Aigner/Shaper thickness stop question

[David Zaret]

for those familiar with Aigner, i have a dilemma, looking for guidance.

i recently purchased the Thickness Stop digital adjustable rail system to use as an offset fence for my shaper - we routinely use an offset fence approach to consistently cut stock to final width, or to combine that operation with a pattern profile for, say, door rails and stiles. anyway, the Aigner thickness stop fence is >.75" thick, which was surprising to see, and begs the question of how do you use this thing with a feeder for standard 3/4" stock? i'm sure i could hack together a thinner fence, but that somewhat defeats the purpose of this expensive piece of equipment.

somebody must have figured this out... thanks in advance.

--- dz

[Gregory Stahl]

Without the removable steel piece attached to the top of the fence, the fence is less than 3/4" thick--at-least mine is.

I just angle the feeder close to the fence, don't need to go over the top. I don't normally go under 2.5" though.

Greg

[David Zaret]

greg, thanks for the response - much appreciated. the removable steel piece seems useless to me, so away it goes. a micrometer tells me that the thin end of the fence is still 0.758" thick. frankly i cannot understand why it's that thick, i would think they would have designed it to be more like a half inch specifically to solve for this issue.

i routinely go under 2.5"... i wonder if i can just tilt the wheels so only the edge of the feeder wheels hit the material, and it clears the fence...

[Joe Calhoon]

David,
the thickness stop is designed around the German door and window trade and not ideal for running cabinet door size workpieces. The adjustable fence on top however is good for small mouldings and glass beads but a little too narrow for cabinet door stiles and rails.
I have a "hack solution" for mine that we use for cabinet door work and still allows use of the digital readout. I will try to post some pictures after work today.

[Max Neu]

Could you attach a thinner piece to the edge of the Aigner fence?Or possibly shave the edge of the wheels down on the feeder for that side,most of us have done that accidently,this time it would be intentional. :)

[Gregory Stahl]

I leave my stock at .80 inches, then through the widebelt when door construction is complete. I'll have to measure the thickness of my fence later today.

Greg

[Gregory Stahl]

Forgot to mention--I get the shaper fence out of the way when using the aigner. The gaps in my feeder wheels strattle right over my cutterheads without interfering.

[David Zaret]

we're using this setup with the bowmouldmaster fence because it's much easier, and we're using pressure wheels from the back to shove the stock into the offset fence. i have no issues with fence interference. i did think about getting narrower wheels for the shaper, which would mostly solve the problem. but, the idea of swapping feeder wheels seems painful.

as for bolting something onto the aigner fence, perhaps, but my gut feel is to just grab some 1/2" baltic birch, run a thicker strip along the fence side, and replace the fence entirely with this setup. that should do it. not ideal given the cost of the fixture, but i need to be productive. joe, i'd love any pictures you'd be willing to take of your setup. appreciate all the feedback and guidance.

-- dz

[Joe Calhoon]

David,
Here are some pictures. This could be improved on, it was just a quick solution for a one time job. We don't build a lot of cabinetry. It is just a piece of 1/2" MDF with a taller solid edging that attaches through the extrusion that holds the other fence. I am going to figure out something simpler out of 3/8" material as we sometimes run thin T&G this way.

The Univer feeder is part of the problem because it is wide and has parts that hang down a little on the operator side. The other shaper has a Wegoma feeder and it looks like it would work better for thin material with this fence.323644

323645
323646