r from United States, NE Public Profile

This is another one of those why didn't I get one of these before now items. It is nice to be able to focus on making parts with this helpful tool rather than I have to make them all by hand feeding. I mounted this on my Shop Fox W1701 shaper using the quick mount Steelex D3868 and mounted a second one directly to the table of my other shaper. The quick mount is a good way to test the placement of your power feeder before drilling the table. I now have drilled both tables for a permanent mount am adding a third feeder. The 20 fpm feed rate seems fast enough and is very consistent. Four different feeds rates are possible with the two gear sets and an optional slow speed set giving 13 fpm.

There is a small learning curve in setting up the power feeder but admittedly rather easy. All adjustments are made without tools with the exception of the over arm cone assembly which needs a wrench. This only needs to be tightened during the initial installation and is used to set the arm parallel to the table. After this all needed adjustments are made with out tools.

I like the fact it keeps constant pressure on the board flat on the table surface. Even a board with a mild bow can be tricky to keep flat on the shaper table when feeding by hand. Feather boards do help. As a test I re-ran a board through using the power feeder and no additional material was removed which indicated that it ran in nearly the same position. I do try to apply a coat of wax every hour and at the end of a run