Shop Fox W1812 clearance problem

[Ron Bontz]

OK. So I am pretty sure I have gone brain dead these last few months.
I bought a Shop Fox W1812 because of several reasons such as price point, open ended profiling, foot print, ease of cutter changes, and not needing another planer. Only having to buy two cutters instead of 3 is a plus as well. I'll admit, had money not been an issue I would have bought a W&H. I've always wanted one of those. But I had heard the Shop Fox was a clone of sorts.
I get this thing home and of course can't wait to play with it and make some molding I needed for a custom built in. Small crown, bed molding etc. I hate buying moldings from the BORGS when I know I can make them. After minimal assembly I ran those small moldings and was pleased with the ease of use as well as how quiet it was. The variable speed was a dream. Hard maple as slick as can be. It is obviously easier to make molding on this molder than my router table or shaper. The jury is still out on the cast iron extensions but they do give 36" of solid support.
Then came the time to try a set of cutters I had custom made for some re-production 8" tall fir base board for a 100+ year old house. This base has about a 2.5" profile on one edge. The person I was intending to make it for as a retirement present wanted it to be a single piece like the original. So I first ran a smaller piece 3" wide to check the profile against the original. Beautiful match. So now I am getting pumped up ready to run a sample piece of 8 " wide by 4' long to give to him on retirement day. That's when I had a rude awakening. After I had made the thinner piece I layed the 8" wide piece down and realized it would not clear the castings. I wondered about the cutters and after talking to some one checked the measurement, which turned out to be ok. Then I noticed the rollers were too high. So I went back and, YES, read the instructions. Any other time I would have read them first. So I lowered the rollers as described to their lowest point. Despite never really being able to get the rollers a uniform distance from the table I could now feed the 3/4" thick piece through. But just barely. I had the springs fully compressed leaving the lock nut on them and still barely had enough "friction" to pass the wood through. Of course now the cutters were further from the wood and would not come close to giving me the profile I needed. So now here I am pondering this molder and perhaps my own ignorance. After the cyclone incident I think I might be a little touchy. Do all Shop Fox molders and W&H require deeper cutters for this type of edging? I sent Shop Fox an E-mail and welcomed a tech to come show me what I am doing wrong. This being the weekend, I am guessing I will hear from them this week. In the mean time I am planning to just go to the shaper with a different set of cutters. What's that old saying about "a fool and his money" Well at least I like the profile and will probably use it as an applied edging at some point. It sure does make a pretty 3"-6" molding.
So now that I have gone through all that I was wondering if anyone has an older style W1739 Shop Fox or a W&H they could take a couple of pics of and send them to my email so I may compare the castings. This is why I always like to "touch and feel" a tool before I buy it. I have included a couple of pics of the W1812. Thanks in advance for any constructive input.