Why Serious woodworkers need a power feeder.....well...not really, but a few fun pics

[Peter Quinn]

I had to make a molding mock up on the fly for a client meeting early next week, 3 piece crown with a 7" cove as the central player. Thought we could pick that up at our stock molding supplier, turns out not, but luckily the cove had an 8" radius which discovered when holding various blades up to the drawing. Hello tablesaw cove! It's a workout making an almost 7" cove with an 8" dado....but it's a lot easier with a feeder!

[peter gagliardi]

So you chose to just run this perpendicular to the blade orientation? I ask, because the older heavy cast iron saws of a few decades or more ago had the standard feature of being able to skew the fence to the blade, thereby opening up numerous opportunities for various radius scallops just like this.

[Peter Quinn]

So you chose to just run this perpendicular to the blade orientation? I ask, because the older heavy cast iron saws of a few decades or more ago had the standard feature of being able to skew the fence to the blade, thereby opening up numerous opportunities for various radius scallops just like this.

I did this on a mid 90's uni, the right tilt is a joy when you get to the plumb and spring cuts, but that's what I had to work with. It would be cool having a fence built for this, maybe one of Jacks wadkins would do that!

[peter gagliardi]

I figured it was a Unisaw, and that was all you had.
Not a lot of production shops with employees run the old iron, for the usual reasons.
Of course, there isn't much you can't accomplish with a Unisaw with a bit of thought.

[mreza Salav]

I probably couldn't do all the projects I've done in the past two years without my powerfeeder. It's been a workhorse all around my shop and I can't be without it.

[Jesse Busenitz]

Yup, one of those tools you don't think you need until you use one a couple times.

[Matt Day]

I want to be a serious woodworker one day. Guessing the title is a play on the track saw thread.

Seriously though, I've been keeping my eye out for a used one but they're expensive, and the ones I've seen used are 3 phase.

[Jesse Busenitz]

Don't want to hijack the thread but why are most feeders 3 phase when they're only a 1hp motor? I guess most shops that use a feeder are using it on an industrial 3 phase machine and already have the power source there?

[jack forsberg]

I want to be a serious woodworker one day. Guessing the title is a play on the track saw thread.

Seriously though, I've been keeping my eye out for a used one but they're expensive, and the ones I've seen used are 3 phase.


feeders use multi motor winding plus high and low gears to get the speed ranges. on my 4 wheeler i think there are 4 motor winding and so a VFD is not a solution to phase conversion.

[Rod Sheridan]

Good start to a thread, here's another use for your stock feeder.
314788

Regards< Rod.

[Art Mann]

Maybe you could do a photo that encompasses the whole table saw setup? Ron's photo is a good example of that scale.

[Rod Sheridan]

Maybe you could do a photo that encompasses the whole table saw setup? Ron's photo is a good example of that scale.

Hi Art, I'm not sure I understand what you're asking?

regards, Rod.

[Bill Space]

I think he meant to type "Rod's photo..."

[John Lankers]

Good start to a thread, here's another use for your stock feeder.
314788


Regards< Rod.

Rod, I'm dong the exact same thing sometimes.
I find when working with twisted, thinner stock I get better results when I hand feed, but using the power feeder is an absolute pleasure when you have to prepare hundreds of feet of flooring, fencing or paneling where the results don't have to be within a few thou.
Another good use for the feeder is on the table saw for ripping larger quantities of lumber. I've done it once with the feeder between the blade and the fence in the low position, not that it saves a lot of time but it is consistent and safe - and fun :). Sorry, I don't have pictures.

[John Lankers]

Peter, that's a brilliant idea, esp. when consistent pressure is important as in your example.

[Peter Quinn]

Maybe you could do a photo that encompasses the whole table saw setup? Ron's photo is a good example of that scale.

Sorry Art, photo 2 is as close as I took, was moving pretty fast. Basically two boards were clamped dead perpendicular to the blade, I set the blad at full height to know where to put the dual fences as the TE blade pivots as the trunion raises. Clamped the first board toward the front of table, set in my work piece, clamped in the second, aimed the feeder at the front of the table to keep things consistent. I don't hav a panoramic shot but that's pretty much the whole story. On an elliptical cove the two fence pieces would be held in place by stringers set carefully to create a parallelogram then skewed to the correct angle to make the desired cove. There are better examples of that on the web or FWW than I can detail here. This one was a true segment.

[Max Neu]

Peter,
I have never made cove molding on my tablesaw,I typically just order it in.But sometimes I think for a small run it would be worth it,I'm just curious,how much sanding is involved to get it ready for finish for stain grade?

[Peter Quinn]

Peter,
I have never made cove molding on my tablesaw,I typically just order it in.But sometimes I think for a small run it would be worth it,I'm just curious,how much sanding is involved to get it ready for finish for stain grade?

