I’ve got a small 1/8 hp Delta auto feed that I use on my shaper on occasion. It probaly has been used 30 hrs (if that)or so over the last year. The problem is that the wheels just seem to spin on most of the stock I try to feed through. Mostly hardwoods. I’m not trying to feed huge pieces through mostly 1 to 8 ft. and 2 to 10 inches wide, not incredibly heavy. Is the unit underpowered and a ripoff or are the polyurethane wheels just not ‘grippy’ enough?? Never had this problem with any of the larger auto feeds I’ve used in woodshops in the past. Does anyone know of a source for replacement wheels?? This thing is a great help when making stile and rail doors for production and I’d like to think that it’s worth the couple of hundred bucks they ask for it.
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Replies
This may be a totally useless suggestion...have you tried wiping the wheels with vinegar and water...to clean them? It helps with feed-in rollers on printers so just maybe is my thought.
It's been my experience that standard feed rolls are the worst you can get. A company called Western Roller makes replacements. Usually found advertising in Woodshop News or try a search. Try http://www.woodweb.com a pro wood site
Jack
The weight of the board is not as much of a factor as the width, more friction. I have the same feeder you speak of and use it to rip boards when I have some serious volume. Works great on the table saw, although I do wax the table. I keep a well waxed up board on hand and every 50 boards or so I send the slicked up baby on through, some of the wax rubs off on the table and I'm good for another 20 minutes. The unit didn't work all that well on the shaper I think the wheels are just to narrow to grab with that much back pressure, so now I use a 3 roller Comatic and never have any problem, even doing heavy handrail cuts.
The suggestions above are all good ones. I don't consider the baby feeders to be great production machines, nevertheless you ought to be able to make it feed boards. You could try a coarse sanding belt to rough up the surface of the wheels ( a belt sander belt on a block of wood works pretty good) Just get the wheels out where you can hold the belt against the drive wheels and let them grind the burnished surface off. Be aware that this is tempoary but will get you going again. You also should wax the shaper table and fence (I use dri-cote), it really makes a difference. The suggestion to change drive wheels with a different material is almost a requirment. I use industrial 4 wheel feeders every day and a smaller 3 wheel unit at home. My unit has more flexable urethane wheels on it and I do not have the slipping issue. In fact I took the wheels to work one day just to show the boss that you do not have to use the *&%$#* wheels they send with the feeder. I believe we are changing them out soon. Joe
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