I have a customer that orders up semi loads of beams. Rarely smaller than 12" x 12". Now he wants several loads of 8" x 10" or 10" x 12" beams milled with a tongue and groove profile on the top and bottom. Handling the beams is no big deal, but I don't thing a stand alone molder is worth the effort (unless I can find a brute of a 4 head molder on the used market).
So far the options seem to be the Woodmizer molder, or the Norwood version. Frankly the Norwood looks easier to make fit on my Woodmizer LX450 rails and seems a better price. Is there something else on the market, maybe a wee bit wider? Ideally I'd like to stick a pair of 10" wide x 12" tall timbers side by side and make a single pass cutting a top and bottom profile in each log. Flip them over, run back up the rails and 2 logs are done, and ready to ship.
Am I missing something obvious? Any advice is appreciated.
Thanks,
Stu
Best machine for that would be a Rex Timbermaster. Failing that a Pinhero.
Now that we covered the dream machines that will set you back as much as a house at 30 years old, lets look at whats more realistic dollar wise.
Ive got a big Klein beam plane thats pretty good. Not like the above but close. American did some pretty handy big moulders also.
There's a couple big router setups by the like of Yas Engineering and Wood Wizz that are a bit more reasonably priced.
The Lucas Mill planer attachment might be worth a look too: find a second hand mill at the right price and it would add other capabilities then just planing.
Then there's the guy i seen with a ryobi table top thicknesser who used to lift the beam up, set the machine on the end, then the thicknesser pull itself along the board. It worked, what can i say.
I agree with Longtime Lurker. You could set the beams on the Woodmizer to keep them level and set the swingblade mill (Lucas, etc.) around that and make the cuts. Be nice to have a hub that would hold a special blade, like a dado set, to make the cuts. That way you could have 2 or 3 beams on the Woodmizer. I'd like to see a picture of that one. You didn't say how long the beams are.
Does he want one of the non T&G sides rounded or left square?
If left square, does he want them planed or left rough cut?
They want rough cut sides, tongue and groove top and bottom, with chamfers on the outside edges. A stand alone 4 head molder would be nice, but I think for less money I can set something on the rails.
I'm already planning to build a set of rail extensions when my LX450 gets here. Sure would be nice if they had engineered drawings, but apparently they don't. I'd have a head start at least if they could provide them. I think I'll just add an extra 5 feet to the rails so I can fit a planer/molder head on the same rails and hook it to the main carriage for power feeding up and down the rails. Looks like I'm going to have to wait until it show up, then take some measurements and order up something appropriate. Right now Logosols planer / molder looks like the best deal. Who knows, I may just order up a set of knives and holders from Keyknife and build my own molder. They look simple enough.
I think you are on the right track with the rail mounted moulder. ;D
It'd be a monster 4 sider. They are probably out there that big, but I haven't seen any yet. (The wide ones I've seen will still only go 8" tall.) And it sounds like you have the volume to justify the investment. The only other option I could think of would be to cut the tounges with a swing mill and a sturdy tablesaw setup with dado for the groove. But looking at the volume again... I think you are on the right track already.
One of my "thinkin about it " projects is to remove the bottom plate off one of them el cheapo lunch box planers and fab up a mounting bracket to mount the head to the head on my lt40. Remove the band blade and Use the mount point where the de-barker would mount. Should be able to plane all 4 sides of a 12X12 beam..Power feed, power up and down...
I think that would be cool to see Piney
I have one of Pinhero four sided planers. It will only do up to 8" thick beams according to the ones I bought it from. I haven't tried to run anything larger than 4" through it. It would require some accurately placed roller tables to make it work with large timbers of any length.
Logosol makes some log planer/molders, they have many videos available on their machines. https://youtu.be/nDEZ6d_L3jE