Choosing the right moulder planer, or other options

[Carter Forbes]

HI,
I'm needing some help. The product we make requires 1,500 feet of this profile per week- currently. It is projected that this will at least triple if the contract goes through. It is 1/2" thick x1.375" in Red Oak. We have tried re-sawing 5/4. This saves on material but wastes labor. I'd rather pay for the 4/4 to be milled down and delivered ready.

Here is the problem- When the jobs were smaller, I had no problem routing these edges. Now that the size of each order is growing, I'm losing more and more money. Instead of cutting trim and installing, we are spending a day forming this with a router, and another day sanding it after it is cut and installed.

Lumber company will supply it for $1.40 per ft. currently, and $1.10 at the greater quantities. My cost is about $0.40 for the material.

Does anyone out there have experience with a machine that will speed this process?

Thanks in advance= Carter
Mouldong.png

[Peter Kelly]

What sort of machine have you tried re-sawing 5/4 with? It should go pretty quickly with the right bandsaw, blade and stock feeder.

A shaper and stock would certainly also be faster and safer than a router for profiling. How much money can you spend on equipment?

[Peter Quinn]

I'd use a shaper with power feed, would take you two passes, sanding time greatly reduced. I'd probably tool up with carbide insert knives or heads for long term cost effectiveness. You could step up to a small four sided moulder like a logosol or one of the other similar products available, puts you in the $10k to 15k range, but it mills all four sides in a single pass, have to order your molding blanks 1/8" over in each dimension so all faces get cleaned. At 1500lf per week if think a good shaper and two passes would be the way to go, mini molders are a waste of time for this, the best is not as stout as a 1 1/4" spindle shaper.

[Carter Forbes]

I have a 1.5hp 18 inch Jet band saw with a Leesom Motor. I tried a Olson 3/4" 3tpi hook ~$35-40. It got the job done but I manually put it though the saw and it slowed it down quite a bit.
Fairly new to re sawing. I had used a 1/2" re saw king to re saw short pieces of Walnut before with better results.
Any advice there would be appreciated as well.

My budget is roughly $2,500- 6,000. for the right machine. Was hoping to get something that would take rough stock and give all 4 sides at once. Budget being in place though, I understand if this is asking too much. If I have to plane it to dimension first, I guess I'll live. 2 shapers , or one with 2 spindles would be nice so head changes wouldn't be required to go from the full bullnose to single roundover......

[Carter Forbes]

two passes sounds ok with a stock feeder. Could the cutters be 2 piece? I'm hoping to not need to adjust height every time. Possibly use lower blade for single round over, and stack the other on for the bullnose. would this work or are we talking two entirely different heads. Obviously, I've never owned a shaper.

[Rod Sheridan]

Carter, a shaper would run this in the 30 feet per minute range, with 2 passes required.

I doubt that a router runs at even half that speed, and the surface finish would be far worse..............Rod.

P.S. Of course the correct machine for this is a 4 head moulder, you can feed rough stock in one end, have finished product out the other end.

A gang rip saw and you're away to the races.

[Peter Kelly]

I have a 1.5hp 18 inch Jet band saw with a Leesom Motor. I tried a Olson 3/4" 3tpi hook ~$35-40. It got the job done but I manually put it though the saw and it slowed it down quite a bit.
Fairly new to re sawing. I had used a 1/2" re saw king to re saw short pieces of Walnut before with better results.
Any advice there would be appreciated as well.

I'm not sure if an 18" Jet would work but it might be worth trying if you can spring for a bigger saw.

[Carter Forbes]

Gang rip saw in the future for sure. Thanks

[ed vitanovec]

Look into Woodmaster, they have a molder with router add on that would do this in one pass.

[Carter Forbes]

That looks nice. I'm emailing them to see if they can set me up. I have considered building something like that myself but their prices are decent enough to stop that plan. Thanks to everyone!

[J.R. Rutter]

Long term, a 4-sided moulder would be the way to go. Blanks in one end, finished strips out the other. Do some searches for Weinig Quattromat as an example. I know the price is above budget, but if you keep doing this sort of work it will be a money maker. I ended up with a 5-spindle SCMI (used) and haven't looked back.
How much power and dust collection do you have?
Are you dimensioning other wood as well that would benefit from S4S?

[Carter Forbes]

Definatley need S4s a lot . I can see the potential benifits of something like that. My budget is based on "I want it yesterday". My dust collection is about to be in the 5 and up hp range - taking suggestions there too.( moving to 4,000 sqft shop on the 16th). We are rolling equipment purchasing cash into the note for the property. Currently using a small jet that can only handle a planer, and about 3/4 of the cabinet saw dust. It's really pathetic how bad the dc is at table saw. System grounded and still awful at TS.

[Carter Forbes]

I guess I should wait and buy the real deal.

[Jeff Duncan]

I'm going to come at this from a different direction. How much are you going to spend on equipping your shop to make this vs having someone make it for you? let's say you invest in a 4+ head molder and dust collection that can keep up with it. Plus an SLR to cut your blanks to size and whatever other equipment you may find yourself needing to handle large quantities of lumber. Can you buy the material, mill the material, and pay for the equipment for $1.10 per lf? I know I couldn't and my shop is pretty well equipped!

I don't know anything about your operation but it sounds like this is a product you supply and install. So you have to decide if it's worth it to mill the product yourself, or buy and install. As I mentioned I couldn't make it in house for your quoted price of $1.10 lf in quantity. Maybe you can….but I would spend a bit more time thinking it through to make sure before spending on equipment that may take many years to see any ROI!

good luck,
JeffD

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi Carter, dust collection at the TS only works with a well designed saw with over and under blade extraction.........Rod.