1/8 hp power feeders on the Table Saw--special situation

[Jameel Abraham]

For some of my luthiery work I resaw quite a bit of 2" thick stock. The veneers are 3/32". I'd like to set up a power feeder on my table saw to accomplish this, using a thin kerf blade. It's a bit quicker than the bandsaw, and with a thin kerf blade, I'm only loosing a tad vs. the bandsaw. I also get a better finish off the ts blade.

So, would one of the baby power feeders work for this? Is it powerful enough to do 2" rips? I should add that I start with 4/4 stock, (it's cheaper than buying 8/4, and sawing up 8/4 into thin strips seems a huge waste) so the rip would be on edge.

I usually do this on my bandsaw w/o a feeder, but I'm looking to get faster, more uniform predictable results with the table saw. See this thread for an example of what I'm doing. http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=62880

[J.R. Rutter]

So you'll be feeding the wood against the fence in front of the blade instead of pressing against the table straddling the blade, right?

I use feeders extensively and have a couple of thoughts:

Check the feed rate. Will your saw handle it without bogging down?

You will need to adjust the feeder position as the stock thickness decreases.

You will need to grab the wood off the back of the cut, since it won't be fed on the outfeed side.

I've never used one of the baby feeders, but a 1/4 HP with speed reducer gearing would handle it.

How many strips do you need to cut per session? Hand feeding might be faster than setting up, adjusting, and removing the feeder.

[Jameel Abraham]

I answered within the quote:


So you'll be feeding the wood against the fence in front of the blade instead of pressing against the table straddling the blade, right?

--------No, I want to straddle the blade, so feeder on top. I want the feeder to move the wood past the blade.

I use feeders extensively and have a couple of thoughts:

Check the feed rate. Will your saw handle it without bogging down?

--------I'm using a 3hp Delta Unisaw, so power is fine.

You will need to adjust the feeder position as the stock thickness decreases.

--------I'll just be using one slice per workpiece, so the feeder position would be the same for every slice.

You will need to grab the wood off the back of the cut, since it won't be fed on the outfeed side.

--------Yeah, but I think it best to put the feeder on top so it feeds the piece past the blade--think this will work?

I've never used one of the baby feeders, but a 1/4 HP with speed reducer gearing would handle it.

--------I'm leaning towards the 1/4 since it seems to be a much heavier more adjustable (easier tweaking) unit

How many strips do you need to cut per session?

--------Usually around 100-200, couple times a week or so.

hand feeding might be faster than setting up, adjusting, and removing the feeder.

--------I considered that, but I'm concerned here with safety and fatigue. Having a feeder for this would make my life easier!

Do you think I shuold run the veneer between the fence and the blade, or the veneer on the outside of the blade?

I appreciate your help and expertise very much.

[Michael Schwartz]

I would think a 1/8 HP feeder would be enough, if it isn't it is probably because the peice is binding up too much. It shouldn't take that much force to push a peice of wood through a table-saw. Keep in mind some of the larger power feeds are used when resawing with a 16" or 20" blade

If you get the powerfeed use it for as much of your ripping as possible as it is safer.

They are great wherever you want a uniform feed rate and uniform pressure, such as dados, and at the router table.

[J.R. Rutter]

I guess I was just surprised that you want to feed such thin peices with pressure on edge pushing down. I'm picturing 4/4 stock ripped to 2" wide then fed on edge to get 3/32" x 2" strips right? That will get a bit sketchy after a couple of slices, but maybe the fence will give it enough support that I won't flop over. The other issue is that the contact surface of the wheel to board shrinks and it will be harder to feed as it gets thinner.

In this case, I would build an auxilliary fence 1-3/4" tall or so, so that the feeder wheels can straddle both the blade and the edge of the fence for proper toe-in. Veneer on the fence side. Might be a good idea to set up some spring boards to hold the strips tight to the fence on the infeed side of the blade.

I think you would get higher yield from using 8/4 stock in this situation. Just a thought.

[Michael Schwartz]

It would make sense to start with a wide 8/4 board and just peel the slices off. When it gets narrow I suppose you could glue the remainder to a wide peice to support it, and proivde surface area for the feed rollers.

[Jameel Abraham]

J.R.

I'm only slicing off 1 veneer piece from each 4/4 board, then using the rest of the board for something else, so each pass would be with a fresh 4/4 chunk. The 8/4 idea is fine, I just have a lot of 4/4 on hand that I can be using for this, and the off cut fills another bill so....

I like your idea of building the aux fence.

I guess my next question, since you're familiar with the feeders is, do I need a 1/4hp or a 1/2 hp for this? I've ruled out the 1/8, I might as well get a decent sized one in case I want to use it for something else later, which I undoubtedly will. Ripping 2" thick stock seems like it would demand a more powerful unit. Just not sure if the 1/2 is overkill or not...

[Burt Waddell]

I doubt that results will be satisfactory . First, the baby stock feeders are relative light weight and all the gears are plastic. It will take a good bit of force to push the pieces thru. I don't think the gears will hold up for this kind of work. On the plus side, the baby stock feeders are much easier to control the speed on. Just turn a dial instead of changing a gear.

Also at times, I have had difficulty with thin stock on a stock feeder. You will be ripping a two inch thickness with almost nothing for the rubber wheels to grip.

Michaels idea of using wider stock and taking multiple cuts is the most workable situation. I have one of the 1/4 horse feeders and 6 of the baby feeders.

[Michael Schwartz]

Also at times, Ihave had difficulty with thin stock on a stock feeder. You will be ripping a two inch thickness with almost nothing for the rubber wheels to grip.

.

Hence my Idea of gluing that thin peice to a wider peice to support it, and provide surface for the power-feed to grip.

[Burt Waddell]

Hence my Idea of gluing that thin peice to a wider peice to support it, and provide surface for the power-feed to grip.

MIchael,

I like the idea of using wider boards but gluing thinner pieces to another piece of stock seems to me to be very time consuming.

Burt

[J.R. Rutter]

I guess my next question, since you're familiar with the feeders is, do I need a 1/4hp or a 1/2 hp for this? I've ruled out the 1/8, I might as well get a decent sized one in case I want to use it for something else later, which I undoubtedly will. Ripping 2" thick stock seems like it would demand a more powerful unit. Just not sure if the 1/2 is overkill or not...

Sorry for the initial misunderstanding about exactly what your process is!

I think that the 1/4 HP would handle it. I've never had a situation where the feeder power was a limiting factor. The 1/4 HP is still small enough to move around as needed. I use one for edge jointing and put it on a router table sometimes. For heavier cuts with more vibration, a heavier feeder gives better control - stiffer springs, more mass, etc. Get the speed reducing gear kit though - or confirm that the speed range of the stock gears will be OK.

[Jameel Abraham]

Thanks again JR. I ordered the 1/4 hp from Sunhill. It was on sale for $379, which was way lower than anyone else. It's a Comatic. We'll see how it works out.