Power feeder - 3 vs 4 wheels

[Greg Parrish]

Looking to get a co-matic feeder ordered and wondering if there is a reason to spend $100 more for the 4 wheel version versus the 3 wheel version. This is my first feeder so not sure of the benefits one way or the other. Thanks.

[Rod Sheridan]

The 4 wheel feeder gives you 2 infeed rollers which can add stability.

They’re also larger and heavier than 3 wheel feeders which can be an issue when you have to flip it up.

I’m happy with the 3 wheel feeder I have......Rod

[David Kumm]

What machine is it for and if a shaper, how large is it? I like 4 wheel for large shapers but it is a lot for a small cast iron top to handle. Dave

[Greg Parrish]

A Felder KF500. Weird machine in that it has hammer internals and Felder x-roll slide. But it uses a flelder feeder bracket that both hangs on table edge and bolts to side, and includes gas shock assist for lifting rather than the hammer bolt on bracket. The manual shows the unit with a 3 roller Felder f38 feeder so not sure if a 4 roller is too big or heavy, or if the 3 roller is best.

[Martin Wasner]

I likely won't be buying a three wheel feeder ever again. I much prefer four wheel.

Used just a three wheel for years though. Unless something specialized, I don't think you gain much, but $100 isn't much nowadays anyways.

[Greg Parrish]

Any reason not to consider this given the price? Looks identical to the co-magic to me except color.

https://www.grizzly.com/products/Grizzly-Easy-Feeder-Power-Feeder/G0826

[David Kumm]

Comatic makes most of the rebadged feeders except for a few Steff made like Felder Whether all feeders made by Comatic are exactly alike is unknown. I know the Wegoma feeders sourced from Comatic have a better finish and the castings look cleaner. I don't know about the internals.

The 4 wheel is only about 15-20 lbs heavier than the 3 wheel and the gas strut compensates for it. I do like that the Felder support attaches to both the base and top as castings and steel tend to be thinner than in the past. Dave

[brent stanley]

Hi Greg, I have three feeders - two with three wheels, and one with four, and in my opinion $100 for a whole extra wheel is peanuts and money well spent.

B

[Greg Parrish]

Hi Greg, I have three feeders - two with three wheels, and one with four, and in my opinion $100 for a whole extra wheel is peanuts and money well spent.

B

true but the grizzly caught my attention since it’s $400+ cheaper on the sale and $500+ cheaper than the 4 wheel. Big chunk of money if same. No bargain if not as good.

[brent stanley]

true but the grizzly caught my attention since it’s $400+ cheaper on the sale and $500+ cheaper than the 4 wheel. Big chunk of money if same. No bargain if not as good.

Understood, that makes it a bit more of a conundrum. Whichever way you go you'll be glad you have one!

Good luck,

[Jared Sankovich]

Given the choice when buying new, i would go with 4 wheel feeders. That said all my feeders are three wheel currently.

That is a really good price on a comatic dc30 from grizzly though.

[Greg Parrish]

Finally found the difference I think. The co-matic ones are the newer style with more power. 2/3hp vs 1/2hp. Not sure if that’s a big deal for hobby use like mine though.

[Jared Sankovich]

Grizzly feeders are rebadged comatic

Still listed as 1/2 hp on the comatic site
http://www.co-matic.com/en/product/PF-DC30

[Mark Bolton]

Im another vote for the 4 wheel. The Grizzly offering is both wild, horribly scary, and mind blowing, all at the same time. Im not a fan but have the Comatic's with the smart stand and its a sweet setup but painful on the wallet. I would be scared to death to wind up with the "rebadged" and realize I'd roached $800 bucks but compared to 1150 Im sure it'd be tempting for some but I would personally never take the chance. As with everything there are always trade offs when you go that route and having a feeder that had any fussy factor or slippage, etc... would drive me nuts.

[Jared Sankovich]

Im another vote for the 4 wheel. The Grizzly offering is both wild, horribly scary, and mind blowing, all at the same time. Im not a fan but have the Comatic's with the smart stand and its a sweet setup but painful on the wallet. I would be scared to death to wind up with the "rebadged" and realize I'd roached $800 bucks but compared to 1150 Im sure it'd be tempting for some but I would personally never take the chance. As with everything there are always trade offs when you go that route and having a feeder that had any fussy factor or slippage, etc... would drive me nuts.

Grizzly had them for $750 when they first started carrying them.

What is mind blowing about it? The dc40 is $1000 (usd) in the uk.. a rebadged comatic from grizzly is the same as rebadged comatic from powermatic...

[Mark Bolton]

Grizzly had them for $750 when they first started carrying them.

What is mind blowing about it? The dc40 is $1000 (usd) in the uk.. a rebadged comatic from grizzly is the same as rebadged comatic from powermatic...

The DC30 is 1159 on shopgears now, the DC40 is 1259. As I said, Im admittedly not a fan, but the mindblowing/scary part (for me) is what has happened to the rebadged unit to get it to a $400+ discount. I have seen and been around enough of that in other shops to have a pretty good guess on a visual inspection, but whats happened internally would make me nervous enough to get the real deal.

