Need some help with information on a Smithway, Stetson-ross XL moulder 4 or 6"

[boardwalker]

Hi

I'm looking for some information on the performance of the Smithway XL's or one of the other names they were manufactured under.

I have read here that they are not that easy to set up, but what I want to use it for would mainly for s4s on 2x2 Alaskan Yellow Cedar. It might get  some use surfacing 2x4 and 2x6. How much can these planers remove in one pass? Do the unsurfaced boards have to be uniform in size or can they vary +/- 1/8"?

Any other information about how the planer works or it's durability would be appreciated.

This is just for spindles for my copy lathe. About 6000 lft a year and maybe a few 2x4 or 2x6 for building around my own place.

Would this planer be adequate.

Thank you
Craig

[boardwalker]

Hi

Can anyone tell me if I posted the question in the right area of the forum? I thought that from what I read several people owned these type of moulders although I don't know if anyone was actually using one.

Any information  would be appreciated.

Thank you
Craig

[red oaks lumber]

i'm not familiar with either one of those moulders,the one i have is a 5 head 9" and taking off 3/4" in one pass is no problem. 1/8" isnt much to remove, if you can look at the hp on each head, anything over 5 hp should allow you to remove the amount of matreial you are wanting .

[Larry]

When doors and windows were made of wood in small cabinet shops there were thousands of them.  They worked fine for sash work and the sort.  Most only ran softwoods.  Came in two sizes 2 X 4" and 2 X 6 size.  All kinds of different size motors were used on them.  Most were fairly small and one reason was small shops only had small amperage service coming in.

I think the one I had used a 4 or 5 hp for the top and bottom heads.  2 or 3 on the side heads.  Think the feed motor was ½ hp with a step pulley.  All were single phase.  It was the 2 X 4 size.  The heads were pretty standard 1 1/4 moulder heads using corrugated knives (the old angle).  I never ran the one I bought because I had two other small moulders I was using.  I bought an entire cabinet shop and the Smithway came in the deal.  The owner had passed but he had I suppose 20 knife profiles, most were carbide so he was using it.  I sold the machine to another sawmill a few months ago, but kept all the tooling as I use it on my shaper.

If I were buying one I would want to see it running.  If not, like any old machine they can take a lot of time to get in running condition.  I don't remember any parts that would be real expensive to replace.  There is a couple of old timers on owwm that have them...you might join up there.

I found a picture of the one I had in my gallery.

[boardwalker]

Hi

Thank you for your replies Red Oaks Lumber and Larry.

Anyone else out there with information please chime in.

Thank you
Craig

[oakiemac]

Boardwalker, I owned a 2x6 XL Stetson Ross for a few years. I made the flooring in my house with it but it was a bear to setup and was not accurate enough for flooring so I sold it.  If you are just S4Sing 2x2 material it would probably work but the stock would have to be straight before you ran it through and I don't know if rough stock would work well. If possible, I would try to use it first before I bought it to verify that it will do what you want.
Hope this helps some.

[boardwalker]

Thank you your info oakiemac.
What was the thickness of the material you started with and what was you finished thickness? Also, did you s4s all your boards first or did you buy the boards already surfaced?

What was your reasoning for wandering about using it to surface rough sawn? Did you have trouble getting it to feed boards that varied in thickness?

Just trying to get all the information possible. At this point I have agreed to purchase a 2"x4" machine from a couple of gentlemen that were using it for flooring. I wish I could try one out, but this one was already removed from their shop when they retired and sold the business 10 years ago and being 3 phase they don't have any way to run it.

Anyone else have one between Oregon and Ohio? I'm going to be taking a trip in November and would love to see one in action and get some first hand knowledge of how they work.

Thank you
Craig

[oakiemac]

Boardwalker, I did s4s the lumber before running it through moulder. I think we took it down to 15/16 or so and ripped both edges. It finished at 3/4". I think you would have problems if the lumber was rough and varied in thickness because you get it setup for one thickness then a board 1/8" thicker goes through, the lumber hold down will be too tight and it wont feed or if you had it too loose the boards will chatter and not cut smooth. I really think sending stock through a moulder you will want them all the same size.

There is a cabinet shop just down the road from me that is selling a Stetson ross 2x6 moulder. I'm near Decatur Michigan. He has it hooked up so you could see it run.

[boardwalker]

Oakiemac

Can you email or pm me a phone# or email for that cabinet shop so that I could ask them about the operation of the machine?

Thank you
Craig

[Cedarman]

I just purchased a 5 head moulder and will no longer need my Dominion Midas 2x6 moulder which is similar to what you folks are talking about.  I am going to list it in the for sale section.  Will have it running for about 2 weeks or so until we get our machine.  If anyone wants to stop by, we can fire it up.