson]

BTW I already caught a lot of flack for footwear, lack of sox, and camera technique. Nuff said:rolleyes:

LOL, Nice setup!! I missed that post, makes it appealing when one has alot of jointing to do. Do you still have it mounted and happy with the operation?

I think JR stated what should have been obvious to me "[But you should ask yourself if it is worth it to try to flatten severely warped, cupped, or twisted wood in the first place.]"

[Peter Aeschliman]

It seems like it would be a pretty big hassle to use a feeder on the jointer. I like the idea of it, but if the two faces of the workpiece are nowhere near parallel, I can't see how the feeder would be able to feed the board through. And if you have to take many passes, you'll have to continually move the feeder down (closer to the table) every 2 or 3 passes.

But if you have a board with faces that are close to flat and parallel, I could see how it would really improve your safety and the quality of the cut.

[J.R. Rutter]

It seems like it would be a pretty big hassle to use a feeder on the jointer. I like the idea of it, but if the two faces of the workpiece are nowhere near parallel, I can't see how the feeder would be able to feed the board through. And if you have to take many passes, you'll have to continually move the feeder down (closer to the table) every 2 or 3 passes.

But if you have a board with faces that are close to flat and parallel, I could see how it would really improve your safety and the quality of the cut.

There is enough travel in a feeder "suspension" that uneven surfaces are not an issue. The main benefits are for long boards where the feeder is like a second set of hands putting pressure exactly where you need it, and for when you have a lot of parts to run. Personally, I am prone to carpal tunnel issues, so a feeder was necessary for what I do.

[David Kumm]

J R, what jointer and feeder do you use? I could see a feeder on my 16" jointer would be great for long,thin, or wide boards. I think my 8" is too small to carry the whole thing without causing more problems than it would solve. Western rollers help too. Any size recommendations? Dave

[J.R. Rutter]

I did edging on an 8" jointer with 1/4 HP feeder. I did facing on a 12" General with 1/2 HP feeder. I made a custom bridge guard for the facer, similar to a euro guard, but fixed to cover the whole head. For a 16" jointer that might see timbers, a 1 HP feeder would be what I would choose. 3 wheels are probably adequate, and yes - poly wheels help, along with a can of topcote.

[David Nelson1]

I ran a couple of boards thru it after I moved the feeder completely to the outfeed table. Dang things feed rate is too fast for the hp rating of that jointer. I could only take a 1/32 or so off because it was moving so quick. I tried to figure a way to slow it down........ that didn't work either. Beside having to remove the feeder to joint the edges I let the idea go.

I actually bought it for my table saw. Had to build a clap trap to mount it to because it was intended for a Unisaw with a larger than 1.5 HP motor. My first attempt on the TS with 4/4 oak was a disaster. Stalled the saw and everything got jammed up. I switched blades from a Freud glueline to a Forest WWII 24 teeth it works now, but it's still to fast for my small C-man. Anything gets outta kilter it stops feeding, wax really helps. Can't move fast enough to get to the other side.


LOL, Nice setup!! I missed that post, makes it appealing when one has alot of jointing to do. Do you still have it mounted and happy with the operation?

I think JR stated what should have been obvious to me "[But you should ask yourself if it is worth it to try to flatten severely warped, cupped, or twisted wood in the first place.]"

[Chris Fournier]

Absolutely you can use a feeder on a jointer and for any amount of repetative work I do so. It works a charm and speeds up my one man shop when I have a pile of lumber to joint. At first it took a bit of fiddling to get the right set up which yielded flat boards now it's second nature. I use a feeder on my 12" and now current 16" jointers. A feeder can keep you safe, reduce fatigue and make you money.

Even the cheaper imports have drive trains which you can adjust to slow the feedrate to a crawl.

Try one, you'll like it. Not just on your jointer...

[David Nelson1]

Absolutely you can use a feeder on a jointer and for any amount of repetative work I do so. It works a charm and speeds up my one man shop when I have a pile of lumber to joint. At first it took a bit of fiddling to get the right set up which yielded flat boards now it's second nature. I use a feeder on my 12" and now current 16" jointers. A feeder can keep you safe, reduce fatigue and make you money.

Even the cheaper imports have drive trains which you can adjust to slow the feedrate to a crawl
Try one, you'll like it. Not just on your jointer...

Obviously Chris your using the type that is designed for a shaper or jointer. The one I have was for a table saw and it does have an adjustable feed rate it just wont go slow enough for an under power T/S

[Chris Fournier]

Obviously Chris your using the type that is designed for a shaper or jointer. The one I have was for a table saw and it does have an adjustable feed rate it just wont go slow enough for an under power T/S

My feeder was not designed for any particular machine David, the manual shows it being used on the big three, jointer, TS and shaper. I think that your problem is not shaper related, it is the underpowered TS as you have pointed out.

[David Nelson1]

We are saying the same thing LOL

[Stephen Cherry]

I've thought about setting up my shaper and jointer back to back; with the thought of swinging the feeder between machines to do double duty.

[Rod Sheridan]

I've thought about setting up my shaper and jointer back to back; with the thought of swinging the feeder between machines to do double duty.

+1

That's what I do, except my feeder is on the saw/shaper so I move the jointer so it's at right angle to S/S.