[Martin Wasner]

The DC30 is 1159 on shopgears now, the DC40 is 1259. As I said, Im admittedly not a fan, but the mindblowing/scary part (for me) is what has happened to the rebadged unit to get it to a $400+ discount. I have seen and been around enough of that in other shops to have a pretty good guess on a visual inspection, but whats happened internally would make me nervous enough to get the real deal.

I agree. Saving money costs a lot sometimes.

[Greg Parrish]

Ordered the co-matic 4 wheel DC40 with two sets of the thin wheels. Hopefully the bracket from Felder gets here in less than 8 weeks. It was on back order.

Thanks guys.

[Jared Sankovich]

The DC30 is 1159 on shopgears now, the DC40 is 1259. As I said, Im admittedly not a fan, but the mindblowing/scary part (for me) is what has happened to the rebadged unit to get it to a $400+ discount. I have seen and been around enough of that in other shops to have a pretty good guess on a visual inspection, but whats happened internally would make me nervous enough to get the real deal.

Beyond the grizzly issue, what do you dislike about the comatic dc feeders? The dc40 was my next feeder purchase.

[Mark Bolton]

Beyond the grizzly issue, what do you dislike about the comatic dc feeders? The dc40 was my next feeder purchase.

Ah.. misunderstanding. We have comatic DC's.. major fan (other than wallet pain). My not a fan comments were about the green paint issue.

[Martin Wasner]

The dc40 was my next feeder purchase.

I wish all my feeders were the dc40. I have one on our miscellaneous shaper. Doing something odd the day, 2fpm change in speed made a difference. Which is bonkers, but nice to have the option

[Greg Parrish]

Best I can tell the grizzly one looks identical. If they had a 4 wheel version at their pricing for $100 more I’d have gotten it but I only saw the 3 wheel version. I also compared the Steff 4 wheel vario which isn’t a whole lot more than the co-magic but it weighs a lot more and it looks like the speed is manually controlled. Not sure if it would have been a lot higher quality or not though being made in Italy by Maggi.

[John Kee]

For the application Greg is actually going to be using for, a tiltaway bracket on the front of a saw slider/shaper combo, the weight of the 4 wheel units gets old real fast. IMHO wheel composition has more of an effect on power feeder operation then the extra wheel. The yellow wheels from Western Roller do give superior feed results even in a lowly 3 wheeler.

[Jared Sankovich]

For the application Greg is actually going to be using for, a tiltaway bracket on the front of a saw slider/shaper combo, the weight of the 4 wheel units gets old real fast. IMHO wheel composition has more of an effect on power feeder operation then the extra wheel. The yellow wheels from Western Roller do give superior feed results even in a lowly 3 wheeler.

If you like the yellow try the blue.

[Jared Sankovich]

I wish all my feeders were the dc40. I have one on our miscellaneous shaper. Doing something odd the day, 2fpm change in speed made a difference. Which is bonkers, but nice to have the option

I have a vfd on one of mine for sort of varible speed (50 to 100% of the gearing speed) but the full deal, with the ease of moving from horizontal to vertical seems like easy win. One of my other feeders is the current comatic "cabinet" feeder with the 45 degree mount, and i always wonder why comatic didnt put that mount on every one of their feeders. 10 seconds to go from horizontal to vertical.

[Mark Bolton]

Have the dc40s in the shop and Pf38s and ordered western roller wheels for the dc40s about 4 seconds after ordering the feeders from shopgears. All feeders are western roller. Cant say I agree with the notion that a three wheel feeder with WR is as good as a 4 wheel in use. I'd still be running the 3 wheels for sure if the work hadn't come to pay for the 4 wheel. But the 4 wheels is extremely nice and I'd love to have a dc70 to rotate around but it'd sit unused alot.

Said it before and things may have changed but my wheels for the dc40 fron western may have come early after their release and have a cast phenolic type hub and my dc40s have a wing nut affair so its tool-less wheel swap and they loosen up like crazy. Yih have to check the wing nuts on most every setup and on long runs youd better be watching for some wheel wobble and be ready to stop.

[Mel Fulks]

Jared is correct ,the blue are more grabby ,but I was warned by the sales guy that they wear down a lot faster and
and are best used only on material that can't be controlled with yellow. Why are there so many materials on the market
that are "unsafe at any speed"? The stock tires are rubbish

[Greg Parrish]

Okay I go away for a moment, come back, and now you guys have me second guessing my ordering the DC40. LOL

As best I can tell it doesn’t weigh any more than the Felder F38 3 wheel unit due to the dc motor. However, I’ve never owned or used one of these and don’t know what I need or what to expect. Just don’t want to have to buy twice and don’t want to wish I had gotten a different one. The 4 wheel seemed to be most flexible but if I’m missing someth8ng here for usage on my KF500 please let me know while I can change my order possibly. Thanks.

and if I need to cancel the thin wheels I ordered let me know. Looks like you guys are saying the stock ones are not as good as another brand.

[Mark Bolton]

You are not going to regret the dc40. Trust me. You will want to be alone in the shop with some napkins or paper towels when you get it set up. Yoh made the dead right decision.

