Minimax owners in Bay Area

[Kevin Crawford]

Hello Sawmill Creek,
I'm new to the site and am going to be upgrading some of my machines next year. So I've been doing the research on which machines and which brand. I have been using a small planer and a 6" jointer but I think I will take the plunge and get a combo 16" J/P from Minimax or Felder. I am also set on getting a good sliding tablesaw, I'd love the 8.5' slider but I don't think I have space for it. The guy at minimax said that for the 5.5', I'll need about a 12'x12' area for it. Logically that means that the 8.5' would need a 12'x18'. I think I can get away with 12x12.
Anyway I know there is a Felder location in Sacramento not to far away from me where I think I can view the felder sliders and J/Ps. As for Minimax there isn't one anywhere near here. If there is anyone in the SF Bay Area that owns the FS-41 Elite S(the one that has one top that opens up) or a SC4 Elite 5.5', Would you be okay with me coming over to have a look and maybe running some wood for a few minutes?
I am also going to upgrade my Shaper. I was looking at the Powermatic 2700 but then I got to thinking that a sliding table would be great and both felder and MM offer sliding shapers. I need a good all around shaper but I will be doing about 20-30% doors and windows where the slider would be great. Does anyone have experience with the Powermatic 2700, minimax slider, felder slider. Thoughts?
Thanks guys-
Kevin

[Stephen Cherry]

Kevin- I have a Felder K975 that I use in my garage. Would not even consider less than 8 slide for several reasons. First, even if you do not do sheet material, the slide is great for strait lining solid lumber, so you don't want a 5 foot limit. Also, you may want to cut up plywood. And third, if you ever choose to sell, less than 8 foot is somewhat of a white elephant, in my opinion.

That said, my saw shares space with my bandsaw, and sander, and mortiser. In the rare event I would want to work with plywood in a long rip, I would need to move the mortiser. (easy) Even if you don't have the space, in my opinion the 8 foot slide is the way to go.

Also, the sliding saw may be available used for a bargin price. I'm pretty sure the heyday of the sliding table saw has come and gone in large scale cabinet production, so there are plenty out there.

Last but not least there is the safety aspect of a slider. Last week my teenage son and I were slicing up mdf for a school project, and as he ran the saw, I mentioned to him-- see where your hand is, and the blade is way over there. I think that the slider is worlds safer than a cabinet table saw. Every time I think about a cabinet saw, with both of the operators thumbs close to the blade I get the heebee jeebees. I've used a unisaw many times, and I have a little inca saw, but I think that the layout of those machines is a blast from the past.

[rob durfos]

I can say nothing but good about MiniMax. Don't forget about getting around the basic footprint of a sliding table saw-they need a lot of room.If you are going to build doors, buy as large a shaper as you can afford with a sliding table and don't forget to add a power-feeder .I have one piece of Powermatic equipment in the shop that I have had to get into numerous times for bearings and other issues.As far as Felder, I just could not get along with the sales kid so I went with an all MiniMax /SCM shop.Good luck - and keep researching ! Oh and one other thing, a simple phone call followed by a plane ticket will give you the best research you can buy- your own !

[Joe Jensen]

I have a Felder KF700SP, with a 9ft slider. I have to agree with the other owners. with a short slide you miss much of the value of the slider. I have mine in a 3 car garage. What is the size shop you have?

[Kevin Crawford]

Stephen, you do make several good points, and I guess I do have the space for it. I was just hoping to have a more spacious space rather than a crowded one...Oh well, I guess we don't get space until we have several thousand sf of shop to play in. I have about 850sf to work with.
Rob, I hadn't even considered a plane to mm but I'll keep that in mind if I cant find someone here.

[Rod Sheridan]

Kevin, I have a Hammer B3 Winner with the 51 inch sliding table and tilting spindle shaper.

I have mine in a small shop in a townhouse basement, along with a Hammer A3-31 jointer/planer.

I don't agree with the need for a full size slider unless you want to straight line panels from sheet goods.

