Baker m412 reviews (It runs! with pictures)

[Wisconsintimber]

Anyone been using a baker m412 moulder for an extended time?  I was just wondering how they hold up because I am looking at a used one. I know there were some older discussions and Louisianaredneck has/had one so I was wondering if they are good?  Comparisons with the baker vs logosol ph260?  Thanks

[BandsawWarrior]

A shop close to me has been running one for a couple years and so far it's been a good little unit. They work it pretty hard planing timbers but it seems to be holding up. The nice thing about machines like this is the small footprint and the low power requirement. They can easily run off a 20Hp rotary phase converter. The baker has 7.5hp on the top head and digital set works which is nice.
The down side of these small machines is the slower feed rate. Without proper chip breakers and hold downs it's hard to feed softwood any faster than 20fpm. If you're not in a hurry and or working by yourself you can get nice results and get the job done. The only reason I say it's slow is because we're used to running 60fpm on our moulder.
If you find a used one at a good price that might be hard to pass up....

[thecfarm]

Wisconsintimber,welcome to the forum. Have a business?

[Wisconsintimber]

Thanks, I don't have a business at this time, but that is the direction I am working towards.  I have a homebuilt bandmill, some basic wood shop related equipment, and am looking to expand on the equipment to see if I can make it a business.  The idea is to take timber off of our family farm and turn it into finished products.(maybe hardwood flooring, pine paneling/carsiding, and hopefully other products) Of course this will require a kiln as well and I am looking at possibly building a solar kiln...

Anyway, I spotted this used Baker m412 for less than half the price of any used logosols that I have seen...it is 3ph so I will need a converter, but still a good deal I figure.

[Wisconsintimber]

So, an update on this topic from a couple of years ago.  Or maybe more like 8 years ago!  Wow where does the time go?
Between figuring out how to power the moulder, dust collection, and many other higher priorities, we finally got to run some lumber through the moulder to make some flooring.



 


 

 

 

 

 

[Wisconsintimber]

To explain the pictures...the moulder runs on 480v 3 phase so I found the parts to a 480v generator that the engine had gone bad and hooked it up to a dodge v8 that I had. Using an old silo blower to move sawdust, currently running it with a tractor pto.  It doesn't have quite as much vacuum as I was hoping, but it does get most of the wood chips.
I am pre planing the boards then running through a woodmaster 718 set up with a ripsaw blade with a board splitter, and a long fence to straight line one edge before running through the moulder.

[tacks Y]

Good job thinking outside the box. Looks good.

[Southside]

Good job!!  Are you related to Red Green by chance?  ;D

[farmfromkansas]

What size pipe is on top of the blower?  If you are not getting enough suction, probably because of the corrugated hose.  Wonder what size electric blower would it take to match that pto blower?  Like your generator.