SHOP FOX W1764 1/8 HP Mini Power Feeder

Set up on a Shop Fox shaper used to Vee- groove aluminum composite panels on a production basis. Set up was straightforward and the mount is very stiff. So far it works perfectly. The only drawback is that occasionally the aluminum chips get embedded in the rollers and cause scratches in the face metal (very bad!!). This is no fault of the feeder, but it's kind of a pain, because re-setting it by eye is difficult due to the mount design. I plan to make a jig so we can re-set it to the same position every time. All in all, highly recommended for lighter materials; I think it may become overwhelmed with heavy stock.

There are mixed reviews about mini or baby power feeders, so I thought I'd share my experience. First, this is not a flimsy or shoddy unit. On the contrary, It is surprisingly solid and powerful. I installed one on my 1 1/2 hp shaper and cannot imagine the need for a bigger power feeder. This size power feeder seems appropriate for average hobbyist on a smaller shaper. A few observations:The slow speed is slow enough to make a smooth cut using router bits in my shaper. This is difficult and tedious to do by hand, but allows me to use cheaper cutters.The wheels are made of a fairly soft rubber compound. I haven't been able to make them slip.The motor is universal rather than induction. That is how it can be so powerful for it's weight and size. That is also how it can be variable speed at a lower price. That being said, it is pretty quiet since it isn't rotating very fast.The entire unit fits perfectly on my Jet 1 1/2 hp shaper. I mounted the base in the upper right corner. It comes with a template to drill the holes. The right corner is better than the left corner, as it allows the extension arm to be much shorter.The adjustment mechanism is awkward. The power head is attached to the extension arm with a huge knuckle joint. Because the extension arm pivots from it's base, the power head's angle relative to the stock is constantly changing as the arm pivots. Imagine a carpenter's level pivoted on up on one end. To further compound the difficulty, the wheels are offset from the motor, so the power head naturally wants to lean away from the wheels when the knuckle joint is loosened.Fortunately, there is an easy solution. I made up a hardwood stick to fit under the aluminum shroud opposite the wheels. I made it to fill the space between the shroud and the shaper table, so the power head can settle evenly when loosened. Viola, instant set up. My stick is 18" x 2"(unimportant) x a fat 1/4"(important). When I need to adjust height, etc, I loosen the knuckle joint, loosen the extension arm pivot, place my spacer stick under the shroud and let everything settle flat onto the work. Tighten everything and I'm good to go.Another annoyance is that the levers for controlling the pivot arm interfere with the shaper fence handles. This is a minor annoyance, since they can be slid out of the way and perhaps unique to the design of my Jet shaper.All in all, I'm pleasantly surprised by this feeder. I would not have guessed that it would be this nice for it's size and price.

Excellent quality, this device is quite powerful, it is excellent for my husband's carpentry, he loves it!!

The machine is simply under powered . Tried to run some 8ft. Boards and the power feeder stalled during the operation after about 3 feet of the board had been cut. Very disappointed especially for the cost of the machine.

I love using this. It makes cutting lumber so much easier and safer—it's insane. This should be standard equipment on all table saws.

im used for monts and the whel not roning

Before this I had no experience with a power feeder but I had been experiencing problems while routing tongue and groove cuts on 8 foot oak boards that wanted to use for paneling in my basement. I could not run that length with consistent quality. So I thought a small power feeder could be made to fit my router table and reduce the inconsistencies. I ordered the Shop Fox power feeder and adapted my router table to accept it but because of other things going on in my life, I would not be able to try it out for months. Yesterday my wife helped me re-prioritize my projects and I started up the router and began running the boards through the router again. It took a few passes through to get the power feeder adjusted correctly and I was soon making consistent cuts on the edge of my paneling. How did the power feed do? It did ok but I did have to help push the boards through the router. Being only a 1/4 horse power tool I was not surprised. What it did well was maintaining the board against the fence helping keep consistently clean cuts on the edge of the boards. I ran about 65 boards through the setup and I have about 90-100 more to do.As I said, I was not expecting the tool to pull the boards through without help so I was not surprised. There are likely a couple of reasons. The first is the weight of the 8 foot board may have exceeded the capability of the feeder (though the boards are only 1/2" thick). The second is that I am cutting the complete tongue cut in one pass rather than in several passes.Overall I am pleased with the power feeder. It really helps me make consistently clean cuts on long boards. I have only used it for about 3 hours so far so if I find reason to update this rating, I will do so in a later post