4 sided plane and tongue and groove machine

[jimrr]

I would like to find a rebuildable (can't afford new!) machine that planes boards.  Squirrel somebody on this forum had a ten ton 4 sided planer that looked like a good deal quite some time ago but basically I am asking what I would call such a machine?  Obviously I don't even know what I should be looking for or what it's called but my start begins on these forum pages.
   Thanks,  Jim 

[metalspinner]

Moulder. Weinig is one brand. 
I just made a post in the Drying and Processing Board with a video. 

[woodyone.john]

Also known as a 4 Sider.

[Bigly]

I am also moulder-curious and hope to add one to my operation in the nearish future.  What is the make of the one in the other thread & video?  It looks like a machine I could wrap my head around.  The newer models with all the bells and whistles are a bit intimidating.

[Don P]

...But are sure easier to set up and do a better job than the old ones.

[Bigly]

That's good to know- what kind of moulder do you run DonP?

[curved-wood]

...But are sure easier to set up and do a better job than the old ones.

I agree with Don, older one could be long to set up depending on the precision needed.  The worst situation is when I have to match a flooring profile , I could easily spend 2 hours on the set up. I have 2 moulders , one 4 heads and the other one a 5 heads, both old machines. They are long to adjust so it is not good for small runs. But once it is set up it flies!! 

[Don P]

That's good to know- what kind of moulder do you run DonP?

Alas, tablesaws and routers  :D. I've run an old push feed Berlin up to what was then a newfangled SCMI through feed machine. We went from multi hour setups to around 30 minutes for a complete pattern change. The newer machine was bottom head first with soft feed pressure, the long infeed table was then doing some face jointing and also had an adjustable fence and indexing knife to do some side jointing. So rather than forcing the stick flat and pushing it through the machine if fed it through the machine more lightly and had flattening/straightening operations going on at the same time. It has now been, goodness, almost 40 years since then, ours was machine #7 in the US at the time. As far as I know pretty much all machines work on that basic throughfeed concept now.

The relatively fast set up time meant i could do short runs pretty efficiently. We were in an area with a number of register houses and could usually pretty cost effectively reproduce moldings for those carpenters.

In the boat anchor pile here I have a 1928 Vonnegut 6x12 4 head machine that was state of the art in its day, rigid spindles that ran much more chatter free than competitors. It had been refitted with a "doubler" at some point that converted 60Hz 3 phase to 120Hz, fooling the motors into running at double speed, the first sort of variable frequency drive I guess, that alone weighs over a ton  :D.

[scsmith42]

...But are sure easier to set up and do a better job than the old ones.

Truer words have never been spoken!
My 6 head Wadkin produces beautiful material, but the setup time is a bear. If I had it to do over again I'd spend the extra bucks to get a newer 5 head with digital setup.



 

[Southside]

Spent 20 minutes today swapping profiles on my 4 head WM4000. I have a single surface planer in front of it that skip planes any high spots out so it effectively becomes a 5 head set up. 

[jimrr]

Thanks folks,  I'm inpressed.  My very first post about sawmills and 9 replies and 400 views.  I'm intimidated!
   I'll look for your video Metalsider,  and Don P. your 1928 1 ton,  I'd be rebuilding it were it within 300 miles.  and SCsmith,  your machine truly does look .....wow,  way over my head.  
   Now I can recognize the correct words for a 4 sider or moulder.   again, thanks and I am glad to of received a reply to a post here as there are generations of knowledge to gain.
         Jim, 

[jimrr]

metal sider,  I found your video on making ship lap, ............ I kinda think you folks are on a level quite a ways up there.  Maybe I can get a photo on here of my sawmill but it's a totally refurbished LT40 HD super i got basically for scrap value but with a history of metalworking and engineer It works like a new one i suppose.   (without the LED's!)  i think a 4 sider would be about the limit of what business in the region would warrant but who knows?  sure appreciate this resource. 

[Mushroomland]

One year on I've stumbled across this thread having gone a bit nuts at a clearing sale having bought a couple of truck loads of timber . 
Already have a durden thicknessor t350 with  a spiral head however I feel the need to Resaw this timber mainly into t&g boards . 
So I'm seeking opinions on the purchase of a 1991 Maquines pinhiero 4 sided Moulder and Robinson 54@ bandsaw .

[Southside]

@customsawyer  has a Pinhiero that he is usually bragging up to me. 

[longtime lurker]

Buy the Pinheiro if it's fair value for money. They're quite simple and very rebuildable. Jake's got one, I've got a similar thing: they are 4 siders rather than moulders so there are advantages & disadvantages that go with that.

A Robinson 54" band resaw is a maybe. I've got one, plus side is they're high capacity, simple and built like a tank. Also very rebuildable, and easy to upgrade to push button sizing. Down side is they require a pit or elevated installation which costs some, and they run a big band that requires a saw shop to sharpen. But yeah, they'll punch tons of wood a day.

Personally I think both are great options but for a couple of truck loads of wood the installation costs may make them uneconomical 

[customsawyer]

My Pinhero is a model 800. It will chew through a good bit of wood. They don't leave as nice a finish as some of the 5 head machines I've seen but it isn't to bad. The thing I like about it is I don't have to do a lot of pre sizing of most of my soft wood material. I have had it struggle on some white oak before. I can normally change profiles in about 20 to 30 minutes now. When I first started with it profile changes took a good bit longer due to my lack of experience. Here is a video of us running some V-Groove pine paneling. It is running about 48 ft a min. in the video.


Making V- Groove paneling with a Pinhero 4 head planer - YouTube