# small motor feeder project for table router



## ggom20 (Feb 1, 2012)

Hello!

I' m starting to build a tiny electric-feeder for my table router.

often routing tiny sections like moulders i think i could be usefull .

Starting ideas:

Recycling stuff in corners of workshop
Buy as less as possible.
Easy to make with saws and router.
No metalwork,no plastic, no soldering, but glue allowed.
Waterproof plywood and pine wood as main material.


Motor:
cordless drill has i got at least 4 around with batteries unsusable.
they will get power by a mains adapte,

motion is given to wood by only one wheel
one or two other wheels might be used to press the wood down.

Weels made of plywood 


Before i start: 

Do you know any project like this?
Have you ideas or crititics , feel free to say whatever you want 
Thanks 
Regards


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## Mike (Nov 22, 2004)

Gerard, power feeders have been around a long time for production shops. They are used to feed boards at a consistent rate but these are long lengths of wood and require specialized set up for each product. I feel this would be a waste of your time and energy for a home router table unless you are planning on producing many meters of molding.


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## paduke (Mar 28, 2010)

:wacko: But Mike it is just begging for someone to try. I believe the design would require the motor(s) mounted on top. which would mean no direct drive Sounds possible


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## bobj3 (Jan 17, 2006)

Hi Bill

The files below may help in your quest 

http://cdn0.grizzly.com/manuals/g4173_m.pdf
http://cdn0.grizzly.com/partslists/g4173_pl.pdf
http://www.grizzly.com/products/g4173/parts

here's the motor
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-list...e=395165&creativeASIN=B001IZZDDK&linkCode=asm


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paduke said:


> :wacko: But Mike it is just begging for someone to try. I believe the design would require the motor(s) mounted on top. which would mean no direct drive Sounds possible


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## gav (Oct 12, 2009)

If he already has a few drill to use, the I would suggest a right angle drill attachment like this









For the wheels I would consider drum sander accessories for the drill such as these.
With or without the sand paper.


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## gav (Oct 12, 2009)

After looking at Bobs link, I had an even easier and better idea.
I have a very cheap belt sander from Lidl that has variable speed.
Just make a rubber belt for it and fix it to some kind of armature.


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

I have to go along with Mike on this one. Sure it's possible and probably not too difficult to make such a device although I don't understand why all the restrictions on it's construction, but is it really worth the effort? How much beading does anyone need in a lifetime? If the answer is "a huge amount" then one of the thickness planers that incorporate a shaper, like the TRITON TPT15 would be the way to go.


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## bobj3 (Jan 17, 2006)

Hi Gavin

That looks like it may work well I have wanted a power feed for a long time I almost got one from Grizzly but I did get some buddies, I think the power feed item would make the router a lot safer to use, some will say it's over kill but it would keep my fingers out of the path of the bit..


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gav said:


> After looking at Bobs link, I had an even easier and better idea.
> I have a very cheap belt sander from Lidl that has variable speed.
> Just make a rubber belt for it and fix it to some kind of armature.


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## ggom20 (Feb 1, 2012)

*Motor feeder tiny with pict of design*

Hello!

Yes motor could be a battery- screwdriver or a battery drill
but without the battery.

I got to think a bit more before starting to build.
My opinion is changing every hour.
Now one weel is not enought maybee 2 will be enought.
I will try today cut something to test the speed and force of my motors.

Regards.
Gérard


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## ggom20 (Feb 1, 2012)

*bigger feeder with a belt sander*



gav said:


> After looking at Bobs link, I had an even easier and better idea.
> I have a very cheap belt sander from Lidl that has variable speed.
> Just make a rubber belt for it and fix it to some kind of armature.


Hello gav!

Looks like a good motorisation !
By the way i' v got two lidl belt sanders , might try the speed
today,with a 80 grain before looking about rubber-belts.

Thanks
Regard
Gerard


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## ggom20 (Feb 1, 2012)

harrysin said:


> I have to go along with Mike on this one. Sure it's possible and probably not too difficult to make such a device although I don't understand why all the restrictions on it's construction, but is it really worth the effort? How much beading does anyone need in a lifetime? If the answer is "a huge amount" then one of the thickness planers that incorporate a shaper, like the TRITON TPT15 would be the way to go.


Hello!
Restrictions are not so serious it' s just to use costless things,
and things i can do easy.

Worth the effort, maybee yes, everything depends how much one can spend
at this, I cannot buy a motor-feeder now. Seen your workshop, really nice.

And also your thread about routing cavities , nice result.

