Straightline Gangrip


freedhardwoods

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I built this for my last woodworking business. It was one of, if not the best machines I've ever used. If I ever needed a steady supply of blanks, I would build it again. I disassembled it when I had to shut down.

It was a custom ordered Woodmaster 718 with 10 hp motor and 725 46 fpm feed controller, two 46 fpm mini feeders, shop built adjustable fence infeed table with laser line, and stationary fence outfeed table.

The scrap was ground up and removed by the dust cyclone leaving the finished blanks and 1 off fall to be used in glue ups later. It could keep 2 men running to keep up with it.

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Was always curious how those multi-function woodmaster machines operated when it came to stock feeding. Do the planer feed rollers still engage for the gang rip function? Im a little confused how that would work without the saw blade hitting them. In any case, a sweet contraption you have. How many blades does it accept at once? Also, how can it straightline rip? Every SL rip saw ive seen has a chain feed belt and the blade mounted above the material and not below. Needless to saw, the anti-kickback design and power of the feed make it saw and efficient. I would imagine a 10hp motor would easily overcome those baby feeders if push came to shove. 

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The fences are what made it cut straight. The solid outfeed fence extended through the machine to within a 1/4" of  the saw blade. I had 10 blades, but the most I had on the shaft at one time was 8. Three of them were grinding the scrap into sawdust.

I've watched other shops making blanks with a regular straight line rip saw. What would take them 3 or 4 passes, I did in 1 pass.

The baby feeders were only there to keep the board against the fences. The Woodmaster feeder didn't need any help pulling a board through because I ordered serrated steel feed rollers for absolutely no slip. Set a board on the table, set the fence, start it into the baby feeder, then go for the next board. You were feeding an 8' board about every 8 seconds.  You really needed 2 people on the outfeed side. One person couldn't keep that pace very long.

Pic 4 and 5 shows the adjustable infeed fence. The left side of the straight walnut board shown in the pics is where the laser line shined down from above. Pic 4 shows the fence opened wide for a really crooked board. Pic 5 shows it closed for a nearly straight board.

This machine cut skip planed blanks to feed through a 4 head mouder.

I sold random length drawer box material with the bottom grooved and top rounded over to several cabinet shops. I also made some flooring and other things.

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Makes perfect sense. I've got 3 of the saw blades for mine. I also make my own fences to keep the boards feeding just right. My machine has 2 speeds of feed rate. Sawing and molding worked better at the slower setting, planing does fine going fast.

Once it's set up you can crank out some volume. 

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