Power feeder Question..(No hole drilling)

[Seth Poorman]

Question Guys: Im going to be getting used shaper in good condition in a couple weeks, and I want to use a power feeder w/ it !
But I dont want to drill the table top, the machine is so nice!!!
Are there any ways to use a feeder without drilling holes in a nice machine. ??????
Ive been looking on the net and have not found anything yet....
Any Info would be deeply appreciated
Thanks Seth....

[Ian Barley]

Seth

Drill the table. The machine is a tool and derives its "niceness" from its ability to be useful. With a good power feeder, well mounted, it becomes three times as useful as well as three times as "nice".

I have seen clamp and plate sytems but a power feeder is exerting considerable force on its mounting and I cannot believe that these systems will ever produce an effective solution.

Drill the table.

[John Hebert]

The hole thing becomes forgotten the following day of your first use with it because it will become a permanent fixture afterwards. Don't sweat it, and drill away my friend

[Chris Giles]

Seth,
Those four tapped holes you find in many shaper tables are a "right of passage" that tells you the shaper is being fully utilized. A shaper with a feeder on it is far more versitile than one without. Drilling and tapping the holes is the cleanest and strongest way to attach the feeder, and is easy to do. Don't consider the holes a blemish, think of them as beauty marks.

[David Eisenhauer]

Go ahead and agonize away on identifying the just-perzactly-right spot for the feeder and then do the deed. As John says, you won't have to see the holes because the feeder will become your new best friend and never go away. It really is a whole lot better than trying to clamp something in place.

[Steve Clardy]

When I first got my pf, I mounted it on a board. Countersunk the bolt heads into the board. Then clamped the board down. Never could get it in the right position, board rocked, never enough downward tension. I finally gave up and drilled the top.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

put holes in where you think they need to be.

If it's possible put 'em in in the center of bosses that the casting likely has - look underneath. The engineers may have anticipated some standard drill pattern that would have been used for drilling had the maching been sold with a power feeder on it. If so they would likely have placed cast iron bosses in the right places.


I have drilled and tapped holes in my TS. It looked funny for the first ten minutes. Then, when I used the tapped holes to mount things they didn't look funny any more.

[tod evans]

seth, i drill and tap my tables.. every other method i`ve tried was a pita and proved to be more headache than they where worth. .02 tod

[John Weber]

If your feeder has enough reach you can place it in the extension table. On my Delta you don't have much choice as the fence really takes most of the main table real estate. Works great.

John

[Dev Emch]

When I look for used machines I often check out how much swiss cheese the table has. Feeders and fences and jigs over the years take their toll not to mention the many machinist wanna-bes. This will devalue a machine in a hurry. I have passed on many a machine because I was not happy with the tables onboard swiss cheesing of the top.

The issue with feeders in general is that no one has a standardized placement and bolt pattern. Its what ever model you have and what ever makes you feel good. I have seen shapers drilled for four or five feeders. I could those shaper tops as pasta collanders!

Then there is the issue of drilling holes. You need to drill a round hole and often four of them on exact spacings. Standing ontop of your expensive shaper with a hand held craftsman drill is not what I had in mind. Often, one or two holes wind up being egg shaped because the placment of the holes were off. Off because the driller did not measure correctly or off because the drill wondered. Then there is the issue of tapping them. So two of the four bolts look like Marty Feldman.

Then you sell the feeder because you got an inexpensive import or the thing just broke and is no longer repairable. Then you buy a univer or holtzer to replace it. So now your drilling a new set of holes.

Lastly, on my shaper, the feeder is often on the leftward rear side of the shaper table. This location conflicts with the motion of the sliding table making the slider useless if I cannot move the feeder.

So how does one solve these pet peave-a-matics. By using a feeder adapter. The trickest ones are those that pivot. On mine, I undo two screws and the feeder bracket swings out of the way placing the whole feeder assembly in midair behind the shaper. Out of the way of the operator and out of the way of the slider. Should I change feeders, the only item drilled and tapped is a slab of steel about 8 inches long, four inches wide and one inch thick. Its the item with the pivot in it. You can make a new one from stock steel bar in about an hour including the new feeder bolt hole locations. OR you can just redrill the original one. So no holes in my shaper top!

I think Felder handles some of these items and you may also check with Martin USA or Hofmann. I went this way because I want to get a holtzer but had the delta lying about. When I checked the price of the holtzer, I decided that were using the delta until it croaks. That is, after the holtzer dealer had to use some smelling salts on me first!

Best of luck here...

[Seth Poorman]

Thanks Dev
I will look into those..
Thanks For the input guys I will consider all my options

[James Suzda]

Grizzly has an "universal quick holder" that clamps on the side of your machine and will hold the power feeder. You don't have to drill any holes in your top. Actually you could make your own by drilling a bunch of holes and tapping them in a 1/2" steel plate.
Check out Griz's link: http://www.grizzly.com/catalog/2006/Main/65
Jim

[Steven Hardy]

Question Guys: Im going to be getting used shaper in good condition in a couple weeks, and I want to use a power feeder w/ it !
But I dont want to drill the table top, the machine is so nice!!!
Are there any ways to use a feeder without drilling holes in a nice machine. ??????
Ive been looking on the net and have not found anything yet....
Any Info would be deeply appreciated
Thanks Seth....

I would consider buying a piece of 4 in by 30 (?)inch by 1/2 inch flat bar and using that as a removeable j-clamped mount. (They use that type of mounts all the time on steel that is NOT to be welded). If you devise this type of mount...you may then be able to also use the feeder on your tablesaw(conveniantly)

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi, I made the mounting base for my feeder out of 1/2" plate and 3/8" flat bar as shown in the photographs.

There were two existing tapped holes in the aprons of the shaper top, I added two more. No holes in the top, very solid mount for a Hammer HC 308 feeder..Rod.

[Jeff Duncan]

I have to agree with the initial responses, drill and tap the holes and get on with it. A shaper is a machine used to perform work, not a Ferrari that's going to lose value b/c of a little modification. Any of those other aftermarket systems may work, but seems like a lot of extra effort involved instead of just drilling and moving on.
A couple points, a lot of guys do drill into their extension wings but it is not recommended by the manufacturer. There's a lot of leverage being put onto the mounting bracket and the wings mountings aren't all that beefy. I drilled my Delta top and it was snug, but I got it to fit. Like I said a lot of guys do it, but just something to keep in mind.
Also as far as the drilling and tapping goes it's very simple and easy. If you use a center punch your drill bit won't wander. And if you're even kinda sorta paying a little attention you should be able to lay out 4 holes.
I've done a fair amount of machinery and never had a problem and I doubt your likely to change feeders too often. As said before, consider it a rite of passage....welcome to the club
good luck,
JeffD