This was an "oh no we need a small sample on Monday, nothing stock is close enough, get it done" sort of move, the actual product will be oak and will be run on a thru molder. Though it seems if you could combine Rod's power fed jointer with Jacks wadkin jointer that accepts molding knives, it might be viable to run in house? I don't like sanding enough to do this commercially out of oak on a TS. And if we didn't have the feeder on the saw I might have pretended I didn't know how to do this at all!

here is a sample of the mock up

[Rod Sheridan]

Rod, I'm dong the exact same thing sometimes.
I find when working with twisted, thinner stock I get better results when I hand feed, but using the power feeder is an absolute pleasure when you have to prepare hundreds of feet of flooring, fencing or paneling where the results don't have to be within a few thou.
Another good use for the feeder is on the table saw for ripping larger quantities of lumber. I've done it once with the feeder between the blade and the fence in the low position, not that it saves a lot of time but it is consistent and safe - and fun :). Sorry, I don't have pictures.

Hi John, I also use the feeder on the saw when there are lots of pieces to rip.

No saw marks, perfect width, no variation and very safe.............Rod.

[Anthony Whitesell]

Good start to a thread, here's another use for your stock feeder.
314788

Regards< Rod.

Yes it is. I need to get me one for doing just that. Planers have built in power feed, why can't jointers.

[jack forsberg]

I did this on a mid 90's uni, the right tilt is a joy when you get to the plumb and spring cuts, but that's what I had to work with. It would be cool having a fence built for this, maybe one of Jacks wadkins would do that!

Maybe one of them magic molders with nosing knives and that would let you cut that in one go because the tooth is taller certainly be less sanding. I believe the reference to doing this is American it's certainly not British origin as it wouldn't work with a rivng knife. I have seen reference to it in an American Clement universal saw bench design that indicates the tilted fence be used for core boxing but the illustration shows the fence improperly set behind the blade. Personally I think the tilting fence was to allow taper cuttings on the sliding portion of the table saw and that the gimmick of cutting Coves with the Saw that was high-speed steel was more of a sales pitch . You would surely get help from the guy that had filed that saw after you did it .The Wadkin is an over under so he already has a Power feed feature built-in you can run moldings from the top or the bottom and yes it would do that no problem it would do a crown up to 12 inch wide And as deep as 2 inches but the knives are costly but I imagine so is a 12 inch wide Crown in Oak

[Mel Fulks]

Not a lot of 12 inch moulders around anymore . One place I worked in for years had one and it stayed surprisingly busy from referrals.

[Larry Edgerton]

I get forced into that once in a while as my options are slim up here. For the first few rough passes I tilt the dado blade about 5 degrees so that the cut is not hitting the side of the teeth first. Faster and a bit easier on the blade I imagine. Then I run it square for the last couple of cleanup cuts. They sand out pretty easy. Would not want to do a room full but for a mantle or some such its no biggie. Power feed is the only way to go, too scary by hand.

[Peter Quinn]

Not a lot of 12 inch moulders around anymore . One place I worked in for years had one and it stayed surprisingly busy from referrals.

Last place I worked had (2) 9", a 12" and an 18" molder. The older wadkin 9" did most of the architectural moldings and really did the best job, set up was accurate, all old school manual numerical height gauges on everything. The 18" was mostly for flooring, it was huge in every direction, and mostly controlled by computer, I was not an operator but was told set up was the easiest of all. Once had to help with a 27" radius crown....that was fun...(3) different 9" crowns glued and biscuited together in 16' sections.....had to hand scrape and belt sand all the intersections a bit....would not want to have to cope that one! Couldn't do it on the TS either.

[Peter Quinn]

Maybe one of them magic molders with nosing knives and that would let you cut that in one go because the tooth is taller certainly be less sanding. I believe the reference to doing this is American it's certainly not British origin as it wouldn't work with a rivng knife. I have seen reference to it in an American Clement universal saw bench design that indicates the tilted fence be used for core boxing but the illustration shows the fence improperly set behind the blade. Personally I think the tilting fence was to allow taper cuttings on the sliding portion of the table saw and that the gimmick of cutting Coves with the Saw that was high-speed steel was more of a sales pitch . You would surely get help from the guy that had filed that saw after you did it .The Wadkin is an over under so he already has a Power feed feature built-in you can run moldings from the top or the bottom and yes it would do that no problem it would do a crown up to 12 inch wide And as deep as 2 inches but the knives are costly but I imagine so is a 12 inch wide Crown in Oak

I know CMT used to make a cove cutting dedicated blade, don't remember the diameter, was basically a core box cutter, maybe a 6Z, around 8" diameter? Was supposed to reduce sanding, sure wasn't cheap, not sure its still in their catalogue. I like Larry's tilted dado idea, may try that if this ever comes up again.

[jack forsberg]

I know CMT used to make a cove cutting dedicated blade, don't remember the diameter, was basically a core box cutter, maybe a 6Z, around 8" diameter? Was supposed to reduce sanding, sure wasn't cheap, not sure its still in their catalogue. I like Larry's tilted dado idea, may try that if this ever comes up again.


Its 7" in diameter and more than likely that size for ideal rim speed for moulding on a 10" saw. They claim the cove cutting is clean and you can mill in a curve as well a straight for your work you show. I don't have one but have used a moulding head on/in the TS as some times its the only way to cut beads in the middle of wide stock

here is on in action though most the action starts at the 7.50 min mark


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TXr03xXTA0