Background: I'm about to purchase my first shaper tooling for a 5HP Minimax CU300 combo machine with 1 1/4" spindle. I also purchased a Minimax articulating arm to hold a stock feeder (swings out of the way), but haven't installed the 'swing arm' yet (it came with no instructions and I haven't spent the 30 minutes to figure it out).

I don't currently own a stock feeder, and wouldn't mind avoiding the cost, although the swing arm was as expensive as a small stock feeder, so I am half way there...

> I'm trying to select a steel insert head to purchase, and am trying to decide between a MAN rated head with limiters and a more traditional US style insert head without limiters. The head would initially be used without a stock feeder.

Question: If the limiter is ~1mm 'short of' the cutter head, does that mean that the maximum depth of cut is ~1mm per pass? So, it would take 6 passes to cut a 6mm groove? It seems like the limiter insert would 'kick out the wood from the fence' if you tried to make a depth of cut that exceeds the offset between the limiter and cutting knives, but hopefully I am missing something here.

Thanks for the help,

Mark