Power feeder makes work simple, easy and much less tedious. - Shop Fox 1/4 HP Power Feeder

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 just to protect the table but otherwise have not seen any friction issues.

Adjustments that worked well for my machine: Set the feed wheels to slightly push the material against the fence as it feeds through, set the gap between the feed wheels and the table about 1/16 to 1/8 closer than the material thickness, feed wheels parallel to the table. Rather than adjusting the fence for multiple passes which then may make feeder adjustments necessary I opted to make a spacer board for the fence. A thin strip of wood attaches to the fence and simply spaces the material a bit farther from the cutter. I have used this method with 2 spacers when running raised panels and works well in the shop. As stated before I am adding a third unit to run door rails and will also use the spacer method.

The feeder seems to have adequate power for my current use. I am controlling the power feeder with a i-socket automatic switch which is normally used to control a vacuum cleaner hooked to a miter saw. This makes it convenient to set the switch on the power feeder to the correct direction and not worry about forgetting to turn it off when done. Granted this only works on 110 VAC. My only other suggestion would be to make the mounting base easily available (outside of parts) and perhaps a bit more affordable. I could see having a mounting base on several different machines and moving the power feeder as needs for different jobs. I could see a larger shop having a power feeder for each machine but in a small custom shop as mine two power feeders are very handy and my job requirements do vary quite a bit.