Need a Tongue and Groove Machine to do flooring in Texas

[gspesard]

Hi Guys, new to this forum.....got a oppotuntiy to buy 4000 square feet of 4.5" white oak planed but no tongue and groove or relief cut.  Ready to T&G.  Can someone reccomend a good machine that can do both T&g in one pass? thats economical.  
I saw the Woodmaster and Logosol but didnt want to spend $25k....to make flooring.  I can get the boards for $2 ft....figured if I can do the finish work myself I can save a ton over $11sq ft for ready made flooring and sell the machine. 

I didnt want to have to set up a router and do 2000 boards per side so want something that can do both sides in one pass...Im in north Texas....

fire away

[GAB]

You need to find someone nearby with a Winig (SP) or similar 4 or 5 head machine that can do all 4 sides in one pass.
I'm lucky in that approx. 4 miles from me a Mr. P who has such a machine and can make knives to whatever a customer might desire.  
GAB

[Southside]

You can get a cheap, fast, and good machine to do the job. All you need to do is pick which two of those qualities you want. 

I would say find a milling shop and pay to have it done. Has the wood been straight lined? If not then that needs to be part of the equation one way or another. 

[muggs]

I made my flooring with a shaper and a power feeder.

[gspesard]

Thanks guys.....The wood is precut kiln dried and dimensioned just not finished.....believe it or not nobody within 200 miles wants to do the job.  Beautiful wood....I was hoping to pickup a used Logosol or Woodmaster and make my trim and the flooring as well and be done.  Not scared of doing the work.....instead being more efficient.  Rockler says they can set me up for $2000 with a Frued/Jessem one pass router and feed table.....but thats a LOT of one-sided passes and room for QC errors.

Looking for reccommendations for machinery setup

[Larry]

Shaper equipped with power feed.  This is a post from 15 years ago where I detailed how to make tongue and groove "V" paneling on my Delta shaper.  Flooring can be made the same way.  As a bonus you can make baseboards, casing, and basically all the trim for a house.

Lets make some tongue and groove in Drying and Processing

The Delta is gone as I replaced it with a 10 HP Scmi shaper running a 1 HP power feeder.  It will do quality work up to 72 fpm.  Both were used and I probably have $1,000 in.

I've had a four head moulder, a Williams & Hussy, the Grizzly clone, but a big shaper is the way to go for one off production on a small scale.

[Dan_Shade]

I second shaper and feeder.

The higher tolerance your floor has, the easier it will be to install. 

Width needs to be consistent (this causes gaps), tongue and groove need to match up (any offset leads to extra sanding). 

Where are you located? 

[gspesard]

interesting guys....thanks for yo ideas the boards are 10ft planed and dimensioned 4.25" wide quartersawn white oak.  A grizzly shaper and feeder roller is what I hear you say.....not the woodmaster 4000 or the 718?  Im thinking $2-3k to get it setup and rocking with feed rollers extra carbide bits.....i literally have 2000 boards to cut 10' x 4.25" wide.  Theya re planed and sanded.  Do you use a table saw to relief cut the bottom of the board?  And has any of you sealed the bottom to prevent warping?

[Dan_Shade]

You can use the shaper for the bottom relief too.

Are your boards straight?  Sometimes quarter sawn boards will crook. Straight, parallel boards are factors for quality flooring. 

[Southside]

S4S, QS, White Oak for $2/BF? What's wrong with it? 

[customsawyer]

I can't speak for the smaller equipment but I know mine likes to have a little meat left on the bone to be able to feed it into the machine. For what White oak is going for right now I tend to agree with SS in that there is something wrong or the guy doesn't know what they have.

[Don P]

My understanding is this is already planed to 3/4" thick? That is shaper stock, at best. If it is flat it might work. If you cannot face it just prior to working the whole piece, results are going to be less than accurate. A molder does it all at one time. With a shaper it is a planer, straight line, shaper operation. If there is a lag between operations there is a good chance the wood has moved, kinda screwing up the indexing of the next operation. Look for cup mostly but any quantity of any of the warps is not good.

If it is just skip dressed to 15/16, or if you have room to rework it... never mind  :D

[tacks Y]

I have a 260 Logosol I bought used for $5500. Not cheap but would work well on your wood IMO. But I think you would need to remove a skin cut on the top also to feed and remove in feed roller marks.

I have also ran my shapers with a feeder and it went well. I would but a tongue on one and the groove on another and move my feeder as needed.

[DanMc]

I made my flooring using a shaper with a power feeder.   I used a reversible glue joint so I could cut one edge and just flip it over to do the second edge with the same cutter.  Without a relief cut on the bottom, when I installed, I could choose which side matched up the best.  

[Will_Johnson]

As you and others have said, a Woodmaster 4000 or similar machine is probably overkill for the size of job you contemplate.

It's also worth nothing that on all these machines, the blanks need to be straight, flat, dry and sized before you put them in. We literally vet sawmill owners hard before selling them a 4000 because there's this notion that the 4000 will turn a sow's ear of rough-cut lumber into a silk purse of T&G. You almost always need an intermediate step between sawmill and molder.

I do think that a Woodmaster 721 planer with the dual-router set up might be a fit for your needs. It's a little more forgiving than the 4000 set up, much less expensive and will do three sides in one pass.

[Pepe_Silvia]

Thanks guys.....The wood is precut kiln dried and dimensioned just not finished.....believe it or not nobody within 200 miles wants to do the job.  Beautiful wood....I was hoping to pickup a used Logosol or Woodmaster and make my trim and the flooring as well and be done.  Not scared of doing the work.....instead being more efficient.  Rockler says they can set me up for $2000 with a Frued/Jessem one pass router and feed table.....but thats a LOT of one-sided passes and room for QC errors.

Looking for reccommendations for machinery setup

Not sure where you are specifically, but have you checked with Hardwood Lumber Co. in Dallas?  This is right up their alley.

[D6c]

The longer the boards are, the more challenging it will be to get consistent flooring.
If there's nobody around with a four sided moulder, I think I'd buy a used shaper for about $500 plus a power feeder.  Unless the stock is really straight you're going to have to edge it.  Maybe find someone with a straight line saw or if the boards aren't real long use a jointer.
After that they'll need sawing to width.
It'll still take at least 3 passes to finish.
1) groove 1st edge.
2) bottom relief cuts. (1 or 2)
3) tongue 2nd edge
Like was stated previously, if it sits around very long after straightening the edge it might not be straight any more.
If the thickness isn't consistent it'll need planing before installing and sanding.
Plenty of steps involved.

[trimguy]

1) groove 1st edge.
2) bottom relief cuts. (1 or 2)
3) tongue 2nd edge

Why this order ? Just curious, I see some flooring in my future.

[D6c]

1) groove 1st edge.
2) bottom relief cuts. (1 or 2)
3) tongue 2nd edge

Why this order ? Just curious, I see some flooring in my future.

Not necessarily in that order.....just listing the steps.

[trimguy]

Thanks.