Ok Combo Tool guys, what do you think of the Sicar 14" j/p

[John Weber]

Woodworker Supply has them for $4K, seem the price of this stuff is getting a little better. Made in Italy, can't be all bad. What y'all think?

http://www.woodworker.com/images/ss/125-483.jpg

http://www.woodworker.com/cgi-bin/FULLPRES.exe?PARTNUM=125-483

[Chris Padilla]

I can't bear to let you go down with zero replies, John so I'll post that I have never heard of these folks and I'm judging by the response that no one else has either! You could be the first....

BTW, I heard that my J/P might be coming into port at the end of this week! :D

[Jamie Buxton]

The photo looks odd. In fact, it almost looks like one of those fake photos assembled together by somebody who doesn't understand what he's manipulating. I don't seriously think that Woodworkers Supply would be involved in such a thing, but it does look odd.

Here's what I see... The fence is an aluminum extrusion, and the ribs mean we have to be looking at the back side; that's an odd way to be shooting an advertising shot. The hand crank on the base and the yellow thickness indicator next to it are the controls for the thicknesser, and suggest that this is the goes-into side of the thicknesser. This means that the jointer is fed from the end which is farthest away in the photo. This jibes with the fence, so that's good. That is, while jointing the operator would be standing on what is the far side of the machine as it is photographed. The power controls are on the corner of the base nearest to the camera, which would put them on the side away from the operator!


As an aside, the lever sticking up in the upper right of the photo is probably part of a slot mortiser. These are common additions to this kind of machine, and might explain its high price. However, it is not mentioned in the ad copy.

All in all, I'll let somebody else buy the first one.

[Steven Wilson]

It might be ok. You do realize that the knives are not a quickset type so you'll need to spend quite a bit of time aligning them everytime you make a change. The Minimax FS-350 is roughly $5.5K and you get a Tersa cutterhead on it (1 minute knife change). You should also look at the Hammer A3-31(12") or A3-41(16") which should be somewhere in between in price. For example, there is a used Hammer A3-41 for sale at the Felder/Hammer showroom in Delaware for $4100 which is a very nice machine.

[Mark Singer]

I'll stick with my DJ20....everybody knows what it is for about 25% of $$$

[Bob_Hammond]

I don't know anything about them, but you can see more at:

http://www.sicar.it/brava350_2.html

My Eyetalian isn't the best, so I can't tell you what it says. ;)

[Rob Russell]

Before I dropped $4K on a machine, I'd want to know things like how I'd get it serviced or where I get spare parts like blades. I'd be leery if Woodworker's Supply says they will provide service. I'd stick with a brand that already has an established operation in the U.S., mostly because of the service aspects.

In terms of the machine itself, I'd want to do a hands-on to see how securely the tables latch down, how long the changeover from jointer to planer takes and vice-versa (that's why I ordered keypad positioning on my unit - didn't want to sit and crank), how easy are blade swaps, how good is the dust collection, how heavy is the construction and stuff like that.

I'd look carefully at the construction of the unit vs. a Minimax FS-30 or FS-350 and the Felder AD731/AD741 combos. The MM and Felder cost more, but this should be a 1-time purchase.

JMNSHO.

Rob

[markus shaffer]

John,

I can't speak for Sicar, but I have a Felder combo.. As Rob said, this should be a one time purchase. Unless I end up with a much bigger shop and I win lotto, I'll be keeping the Felder machine for the life of the machine.. Even so, I'd just buy a bigger separate planer and still keep the Felder. It's built like a tank and weighs about as much as one too. As many have pointed out in the past here, you almost always get what you pay for. There's the old saying something along the lines of "you can curse the tool once or curse it every time you use it."

I'd take a serious look at the Minimax and Felder machines before you plunk down any money. Both of these companies have a pretty long history of making combo machines and have good reputations. I've seen a few Sicar panel saws around, but have no idea of their quality. My vote is for the Felder. Might cost a bit more, but it's a monster of a machine and I don't think you'd regret it if you bought one. I think Todd Burch recently got one of the Felder machines as well. You might contact him to get his take as well. If you have any specific questions, email me.

-Markus

[John Renzetti]

hi, I'm digging into my memory banks, (which is probably not a reliable thing to do), but I believe this is the second attempt for Sicar in the USA. The first attempt didn't go so well as there were some problems with stock, distribution and qc.
It looks like they are giving it another shot. They've set up a dealer network. Not sure how many dealers they have.
I saw some of their machines at the Hartford Industrial show in April. They looked ok, nothing really set them apart. I actually didn't like the overall design much.
I'd be real cautious about buying one of the first machines especially if it has to be shipped to you from a long distance. If you had a local dealer that was close by that would be an advantage.
Personally I think you'd do better taking a look at the Felder,Hammer, Minimax and Laguna j/p combos.
take care,
John