Lion trimmer......

Messages
197
Location
Northern Lower Michigan/Troll
I recently aquired a NOS Lion Trimmer and just did my first job with it. I was doing a coffered ceiling with African Cherry/Makore and ran into some issues, was wondering how you fellows with a trimmer dealt with them. I used it for the small moulding that go in between the beams.

#1

African cherry is fairly hard, but no harder than say white oak I would say. It does chip easy though. The problem that I had was that the gear would skip even on the lightest cuts, say 1/64". Then you had to run the knives out and reset the gear where it needs to be. I temporarily fixed the problem by putting some sawdust in the gear rack to raise the rotating gear.

I was thinking about pouring some molten soldier in the bottom rack to raise the gear wheel for better bite on the top rack. Any problem with that?

#2

Again, this may have to do with the hardness of the wood used, but I had a hard time keeping the fences at 45 degrees. I had the stop adjusted perfectly. and the thumbscrew tight, by hand, but it would push the springloaded stop down and slide back toward 90 degrees.

Are these not really suited to very hard wood? I played with it in the shop with poplar and did not see these problems.

Is there a way to adjust the rack to rack distance that I am missing?

I knew that this was its virgin run, so I made extra mouldings, and I did get the job done. It worked very well other than these small problems. The blades are very sharp by the way, so that was not an issue. I figured that out when I caught my hand on the point of the knife when the round gear was not set right and sliding it back too far.:(

This wood chips bad with a chop saw on miters, so it actually worked out better than power tools. I mitered because there was not enough money for coping, and this stuff does not cope well anyway.

Any input would be great as this is the only Lion trimmer I have ever seen.

The other Larry
 
I've had mine for maybe fifteen years, and have cut everything from pine to Macassar Ebony with it, and have experienced no problems like you describe.

Are your knives really sharp? Dull knives will require more pressure, and might be the cause of your gear jumping a tooth. If the knives are sharp, maybe shimming up the lower rack will work. Not sure about solder, though. Can you disassemble it and put some brass shim stock under it?

I've never had the fences move, either. nearly all the pressure (when cutting) should be pretty much on the pivot point, and not on the outer edges of the fence. I can't understand why they'd move.

BTW, don't trust those fence stops - They go out of adjustment easily. Use a good quality drafting triangle to set the fence accurately.
 
This unit was brand new, original sharpening, never cut a piece of wood. They were as sharp as I could get them myself. No nicks. It was very sharp.

The gear thing will be easy to fix, not like I can call the company up.;) Just wondered if it was common. If it was one of the last ones made maybe the molds were getting messed up and no one cared?


I'll play with it some more when I get my shop set up again. On the job site was not the place to fix it.

Thanks, Larry
 
Can't remember where I saw one of these...I thought I saw one brand new, does someone still make these? oh well, tough getting old and not remembering things. :D

Is this basically a lever operated shooting board or are the shooting boards a diff type of animal all together?
 
Ok, here we go!

http://www.lionmitertrimmer.com/

Maybe I'll have to look into one of these...Must - have - new - toy!!!:rofl:

Interesting. I thought the original company was out of business. Maybe they just forgot to take their website down? :dunno::dunno:

There are TaiChi copies still being made and sold, though - and I'm told that parts (like blades) are actually interchangeable with the originals.
 
I sent them an email, this was the response...

Brian,

We are making trimmers to order and you can purchase direct. cost is $400.00 plus shipping.
We are in production now and units will be ready in about a month.

Best Regards
Marty Ryan
General Manager
Lion Miter Trimmer
www.lionmitertrimmer.com
 
I sent them an email, this was the response...

Brian,

We are making trimmers to order and you can purchase direct. cost is $400.00 plus shipping.
We are in production now and units will be ready in about a month.

Best Regards
Marty Ryan
General Manager
Lion Miter Trimmer
www.lionmitertrimmer.com


Figures.... I spend a couple years looking for a good one and two months later they go back into production. I know where to go for a spare set of blades now.

The other Larry
 
I have a Lion as well and never had the problem you are having.
I just went down to my shop to look at mine.
Here is what I see. The cog wheel should have a vertical travel of about 1/8 to 5/32 of an inch. Sounds like yours has more if it is skipping out of the track and the fences are jumping over the stops. Check to see that the top bar that holds everything together is bolted down properly and that there are no obstructions preventing it from doing so.

Also, when cutting hardwood 1/64 for one of those is too much. You only want to be taking shavings off. Think thousandths, a hundredth is almost too much. at 1/64 you could make another cut with your miter saw and get it closer. The lion is only for cleaning up a miter and fine tuning it.

As Jim says use a square for setting your angles as those stops are notorious for moving just a slight bit if you excert too much pressure making a cut.

Also, another point and very important. When you go to sharpen the blades or send them out to be sharpened make sure only the bevel side is run on the stone not the flat. The flat is set precisely where it is supposed to be once it is bolted onto its runner.

With a good miter saw and blade and the lion trimmer you should be able to achieve a machinists fit on your miters.

And a good rule of thumb is if you have to work at the cut your taking too much.
 
Top