I use a Hammer 1/2 HP on mine, set at 4.5m/minute. It works great for repetitive work............Rod.

[Charles Brown]

JR, when you had the feeder used for edging on the smaller jointer, where did you put the mount? I can see when using the feeder on a 12" or 16" jointer to face the boards there would be room for the mount behind the fence but am unsure where you would put it for edging. Would you put it on the front half of the outfeed table, or ?

[Stephen Cherry]

+1

That's what I do, except my feeder is on the saw/shaper so I move the jointer so it's at right angle to S/S.

I use a Hammer 1/2 HP on mine, set at 4.5m/minute. It works great for repetitive work............Rod.

Do you edge joint on the jointer or the saw/shaper? Since I got my sliding saw (with a real rip blade), I do almost all my edge straitening on the saw. I'm guessing the slide with the shaper would be a great combination. It seems like you could use a strait cutter, with a sacrificial board clamped to the slide and ran past the cutter. This way you could put a strait edge on a board exactly where you want it in one pass.

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi Stephen, I straight line some of the material on the saw, other stuff I use the jointer.

I don't use the shaper as a jointer per se, however I often use it as a planer when making rails/stiles/moldings etc. To do that I use an outboard fence with a power feeder so the work is profiled and dimensioned in one pass.

regards, Rod.

[Jeff Duncan]

A couple quick thoughts...

You could theoretically swing your feeder between machines. I would caution that they should be rather stout machines. I would not try it between lighter duty machines like 6" or even smaller 8" jointers. A feeder has a good amount of power, especially if it's a 1 hp unit, and could move lighter machines.

You can indeed use a shaper to get straight edges, though I think the slider would limit you as you could only do the length of the stroke. If you have a good fence, (if not you can make one), you can use a spiral insert style head to get really clean edges with little effort. I use this technique on my tilting shaper to get good edges on gnarly wood and for beveled pieces.

Lastly, a 1-1/2hp Unisaw is mostly under sized for trying to use a feeder. It's not that it can't be done for small amounts, but these saws weren't designed for that type of work. Using a slow feed like maybe 13' per minute with an aggressive rip blade you should be able to make a go of it. Unfortunately a lot of guys don't realize when buying their first feeder that variety of speeds is a very handy feature. My main feeder will go down to something like 6' per minute which is a serious crawl, top speed is faster than I could ever feed wood. If your buying a feeder I recommend getting one that will go down to at least 13' per minute or so. It's slow, but there are occasions, like underpowered machines, where it can be very handy.

good luck,
JeffD

[Ben Abate]

You can absolutely use a feeder. I've been using a 3 wheel 1HP on my jointer for years. It works wonderful for straightening cupped or warped boards. Think about how awkward it is to joint a wide board? Now try to effectively joint a wide, thick, long piece of oak or hardwood (12" x 2" x 10 feet) you struggle with it. Now place a feeder on the outfeed side of the jointer and you'll never have it so good. I use it almost every time I have to flatten a board. As someone pointed out the springs in the feeder give enough to take care of any uneven surfaces. Once you start using a feeder you'll think why didn't I do this sooner. Obviously you need a jointer that can support a heavy feeder hanging off the side of it and somewhere to mount it. Some of the jointers I've owned were not capable of mounting one on them. I maybe wrong but I wouldn't think a small 1/4 hp would effectively work well. I don't think it could have enough downward force unless you are only jointing 4/4 or less in thickness. I do a lot of resawing and buy a lot of lumber in large thicknesses. So I'll joint a wide large board and then resaw veneer off of it.

Hope this helps a bit.

[J.R. Rutter]

JR, when you had the feeder used for edging on the smaller jointer, where did you put the mount? I can see when using the feeder on a 12" or 16" jointer to face the boards there would be room for the mount behind the fence but am unsure where you would put it for edging. Would you put it on the front half of the outfeed table, or ?

I drilled and tapped the base on the back side and mounted a cast iron angle plate. The feeder base bolted into the top of the angle plate. Here is a pic from the front:

http://home.nas.com/harmonic/NewShop/edge%20joint.jpg

[J.R. Rutter]

Found an old pic of the face jointer:

http://home.nas.com/harmonic/NewShop/face%20joint.jpg

[Charles Brown]

JR, thanks. That's about what i figured. That setup allows you to use the entire bed and the whole length of the blade. Only limitation is the clearance under the arm for the board to pass through. I guess the 12 or more inches should be plenty for most boards! I'm definitely going to look into doing this for my shop.

[Ben Abate]

This is a picture of how I mounted my feeder. I fabricated a bracket and mounted to the side so it would not interfer with the capacity of the jointer.

[Charles Brown]

Ben, after seeing the pictures from both you and JR, I don't know why I haven't done this in the past. One of the most difficult things to do is consistently surface all types of rough sawn boards with one pass.

BTW, what type of jointer is that?

[Ben Abate]

Charles,
My Jointer is a Felder AD 751, 20 inches wide. The ease of jointing larger pieces is worth installing a feeder on the jointer. Actually the picture that I posted is a setup that a friend did a few years ago and I copied for my Felder AD 751.
I know I use to struggle to get an even surface with larger pieces now it's no problem. I just swing the feeder into place and lock it down and go to town weather it's one piece or multiple pieces.