[Mark Bolton]

I guarantee you the first 20 jobs you run you'll be kicking yourself in the pants. Next 40.. wash rinse repeat. The western rollers are a good cheap upgrade. You can still wear out the stock rollers.

[Jared Sankovich]

The comatic 3 wheel 1hp af34 is 134lbs, the af44 (4wheel 1 hp) is 145lbs

The dc40 is 117lbs per the spec sheet.. the only thing lighter is the af308 1/2 hp feeder at 99lbs.

[Greg Parrish]

I guarantee you the first 20 jobs you run you'll be kicking yourself in the pants. Next 40.. wash rinse repeat. The western rollers are a good cheap upgrade. You can still wear out the stock rollers.

The sets of thin wheels were $20 for 2. I might be able to call and cancel them if the consensus is they suck. That’s $40 saved.

[Mark Bolton]

Sure. I'd kill any add on wheels and order then from western I'd you need to. Make a point to tell shopgears that they should be offering western by default. They should order the feeders without rollers and install the western in the us.

[Martin Wasner]

Sure. I'd kill any add on wheels and order then from western I'd you need to. Make a point to tell shopgears that they should be offering western by default. They should order the feeders without rollers and install the western in the us.

Or just sell them without wheels.

I recently switched a couple of feeders over to blue tires. Keeping my eye on them for wear. The came with plastic wheels too. It's nice being able to run the tool up into the tie and wheel and get it as close as possible and not create any damage.

[Rod Sheridan]

Finally found the difference I think. The co-matic ones are the newer style with more power. 2/3hp vs 1/2hp. Not sure if that’s a big deal for hobby use like mine though.

With the reduction ratio of a feeder, a 1/2 hp feeder will drag a truck out of a ditch...Rod

[Greg Parrish]

:) thanks Rod. I already ordered the 4 wheel version from co-matic. It claims to be the new version with 2/3rd hp but had grizzly had a 1/2 hp 4 wheel dc version I’d have gone that route to save funds. Don’t know if I’ll find the 4th wheel of real value but as mentioned I don’t want to do the multiple buy and purchase regret dance I’ve dont many times with this hobby. Trying to get it right first time as I’m moving forward with all of my shop upgrades this past year. :)

was reading an older thread about a longer arm being available for the feeder stand to use it with saw. Will call them first thing Monday to find out more before they ship mine. Also saw you mentioned using yours on your jointer and wondered how since you don’t have the full combo. Thx.



With the reduction ratio of a feeder, a 1/2 hp feeder will drag a truck out of a ditch...Rod

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi Greg, I turn the feeder so it’s off the back of the s/s and over the jointer......Rod

[Greg Parrish]

Hi Greg, I turn the feeder so it’s off the back of the s/s and over the jointer......Rod

Gottcha. I wasn’t able to put my J/P in that space with my new layout. Working on rerouting dust collection yet again but getting close to having it knocked out. I set the saw up so I can have 48” to right of blade and 96” to left of blade even though I only have the 32” fence setup.

[John Kee]

Okay I go away for a moment, come back, and now you guys have me second guessing my ordering the DC40. LOL

As best I can tell it doesn’t weigh any more than the Felder F38 3 wheel unit due to the dc motor. However, I’ve never owned or used one of these and don’t know what I need or what to expect. Just don’t want to have to buy twice and don’t want to wish I had gotten a different one. The 4 wheel seemed to be most flexible but if I’m missing someth8ng here for usage on my KF500 please let me know while I can change my order possibly. Thanks.

and if I need to cancel the thin wheels I ordered let me know. Looks like you guys are saying the stock ones are not as good as another brand.

Were you able to get a tiltaway bracket with an air shock and do you eat your Wheaties everyday? If you weren't able to get the airshock version of the bracket you won't need to go to gym for a workout you be getting one every time you want to use your DC40 power feeder. LOL. Most of these guys advising the 4 wheel have pro shops and fixed mount feeders that don't have to be lifted into place, just pivoted into place. Keep the split wheels for the few times you will actually use them, try the stock wheels which when new work fairly well until they don't then replace with yellow or blue. You got all the advice possible let us know how you make out when you are up and running.

[Greg Parrish]

Thanks. I did order the felder bracket with the air shock but it’s back ordered so I don’t have it yet. :)

will report back back once I have it all setup. Thanks.



Were you able to get a tiltaway bracket with an air shock and do you eat your Wheaties everyday? If you weren't able to get the airshock version of the bracket you won't need to go to gym for a workout you be getting one every time you want to use your DC40 power feeder. LOL. Most of these guys advising the 4 wheel have pro shops and fixed mount feeders that don't have to be lifted into place, just pivoted into place. Keep the split wheels for the few times you will actually use them, try the stock wheels which when new work fairly well until they don't then replace with yellow or blue. You got all the advice possible let us know how you make out when you are up and running.

[Justin Ludwig]

true but the grizzly caught my attention since it’s $400+ cheaper on the sale and $500+ cheaper than the 4 wheel. Big chunk of money if same. No bargain if not as good.

I've used a Grizzly 3 wheel for years and no problems. It's pretty much designated to a shaper for running door frame stock and panels.