Little Proteus Details
Brushless motor drills are the power source for the Little Proteus power
feeder, allowing a wide range of variable speed feed speeds.The
Little Pro can be mounted on a table saw fence,
best accomplished via a T track, on a router table, with either a T
track or two bolts mounted in the fence, and on a band saw, by a
simple plywood holder as seen here in photo. On a band saw, with the feeder in horizontal position, two feed
rollers put pressure at top and bottom of a 6.5" wide board. Travel within the elevation mechanism is about 3",
and the crank moves the wheels 1/16" per revolution. Some drills
allow feed speed as slow as 2 FPM for resawing, and the feeder
will fit on even small table band saws. The feeder can typically be
mounted in about a minute for any application. It weighs about 16
pounds including a drill.
Pricing
Brushless Motor Drills
Any 18 or more volt 1/2" chuck brushless motor
drill will work as the power source for the Little Proteus power
feeder.
Brushed motor cordless drills and corded drills have little torque at low speed, and
so won’t work as a power source for this power feeder.
For certain jobs some drills are better than others. They’re all a
bit different, with several traits varying that effect
its use as a power source for the feeder.
In general, the best drill will be the one you already own, but if the feeder's
intended purpose will be resawing thick wood, some will be much better than
others. Since these qualities aren't mentioned in manufacturers specs, the best
thing is to try them in person, or see this table.
The most important variable is the slowest RPM's the chuck will turn on its slow
speed range. This varies from about 15 to about 50 RPM's. The slower the better
for resawing thick wood on a band saw.