Regards


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## ggom20 (Feb 1, 2012)

*bigger motor-feeder using lidl belt-sander*



gav said:


> After looking at Bobs link, I had an even easier and better idea.
> I have a very cheap belt sander from Lidl that has variable speed.
> Just make a rubber belt for it and fix it to some kind of armature.


Hello!
Just tried bigger motor-feeder using lidl belt-sander with speed adjustment

It goes a lot too fast 

My second belt sander has no electronics so its possible to reduce the speed by lowering voltage, a usable speed was be reached, but with no strenght.
A well stable speed regulation is too complicated to adapt to that.
So, this way won't work.

Maybe will use the angle attatchment you showed or similar.

Regards.


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## bobj3 (Jan 17, 2006)

Hi

The speed should be in the neighborhood of, see below
Range of speeds (approx.): 6-1/2 to 39 FPM
This can be done with the item below, with a little of rework to the sander control system .
http://www.harborfreight.com/router-speed-control-43060.html

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ggom20 said:


> Hello!
> Just tried bigger motor-feeder using lidl belt-sander with speed adjustment
> 
> It goes a lot too fast
> ...


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## ggom20 (Feb 1, 2012)

Thanks for the usable speed-range
6-1/2 to 39 FPM
3.6 cm/s to 21 cm/s
1.4 to 8.3 inches per second
Absolutly out of range for the sander.
IMHO:
This electronic thing will not regulate speed.
serious speed regulation uses a motion captor on the motor axis
And it's really too far from normal speed of a belt sander.

Would have been great cause those sanders cost a lot less than power-feeders

Regards


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## gav (Oct 12, 2009)

These sanders have a belt drive from the motor drive unit to the sander wheel.
I had to replace mine once, it's exactly the same as a Bosch model.
The point is, it might be possible to put different drive wheels on and a different size belt to make it slower.


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## paduke (Mar 28, 2010)

Mike and Harry

See this is a fun thread OOOPs we are waaaaaaaaaaaaay outside the box this time.:help:


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## bobj3 (Jan 17, 2006)

HI Gerard


Just for kicks I wanted to see if it would do the trick " the electronic thing " and it worked just fine, it slowed it down to a crawl I can't post videos to the forum but here's some snapshots ,see the black mark on the pictures below plus the speed control thing, now I can take it to the belt sanders competitions in Tx. 

Plus no rework needed to the sander just plugged it into the device it may not work on all belt sanders but it did work on the one I have..
But I think it would have worked better by removing the VS type switch in the handle or to say just by passing it, to give the device full control of the speed.
But the next challenge would be the belt maybe a rubber in-tube cut it the same size as the sanding belt and glued to the belt to push the stock by the router bit on the router table, the mounting of it would be the next challenge but not a big one ..but this was just for kicks anyway...

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ggom20 said:


> Thanks for the usable speed-range
> 6-1/2 to 39 FPM
> 3.6 cm/s to 21 cm/s
> 1.4 to 8.3 inches per second
> ...


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## ggom20 (Feb 1, 2012)

hello!

Thanks for your replies.
To bobj3:
My belt sander did go slow too but with not enought force to move a piece of wood.
So could you test it about the strengh it still have or not?

About belt I would think about painting liquid rubber on a normal sanding belt.

To Gav:
I'll have a look on how it looks at belt- drive level.

It' s true that we are "a bit" out of the way of original starting rules,
but it does not matter to me.

Thanks to all of you!
Regards


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

paduke said:


> Mike and Harry
> 
> See this is a fun thread OOOPs we are waaaaaaaaaaaaay outside the box this time.:help:


Bill, many ideas that I come across I embrace instantly and can't wait to get into my shed and have a go at producing a useful working model. However it struck me that quite some fiddling would be required when changing the size of wood being used. There are so many gadgets on the market that at first glance are a "must have" and yet turn our to be more trouble than they're worth. A motorised router lift is one that comes to mind, I experimented with one but found it much quicker to use the super simple foot operated one that I made, based on an even simpler one made of wood shown on this forum some time ago by the late, very clever member Nikki. As a matter of interest, I wonder how often Bj uses the one that he made!


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## ggom20 (Feb 1, 2012)

Hello Harrysin!

Glad you are starting at this project, seen some of your works.
I' m still at it but as a hobby, got some work thoses days.

About my self applying rules:
I think i will change in many aspects because:

-My last ideas includes a few turning axis, that won't be reliable made of wood...
so now it includes metal cutting with a hand saw, metal drilling on table-drill,
Hand made tappering in steel.

I will not use my metal lathe for makin it possible to other guys.

