Replies

1. 
   hammer1 | Jan 17, 2007 06:44am | #1

   John, I think you need the input of hand feeding on a jointer for everything except rabbetting. Most jointers don't have much extra room for mounting a feeder. Are you doing rabbets? If the fence is moved in you might be able to clamp temporarily to the table. Other than cutting rabbets that will show, eg. door jambs, I can't think of another suitable application for a feeder on a jointer. What are you doing?

   Beat it to fit / Paint it to match

1. 
   JMartinsky | Jan 17, 2007 06:56am | #2

   Dear Hammer,
   What I am really trying to do is nurse an injured hand. Due to an accident, I have quite a bit of loss of feeling in my right hand. I can joint OK, now, but for production work, it really takes a toll. I can't imagine edge jointing is possible with a feeder, but I thought perhaps for facing.Best,John

1. 
   hammer1 | Jan 17, 2007 08:09am | #3

   Sorry about your sore hand. Can you grip one of those D handled push sticks with the rubber face or make something you could be more comfortable with? The issue with a feeder is that you can't keep focus on a high spot throughout the cut. Wavy boards also vary in thickness and rough boards vary from one to another. Stock feeders don't compensate for changing thicknesses. If you aren't running large pieces, a sled in the planer could eliminate flattening on the jointer. Not every board needs flattening first, many can go to the planer without face joining. The entire face does not need to be surfaced flat, just enough so the board doesn't rock. Not knowing your injury, how much and how large the stock you are working is, I think I'd reduce the need for things that bother you. If you don't have a feeder, they are great for the table saw, router table and shaper, even re-sawing on the bandsaw. They do take care in setting up, the wheels have to make good contact and they don't like very small or very large pieces. Fantastic for repetitive cuts and volume.Beat it to fit / Paint it to match

2. 
   JeffHeath | Jan 17, 2007 08:22am | #4

   John

   A friend uses one on a 12" jointer that is dedicated to face jointing.  He has removed the fence, and mounted the feeder base where the fence would go.  It was set up to grab just on the outfeed side of the blade, so you're still handling stock, but not with force.  Obviously, you adjust down the feeder after each pass by the thickness of your cut.

   Jeff

3. 
   philip | Jan 17, 2007 10:31am | #5

   E, er John, it is quite feasible to do this but you need a decent sized surfacer, of industrial attributes preferably. It is particularly handy when you have a lot of stock preparation to do . There must be room to fit the feeder -and there is usually the requirement of drilling holes in the sacred tables.

   Philip Marcou
1. 
   colebearanimals | Jan 18, 2007 08:22pm | #6

   Hi ALL,

         I can't see a power feeder working on a jointer to do surfacing. Cupped or twisted material needs lighter " touch " preasure to flatten. Jointing , howerever, might work if the material is wide enough to resist deflection. I have often wondered if this would work. unfortunately mounting the feeder seems problematic. If anyone has succsess let me know.

            Have fun working wood,    Paul

2. 
   JMartinsky | Jan 19, 2007 02:08am | #9

   Dear Philip,
   DRILL THE TABLES!!! I thought that I might, but it will be a scary proposition. I have drilled plenty of steel & iron before, but to mar a nice finish is painful. I am considering an upgrade to a 12" machine. (No more stalling on those deep cuts! :-) ) I have adapted some techniques to my left hand, but the jointer seems pretty right-handed. My concern is the same for the tablesaw. I can't always tell when my hand is beginning to slip. I wear a rubber coated glove to help with the grip, but still......... No "Evil" to date, although the year is young! ( I don't suppose that 1/8" passes on the joiner with soft maple counts) ( I did do one more project with the panel raising bit in the handheld router, but that was only Cedar). Thanks for the ideas, Philip............. Hey, one last thing. I have been considering a "combination" jointer/planer. Any thoughts?Best,John (Evil)

1. 
   philip | Jan 19, 2007 03:51am | #12

   Hi John, be careful-any pass over those blades counts if your fingers contact them....
   Enjoy your shopping for a better surfacer (jointer). I see some proper stuff onthe site Keith showed.
   I'm not up to speed on what's around on combinations, but I do like them. The only reservation I have with planing combos is that if tables need to be up-folded every time this is painful-spring asssisted or not.I have a British Dominion combo where this is not required, which works fine.
   As Rich pointed out you will lose the straightening effect to some degree if you run a power feeder on the surfacer- but then one needs to select decent stock. Sounds as though power feeders on surfacers is uncommon in U.S.A- not so where I came from.Philip Marcou

1. 
   JMartinsky | Jan 19, 2007 04:17am | #15

   Dear Philip,
   I am not married to any one setup, so I am exploring all ideas. The combos always seem like a nice' efficient package, but there is the "switch" to make as well. I Typically take 1/8" passes, unless the machine throws up then I back it off a bit. I think you warned me about jointer kickback, well someone did. What is a "normal" cut for you?John

