Yates C88 Moulder on E-Bay,,Check it out.

[solidwoods]

Thought someone may be interested.
Don't know how versitle the machine is

Title of item Yates American Wood Industrial Moulder C 88
Seller:      persis
Starts:      Dec-02-03 08:25:48 PST
Ends:      Dec-09-03 08:25:48 PST
Price:      Starts at $1,499.99
To view the item, go to:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2578280391

[Stump Jumper]

I AM interested but i know nothing about moulding machines can anyone tellme pros an cons.  thank you                                  

[Danny_S]

Once you get them set up right, they are relatively easy to operate and maintain. Everything on them must be set just right. Feed roller pressures, roller alignment, chip breaker pressures, bed lubrication, fence alignments, ect...  Then the knives have alot of maintenance in themselves. They must be balanced, tourqed evenly and in the proper order, ground very precisely if you dont want knife marks, then so much as a small staple or piece of dirt will make a line and you need to grind all the knives again. I used to operate and maintain a Diehl 6 head moulder. I used to make all of the decking components such as ballusters, handrail, stair treads, 5/4 decking,... ect. You may know them as Suntrellis products.

I enjoyed operating and maintaining moulders. We had 2 old wadkin moulders as well. 2 baker band resaws, stackers, trimsaws... it was a good setup.

[woodmills1]

Sure the set up must be a pain, but compare the alternative.  I just made 160 sq ft of toung and groove maple flooring.  Joint rip joint plane to 7/8 sticker in the house.  Back out to shop plane to 3/4 set up groove knife cut grooves on shaper set up tounge knive cut tounges.  This was only 3 1/4 wide, if any wider would have a back relief cut also added.  Don't get me wrong though this is the only way for me to get 5 bucks a foot for the boards no one wants to buy.

[solidwoods]

2 types of moulders basically push feed and through feed.
The old big heavy machines,,,still find parts yes,  cheap about $10.000 ,it can cost as much to ship as it did to buy, all day to setup,  good buy if you want to t/g all year long but not good to switch profile quick,  You would have to stock up on a profile when you make it.
The newer machines have incorporation’s in the design to allow quick setup (same profile different width is real quick).  $20000ish min, Although you can get a 6” 5 head for $8000ish (same set up as the old style basically but a little quicker.

I think the C8 is prob a 4 or 5 head used for s4s construction lumber but you may make t/g?

[Oregon_Sawyer]

I just took deliver of a Woods 137M moulder on Weds.  I did't pay much more than scrap price.  I haven't picked the rest of the parts up yet but it included extra heads and alot of knives.  The dust hoods and the pipe come with it.

The place I bought it from has two men who will show me how to set it up once I get it wired in place. (One of them goes to church with me)  The neighbor up the road has a high tech moulder but his moulder man also knows how to set it up and grind blades.

This is a 4 head moulder.  Will run up to a 4x6.  The mill weighed about 8,000 pds.  I hauled it myself.  Pretty interesting.  The patent date is 1931.

Loren

I'll post pictures later.

[Paul_H]

This is a good thread

Loren,

I went to Old Wood Working Machines and had a look at your Moulder.There is a manual on it,more of a brochure.

Woods 137M

They advertise it as the "new small machine"

I'd give my eye teeth for a manual on my Heaps.

[Stump Jumper]

good info . thank you

[Oregon_Sawyer]

Paul:

I had already downloaded that manual.  But low and behold they had the original manual and several blueprints and photos.  It is the same manual as on the website.

I would like to have a setup manual.

Loren

[Don P]

I used to run one of the SCM molders like pictured at this link. Bid is at $975 now, I think my boss had 40 grand in his.
Its a 5 head throughfeed, setups took 30 minutes. A pretty good lighter machine. It faces and edge joints from a bottom head and right side, jointer style infeed table and fence first before going to left head, top and universal.

http://www.c-machinery.com/irs_site/index_lots.asp?id=6288

Don't forget this stuff all needs a good amount of 3 phase electric power.

[Oregon_Sawyer]

I picked up the rest of the parts for the moulder on Fri.  I didn't get to look at what was in the box until late last night.  A friend and I started to unload the box.  A large wooden tote.

There is about 20 spare heads.  A couple of the IN look like they have never been used.  Then we started looked at the moulding knives.  We didn't get an exact count but there is at least 40 different sets of  pattern knives.  Most appear to be sharp and ready to use.  We have to get them out, dry them off, oil them and catalog them.

I still haven't had a chance to wire the moulder up yet.  In the box was also setups so you can touch up the knives on the mill without taking the heads off.  I also picked up what they refered to a the setup machine.  That was a impressive piece on it's own.  I haven't taken pictures yet but I will.

Also included was slip pipes for the suction system.

After going thru that box last night I was so wired that I couldn't go to bed till almost 3:00 am.

Loren

[Paul_H]

Loren,
Having all those spare heads is a big deal.Mine only came with two sets of side heads,and the machinist here made me up a third set a couple of weeks ago at $350 a head.But it is a big time saver to be able to drop another set in if you are changing profiles.

Sounds like you will have a nice setup and I'm looking forward to the pictures.

[Stump Jumper]

Was following a Wienig 5 head moulder 17a on the IRS auction and it went for around $8300 a little more than what I wanted to pay.  The SCM which a broken part went for around $3100 approx. which is more in my price but tri axle trailer is down needs new brakes on it and found out the foreman axle has been out of business for 20 yrs. now are retrofitting dexter brakes to fit.