I think about uses of copper pipes for make the turning parts smoothly turning.

Tested a drive-wheel made of a skate-board wheel, it has a great grip on wood
and leaves no marks.


My last test prooved that a cordless drill got enought power,
but a mains-operated slow speed drill has much more !

An easy way for changing the drill type is in my project,
i' ll just use the chuck, and a special shaped piece of wood
(pity that most of those battery-drills got no Dia. 43 mm collet.)

Yesterday lost time, had to repair my "cyclonic" dust-separator.

About test:
The kerf is perfect but only 3mm width,
not cutting- throught for my own security.

About speed: A lot too fast, even if this well-made drill can go slow
on first gear.
Made some speed calculations I' ll send later today.
It looks like it requires a lot of speed reduction.
like big wheel to small wheel.

One of my designs even implies a 4 stages contact-wheels reduction
With two axis to input the power from the drill in order to avoid gear-changing.

My final wheel is about 4 inch (100mm) 1" width made of wood with a spiral
groove to put round rubber in .This spiral will give an automatic side-deviation
to the bit of wood it pushes.

This detail might be usefull to use the power-feeder flat to the wood.
I'm looking for round rubber gasket 2/10 of inch (5mm)



Regards

Pict of yesterday:


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## paduke (Mar 28, 2010)

I agree Harry at our age we gotta prioritize. My interest is selfish. I built a thickness sander and now need a feed. Cannibalized a three wheel bandsaw for geared motor VS control and wheels Its under the bench waiting its turn 
Besides its fun


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

Bill, what You require is a necessary part of a drum sander. I'm trying to be kind to Gerard when I say that cutting that groove on the table saw would have been faster, safer and guaranteed accurate cut after cut if the wood was hand held using pushers with or without a feather-board.


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## ggom20 (Feb 1, 2012)

Hello!

Ok, was unsafe quite a little. but sure was fast.

Re-made my calculation about speed and ratios.
Using a 4" wheel:
a 400 rpm drill at full speed low speed requires 1/18 divider for low gear 1/9 for hig speed
a 1000 rpm ...............................................1/72...........................1/36.................

Thats a reason for gear-box my workshop a bit low too.

pict: my speed calculations( metres and mm . sorry)

Regards


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## bobj3 (Jan 17, 2006)

Hi Gerard

Just for kicks I turned the belt sander over and it did pull itself on the floor so I would say it will move wood on the table top BUT if I wanted one I would just buy one no need to reinvent the wheel so to speak, this is one device you want to work right from the get go.  

But that's just my 2 cents 

G4173 Baby Power Feeder

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ggom20 said:


> hello!
> 
> Thanks for your replies.
> To bobj3:
> ...


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

That's a whole new ball game Bob. The thread started out with a next to no cost device and I sense that you too now think that the idea is more suitable for someone who enjoys tinkering rather than one who has an actual need.


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## Dmeadows (Jun 28, 2011)

There is also a reason commercial power feeders have multiple drive wheels. I don't think its possible to pull/push the work piece clear of the cutter/blade with a single feed point! From a safety standpoint, I think the $400 Grizzly would be well worth it if you need power feed!


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## Noob (Apr 18, 2009)

ggom20 said:


> Hello!
> 
> Yes motor could be a battery- screwdriver or a battery drill
> but without the battery.
> ...


I thought I would jump into the game and maybe lead you a different route. What if instead of 2 wheels you used just one wheel and clamped some featherboards onto the table to keep the piece against the fence. Then you could try something like the attached screenshot.


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## paduke (Mar 28, 2010)

Paulo clever work!!!!

I thought Gerard started the thread for tinkering fun not to supply a need. RT still needs several passes to do good work and really not suited to power shaping with a feed. Gerard seems to go in the what if direction in his posts

BTW a cabinet shop I visited had the employees in the back racing belt sanders across the shop


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## Dmeadows (Jun 28, 2011)

paduke said:


> Paulo clever work!!!!
> 
> I thought Gerard started the thread for tinkering fun not to supply a need. RT still needs several passes to do good work and really not suited to power shaping with a feed. Gerard seems to go in the what if direction in his posts
> 
> BTW a cabinet shop I visited had the employees in the back racing belt sanders across the shop


Whether a need or for tinkering... Safety First! A feed system that is apt to leave a work piece in contact with a spinning blade/bit is not safe. While I don't recommend racing belt sanders(ala Tim, the toolman, Taylor), it is probably safer than single point power feed. That is my 2 cents worth anyway!


