Jointer Power Feeder

[Rob Will]

This has been discussed before (power feeder on a jointer). Do you have any good links about this?

Face jointing....what about a fairly wide board (16")?
How would a power feeder handle a wide twisted board?
Would a power feeder need to be of a specific design to work on a jointer?
How much power / what features for facing wide stock?

[markus shaffer]

Rob,

I have a feeder on my jointer. I went with a smaller version (3-wheel) of the Felder feeder. I know there is a member of the Felder Owners Group who has a small Delta feeder on his jointer that seems to be adequate for his purposes.

As to your questions, I don't think there is any specific feeder meant to be mounted on a jointer. Perhaps Dev might know of something obscure that I don't regarding this.

I have yet to run anything severely twisted through mine, but anything with moderate twist gets flattened better than doing it by hand I think as the feeder provides a more constant pressure through each successive trip through where doing it by hand one might rock the piece as it goes through.

I still edge joint all my boards by hand, but face jointing is all done with the feeder. My jointer is 20" wide and I've sent a board that was literally 19 1/2" wide through it with no problem. It was also 10/4 or 12/4 and 10 feet long, so that should give you a better idea of the capacity of what these things can do. That was a really big and heavy piece of wood that the feeder pulled through with no problem.

My feeder has two set speeds. I just use the slow one and have had no issues. I think the main problem you will encounter in trying to add a feeder to your jointer will be in mounting it. Felder makes a bracket specifically for mounting to their jointers. You perhaps could get one to work with your jointer depending on what you have and it's construction.

Look at the thread linked below for more on this. I posted a couple photos of my setup so you can see what I'm talking about with the bracket.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=26134


-Markus

[Rob Will]

Markus,
Where should I mount the feeder for maximum straightening / flattening effect?

[Michael Perata]

Rob

I use a Delta 36-850 .25HP unit (NOT the Versa Feeder) on my 12" jointer. If you have additional 220v power, I would opt for a larger 1.0 HP unit, 3 or 4 wheel.

I have jointed boards 10" x 8' without trouble (keep the tables well waxed). You should mount it so the trailing wheel is just behind the cutters. This way most of the effort is for holding the stock against the outfeed table and for driving the stock forward along a freshly milled face.

If yours is a stand alone jointer, I would suggest mounting it along the back of the unit so you could simply swing it out of the way rather than remove it.

[Rob Will]

Michael,
Thanks for the insight. Actually, I'm in the process of building a new shop and have not purchased the jointer yet. This is a farm operation with lots of three phase power (for existing air compressor, grain bins etc.) so I have the power and see your point about the hp. Thinking about going to some industrial woodworking shows next year. All of this really helps to plan the new shop. In the meantime, anyone have any interest in an old chicken house (circa 1956)? That's the spot for the new........
Rob

[Jay T. Marlin]

Are you looking for speed or just quality? If you want serious speed without sacraficing quality, get a double sided planer. If I had to go back to separate machines, I would shoot myself. That's how spoiled I am.

[Rob Will]

Any suggestions on brand names?
Links to sites?
I have a lot of Old Iron but it's for "dirt working" not wood working. It would be hard for me to restore anything right now.

A lot of people would kringe at the thought of this, but I sort of want to find a brand that can fill all of the heavy machines (matching). Looks nice but perhaps a lame reason.

Rob

[Paul B. Cresti]

Rob,
If you want to spend a bunch of money and have all your machines "match" I can think of one particular company ;) Heck man matching is in :D I match wouldn't you like to match too... be a matcher buy ....

[Rob Will]

What U talkin about? ...........Felder?

[Paul B. Cresti]

Nope, from a little more south in Europe, Italy. Company - MiniMax

[Rob Will]

But my wallet is running.......not really.
So, If I have unlimited room, what do combo machines have to offer?
I'm looking at the MM site.

[tod evans]

rob,if you have unlimited room and unlimited budget just step up to scmi and never look back! set foot into any major millwork operation in the us or europe heck even south america and you`ll see scmi stuff just spitting out wood day in and day out. now if you don`t plan on trying to compete with the likes of georgia-pacific and wherehauser then paul has given you good advice. personally i would avoid the combo machines if space is not an issue. i`ve heard good talk about felder machines over the years so there`s another time tested company who caters to small shops. take your time and research, also wait `till after the first of the year when all the big boys present their latest and greatest for public inspection. there are several young <20yr european upstarts on the market that you may like the looks of? good luck and keep us posted......oh-yeah! good ol` usa still has one contender that will fit the criteria you gave, northfield machine.....02 tod

[Rick Lizek]

A 1 HP feeder three wheel would be standard in the industry. I know lots of guys say to buy four wheel feeders but those get pricey and heavy. Never had any need for more than a three wheel feeder in the largest factory I worked in. As for really wide twisted boards you shoud face those seperately by hand. A feeder on a jointer is not the ultimate. They have special power feed jointers called facers that have a special feed mechanism that have spring loaded fingers to feed the board. It's the closest to hand/power feed you can get but for the really finicky twisted boards the hand feed is the ultimate in quality control.

[J.R. Rutter]

For twisted boards, I use a wooden shim (like a scrap from ripping an edge off) under the back high corner to space it up so there is the same amount of space under the front high corner. Feed the board so that the low corner (the one getting cut) goes under the feed wheels. That helps prevent the board from rocking as it passes over the cutter. The shim either gets left on the table, or drops into the cutterhead. After the first pass, you don't need the shim anyway. For long boards with twist, use a shim on the front high section, about 6" back from the leading end.

I mounted my feeder with a cast iron angle bracket from Grizzly. It had a hole pattern that matched up with the bolt holes on the feeder mount. Drilled the base of the jointer and bolted it on.

I edge joint with the feeder as well. Same concept - wheels on outfeed side of fence. Slant down 1/4" or so to keep wood pressed against the outfeed table. May need to support long boards at each end when they are just entering / leaving the cutterhead.