1. 
   philip | Jan 19, 2007 10:03am | #16

   John,
   A typical cut depth for me depends on which surfacer I use , the type of wood and the width of the board. The wider the board the harder it is to hold down properly and this is directly related to the timber type. (assuming that the knives are reasonably sharp).One does not have to do it all on one pass- I would prefer to make two or more light cuts instead . Ofcourse a power feeder enables deeper cuts especially if there is the horse power there.
   At the other extreme, if jointing an edge and there is need to hog off a fair amount as with a crooked edge, one can virtually cut to the limit of the machine-but feed rate will need to slow in proportion.Taking off 1/2 inch or more on a 3/4 inch edge is no problem.
   But for the typical surfacing of an average 10 or 12 inch face on some timber like Iroko, using my Griggio without a feeder I would not want to whack off anything more than 11/2 to 2mm at a pass.
   "Switch"? Do you mean getting used to operating a combination? It is nothing. Another thing to look at in older combinations is the question of chip extraction, if you go for second hand stuff.Philip Marcou

4. 
   KeithNewton | Jan 18, 2007 09:05pm | #7

   I don't have a power-feeder hooked up, but I have made a fixture that I can hang on the fence, which has about a 40# wight on top, with a wheel on it. I still have to provide the feeding force, but it does the holding down.

   Since I work alone in my shop these days, and my hands are getting pretty painful, this sure enables me to handle larger lumber than I could otherwise on a 12" jointer.

   Even though I have a 5 hp motor on it now, I sharpen with a 20º face bevel on the knives so that I only have 10º hook, which requires more power to the head. This cuts down on any tear-out in wild grain, however I am not sure I would want to loose feed-rate control by hand.

1. 
   JMartinsky | Jan 19, 2007 01:58am | #8

   Dear Keith,
   Thanks for the reply, I am considering an upgrade to a 12" machine, that's sort of what is driving this. I struggle now to feed a 6" machine. I will get an indexed, spiral head of some type as well, preferably the "Byrd.Thanks Again,John

1. 
   KeithNewton | Jan 19, 2007 02:48am | #10

   Hey J, If I were in the market for a new or bigger jointer, Here is what I would get. Opportunity knocks. It is down this page on the right side. 16" bridgewwod.http://www.irsauctions.com/index_lots.asp?pg=details&id=9688

1. 
   Rich14 | Jan 19, 2007 03:04am | #11

   FWIW, the design of Euro combo machines has provision for a power feeder to drive stock through the shaper which is physically on the opposite side of the machine from the jointer. So the power feeder cannot even be configured to push wood through the jointer. When the jointer is converted into a thickness planer, the stock, of course, is "powered" through the cutters by the integral feed rollers of that unit. The smallest of these machines have 12" jointer/planers. If it were advantageous to have the power feeder operate on the jointer, these machines would be so-configured. I think a power feeder on a jointer would be self defeating as it would flatten warped stock as it went through the knives. Such flattening is exactly what one wants to avoid.

1. 
   JMartinsky | Jan 19, 2007 04:13am | #14

   Good points!John

2. 
   JMartinsky | Jan 19, 2007 04:13am | #13

   Dear Keith,
   That's pretty nice! Good site. I was actually considering a Wilke product, perhaps even the Yorkcraft. My other is Grizzly, but we'll see.Thanks Again,John

5. 
   daryl | Jan 19, 2007 10:34pm | #17

   I have a jointer power feeder. I just took it off the jointer, but for balance reasons. I can see it working great on an 8", but on my 12" Felder, it did have some reach issues, but minor.

   You install the special base on the SIDE of the outfeed table (you drill for 3 machine bolts, not hard really). The fit and finish of it (A Wilke, made by CoMatic, and I don't think it's made anymore) is not great, but it was fine, once I did assemble it--which took some time and filing that should not have been necessary--I had to slightly change the boom to flange dimensions. Time more than difficulty.

   It's a 220V machine, but what is not advertised is the wheel --one big one with teeth. It's not a urethane wheel to be used on finished wood. A jointer PF is meant to be used on rough sawn lumber only. It will leave pinholes that come out with the first planing.

   I recommend it if your tables are not all that large, you have a lot of roughsawn lumber that is very long, and especially ehavy, making it unwieldy. Otherwise, don't bother. I have had 4 hand surgeries, and frankly, it's not a hand saver.

1. 
   colebearanimals | Jan 20, 2007 02:41am | #18

   Hi Daryl,

         How much downforce does the power feeder have on the material? I would be afraid it would tend to flatten a bowed or twisted board. I am in the process of milling up 4000 bf of 10/4 red oak for some custom windows . So if a power feeder could help, I would love it. Do you have any pictures of this set-up?

                          Thanks, Paul

1. 
   daryl | Jan 20, 2007 05:09am | #19

   I took it off months ago, and no pics. I have no clue where you could buy it either. You can sort of control the downward force, in that it raises and lowers like any other power feeder. You will still have to push it through, but with greatly reduced force.

1. 
   colebearanimals | Jan 20, 2007 06:24am | #20

   Well, I guess I'll have to do it the old fashioned way. .......... Sweat

                          Thanks, Paul