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## bobj3 (Jan 17, 2006)

Hi

Great way to pass the time ▼

Belt Sander Racing at 2007 AWFS Fair - YouTube
Belt Sander Drag Racing - YouTube
Belt Sander Racing at the Gaff in Port Aransas, TX - YouTube

==


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## ggom20 (Feb 1, 2012)

Noob said:


> I thought I would jump into the game and maybe lead you a different route. What if instead of 2 wheels you used just one wheel and clamped some featherboards onto the table to keep the piece against the fence. Then you could try something like the attached screenshot.


Hello!
Welcome to this "game"!
Your design looks quite correct.
About number of wheels two is better than one , but it could be done with only one and
feather boards, then the wheel has to be set somewhere after the cut to take the wood out
the cutting area , and the cut has to start manually.
To be quicker to set up the feather-board could be moving the same height than the wheel.

Of course, safety is of prime importance! I would not stay in cutting direction of any machine.
At 17, was 4 meters from an industrial machine witch lost the piece it was cutting an 
became nicely air-borne ! Missed me but got a lesson.

Regards


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## ggom20 (Feb 1, 2012)

Hello!
Yes i like tinkering ! 
But the need exist and the pleasure of trying to make it work, the new things that works or not
gives me the pleasure of learning , even learning by mistakes.
Yesterday made 3 wheels and some new design. 
But early this morning at wake up and coffe, was allright then got a little piece of plywood
in my right eye, less then 1mm could be dust from yesterday works.
Took me half day, went to hospital for taking out. Things getting better now but dust is a terrible
thing! So i keep out of dust for 3 days, But will work on the design with a piece of paper and pencil.

Regards.


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## paduke (Mar 28, 2010)

ggom20 said:


> Hello!
> Yes i like tinkering !
> But the need exist and the pleasure of trying to make it work, the new things that works or not
> gives me the pleasure of learning , even learning by mistakes.
> . . .Regards.


need +pleasure+learning=tinkerer not a beginer starting out!!!! :fie:
No wonder Harry was alarmed at the thread being posted in Starting out 
My comments are with humor And I've enjoyed your thread and look forward to your comments But next time lets protect the innocent and post these threads deeper in the forum LOL:sarcastic:

BTW your command of english is excellent


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

"BTW your command of english is excellent"

Gerard probably drives through the tunnel most weekends to spend time in England!

Now that I've followed this thread and realise that necessity wasn't the reason for experimenting with a power feed, but rather the fun and possible satisfaction if a reliable model ensued. I do believe that Gerard and I have a lot in common, I too have, in my earlier years done a great deal of "fiddling" in electrics, mechanics and electronics. When I was successful I derived a great deal of pleasure and when un-successful, into the junk box it would go, ready to remove parts and material when required for future "experiments"


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## paduke (Mar 28, 2010)

Harry

After joining this forum, I quickly realized you as the defacto "tinkerer" in chief. Perhaps Mark could change your title from "Forum Contributor" to "Tinkerer in Chief"


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

paduke said:


> Harry
> 
> After joining this forum, I quickly realized you as the defacto "tinkerer" in chief. Perhaps Mark could change your title from "Forum Contributor" to "Tinkerer in Chief"


I would wear that badge with pride my friend.


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## BigJimAK (Mar 13, 2009)

"I feel this would be a waste of your time and energy for a home router table unless you are planning on producing many meters of molding."

Or at *least* many yards! :agree:


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

posted in error


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

BigJimAK said:


> "I feel this would be a waste of your time and energy for a home router table unless you are planning on producing many meters of molding."
> 
> Or at *least* many yards! :agree:


Touchè!


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## ggom20 (Feb 1, 2012)

Hello!

Ready made molding are very expensive in France and yes , often did manufacturate
about 20 m of it for room finishing before paintings.

When i go to a DIY shop around here, they are quite costly:
This is a 1" by 1" external angle red pine molding. 10 euros for a 2 m lenght!

Baguette d'angle asymétrique moulurée en pin sans n?ud - CASTORAMA

So I will continue the prototyping of this small power feeder.

Made some wheels on table router, but my jig was not stable enought, they are not
really round, got to improve jig .
Found Harry's compas jig interesting, the one with two steel rods that surely
will be more stable and give me even small wheels with more security.
I' ll make me one .
By now , like many French ,The inluenza has caught me and feeling weak, i do not use machines. My brain is even whorse than my usual level of idioty

Regards


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## paduke (Mar 28, 2010)

We pray you get well soom


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## ggom20 (Feb 1, 2012)

Hello paduke!

Thanks for priers!., I' allready getting better !

Regards


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