Shop Fox W1812 planer/molder Motor swap?

[Jack Hovanec]

Hey guys,

A quick hypothetical/something I've given a bit of thought to. I just recently got one of those little shopfox planer/moulders. I appreciate the machine for what it is, but would love to be able to up its production rate. Running casing profiles at 5 ft/min is a little slow for a larger production run.

Has anyone tried to swap the motor for something with a little more umph? I have a 3 HP motor laying around that would pretty much mount right up to the machine. I already hooked it up to the starter, adjusted the thermal overload, and it ran just fine (with no load of course) through the existing controls. Would there be any negative effects on the machine by doing this?
I am also considering getting a stepped pulley so that I can run it at the standard 7k rpm, but also be able to change it to 8500 rpm. I figure the extra HP from the swapped motor would be able to overcome the torque loss from the speed increase.

Any opinions on this before I move forward with the project? Obviously you're "not supposed to" do this, and the engineers "designed it this way for a reason," but will it work? Is there anything I am overlooking?

Jack

[Richard Coers]

I don't see an issue with more hp, but would be very reluctant to change the rpm. Those cutters just bolt to a square head. It could be a real safety issue. Curious choice of machinery for running production millwork. I consider that just a short run, specialty machine. But your idea of larger production run must be different than mine.

[Jack Hovanec]

Production is a term used loosely I guess, a couple hundred lineal feet, not talking thousands. I got it mostly for doing curved stuff. Of course I would love to have a production arch moulder but 20k+ just isn't in the budget. It also makes wider profiles much easier to run than on a shaper. I hate having to reference a profiled face on the outfeed fence of a 4 inch wide moulding stood up on edge. Obviously if budget and space in my shop allowed, I'd have the right machines for the job. Maybe some day!

[Rod Sheridan]

Without getting the old slide rule out, you're looking at a 20% increase in head speed.

That takes you from 5 to 6 feet per minute for the same cut quality. Certainly not worth it in my opinion, regardless of whether the machine is capable of it.....Rod.

[Jared Sankovich]

15fpm is standard and 11fpm is the optional slow gear set in the fixed speed William's and hussey moulders.

Woodweb has some discussions on larger motors, not sure you really want to increase the feed rate even if you have more motor behind it. Lowering the hook angle and more power would be needed for a higher feed rate.

[ChrisA Edwards]

Lowering the hook angle and more power would be needed for a higher feed rate.

I have one of these machines, can you explain this statement.

I've made baseboard and elliptical louvers, doing a two pass method, on my machine.

My machine has a variable speed feed rate, but for the best cut finish, I still run the feed at the slowest speed, which comes out almost 220 grit smooth.

[Alex Zeller]

Don't forget that more hp brings out the other weak spots in a tool. For example the belt may now slip. If you have everything and you are sure there's no safety issues then try it. I think 8500 is about the limit for a moulder head (I've seen it printed on moulding heads for shapers). Does the 2hp bog down at all? If not the gain might be so little it's not going to buy you much.

[Jared Sankovich]

I have one of these machines, can you explain this statement.

I've made baseboard and elliptical louvers, doing a two pass method, on my machine.

My machine has a variable speed feed rate, but for the best cut finish, I still run the feed at the slowest speed, which comes out almost 220 grit smooth.

It has a 25ish degree hook angle and a small cutting circle (great for lower power requirements, bad for stopping tearout)

You could double the feed and keep the head speed the same if you had a rigid enough machine and a lower hook angle (say 15 to 20 degrees) and or a larger diameter head.. you would need more power though.

I run mid 20s to low 30s fpm on my shapers (6 to 7k rpm)and have a enough knife Mark's per inch to be a clean cut. I run my hussey at 11fpm.

[Jack Hovanec]

Without getting the old slide rule out, you're looking at a 20% increase in head speed.

That takes you from 5 to 6 feet per minute for the same cut quality. Certainly not worth it in my opinion, regardless of whether the machine is capable of it.....Rod.

Rod,
This is true... I guess when you break it down, its not that impressive. However, an extra 60 lineal feet per hour could make you good money on a molding that your'e charging 4,5,6+ dollars a foot.

[Jack Hovanec]

It has a 25ish degree hook angle and a small cutting circle (great for lower power requirements, bad for stopping tearout)

That small cutting circle is exactly why I would be interested to see which increasing the head RPM would do. I wonder why they held that head rpm so low when it was designed. I would personally spin a head on my shaper with this small of a cutting circle at 10k... I think we may be diving into a rabbit hole about feed rates, head rpm, cutting circle and cuts per inch that can be an incredibly complicated discussion. If this lockdown continues and I find myself with time on my hands I think I'll give this "upgrade" a whack and see what happens. Worst comes to worst, I put the old motor and pulley back on and call it a day. I think all said and done I'd have about 75 bucks invested in it between the pulley, and some misc. hardware.