Power feeder: 7 wheel vs track

[Shannon Brantley]

Changing my door making for quality reasons and will need to run shorter pieces through the shaper. Anyone have experience with track vs 7 wheel feeders?

[Warren Lake]

Have a track feeder on one shaper. In use narrow raised panels one pass it worked fine. Its was fairly worn when I got it plus the feeder had been into the knives a few times, Older Europa that was not holding in the lock position so I always blocked it up after that.

[Michael Schuch]

Have a track feeder on one shaper. In use narrow raised panels one pass it worked fine. Its was fairly worn when I got it plus the feeder had been into the knives a few times, Older Europa that was not holding in the lock position so I always blocked it up after that.

When I bought my 4 wheel feeder (used) it had also been through the blades several times. Replacing the wheels was quick and pretty cheap... something that might be worth considering.

[William Hodge]

I use a Grizzley Baby feeder for real sort stuff on a shaper. The wheels are tiny and close together. I run parts 5/8" wide by 1" tall bu 7" long over a 4" molding head with corrugated backed cutters. The cutthers are under the wood. I'm surprised at what that little feeder will hold down. I just made raised panels with it, two passes. 5hp 3 phase shaper, 1 1/4" spindle

The reach is terible, I had to mount the feeder on top of the fence.

[John Kananis]

I have one of those baby feeders (I got the infinity because I like white but they're all clones) on my router table. It's an awesome little feeder EXCEPT, the slowest setting is still too fast for a lot of things. I've thought about putting it on a variable speed switch or something similar but I'm not sure if it will run right any slower or if the internal pot plays any interference. I guess I need to try to find out.

I use a Grizzley Baby feeder for real sort stuff on a shaper. The wheels are tiny and close together. I run parts 5/8" wide by 1" tall bu 7" long over a 4" molding head with corrugated backed cutters. The cutthers are under the wood. I'm surprised at what that little feeder will hold down. I just made raised panels with it, two passes. 5hp 3 phase shaper, 1 1/4" spindle

The reach is terible, I had to mount the feeder on top of the fence.

[David Zaret]

i have a 4-wheel feeder on my shaper, with split wheels. despite the gap between the wheels, i like this configuration because i can "cradle" the cutter between the wheels. short pieces are really only an issue for very short sticking cuts on short rails, and for that, i run them by hand against the outboard fence. it's simple, safe with a good push block, and effective. my concern about a track feeder would be the ability to work "around" the cutter - i fear the track would be in the way.

[Warren Lake]

the track i used was first time and I was surprised how well it worked. For a bit I had two feeders on that machine, one of each. Find a friend with a track and see it work and you will see how good it is, constant pressure all the time.

[John Erickson]

I've been using the 6 shaper Weaver Door door setup for years in my cabinet shop. 2 shapers has Weaver variable speed belt feeders which I have put through rails as short as 2". Check out their website at https://weaver-sales.com/#about . If you have any questions give Lonny a call, when I bought my set that were used he was very helpful.
My opinion on feeders for door rail and stile parts the Weaver Feeders are No. 1 but another option is feeder similar to Ritter's short stock power feeder.