I make mostly solid wood furniture and the ability to crosscut a sheet of ply is about as big an object as I need to handle. If you only have the occasional need to straight line solid wood longer than 4 feet, buy the accessory straight line kit from Felder and you're good to go.

You will love having a sliding table shaper, and the digital height gauge for the planer is a must. I opted for the metric one as I decided to get with the program and mkae my wood working life easier. Nothing eaiseir than designing/cutting in metric dimensions.

Consider the options carefully, you can add accessories at any time, options are pretty much a factory issue.

Regards, Rod.

[Mike Ruggeri]

It looks like there are many different opinions on this, but my take is you want a longer sliding table. When I first got my Minimax, I thought that I made a mistake by going with the 8 foot slider (it just looked too big in my small garage). After using it for almost 2 years now (hobby use only), I am really happy to have the extra capacity and couldn't imaging ever going to a shorter table. Yes, 95% of the time I don't need 8 feet, but for me it hardly takes up any extra space and it is really nice to have the extra capacity when I need it.

There are many things you can do to take up less real estate but have the benefit of a slider. For example, in my garage I have other machines "in the line of movement" of the wagon. This works for most cuts but if I need to use the sliding table for a longer cut then I just move the other machine out of the way. I also have my saw positioned so that on a longer cut, I have to open the garage door to give more room. I also have my saw on casters so I can move it if need be. Lastly, as I mostly work with hardwoods and rarely sheets of ply, I typically have the "small" miter guage on it and can pop the larger sliding table on in about a minute if I am working with a bigger piece. This saves lots of room and I built a rack on the wall to hold the larger sliding table so it is out of the way but is close enough to get when needed. I probalby use 12' x 18' for my slider, but also have part of a workbench, a router table, a bandsaw, a lathe, etc.. in that area too.

Let us know more specifics and we can certainly give more thoughts.

Mike

[Kevin Crawford]

I'm definitely doing more than 95% solid wood. Probably about 30-35% sheet right now. So I think the longer slider is the better choice.
Do the mobility kits that come with the Felder and MM sliders work well or do you guys end up putting on your own casterson them anyway?
And when they're delivered, are they set up for you or are they just dropped where you want and left for you?

[Rod Sheridan]

I'm definitely doing more than 95% solid wood. Probably about 30-35% sheet right now. So I think the longer slider is the better choice.
Do the mobility kits that come with the Felder and MM sliders work well or do you guys end up putting on your own casterson them anyway?
And when they're delivered, are they set up for you or are they just dropped where you want and left for you?

Hi Kevin, Felder will do the delivery either way, your choice. In my opinion you should have the machine set up in your shop and have a short training session with the field service technician.

The mobility kits work well and don't raise the machine much, they're an engineered solution well worth buying.

Regards, Rod.

[Mike Ruggeri]

I have the standard mobility kit for my MM. The standard mobility kit is OK, but its not so easy to move in tight places. I think this is the case for all mobility kits that use the "lifting bar" in that they move in line with the wheels better than they do perpendicular to the wheels.

That being said, I never use the MM kit anymore, but use Zambus casters and I find them great for moving it. The casters make it easy to move the machine in any direction and lock well - both of which are important in my relatively small space.

Mike

[Kevin Crawford]

I 'm sure I could set the slider up my self but the idea of the tech doing it is very appealing. Does it cost extra and how much?

I think I'll plan to weld a frame and bolt on the casters for the J/p and the slider unless there are convenient plates to bolt them to on the bottoms.

I'm fine with using the Tersa on the J/p, but how big a deal is it to get a bryd head for it?

[Jim Luton]

Kevin,
I have a Felder KF700S pro, 9' slider w/ shaper. It is an excellent machine. About 10 feet away from the Felder (on the other side of a wall, is a MiniMax slider. Having used both, the Felder is far and away the better machine, in all respects. I had Felder do the setup, and I would recommend it, for speed and precision. A MiniMax bandsaw, on the other hand, is a great machine. I have the MM16, and love it. I had a Robland short stroke saw before, and the 6' stroke drove me crazy. Don't do it unless you absolutely have to. Good luck!
Jim Luton

[Rod Sheridan]

I 'm sure I could set the slider up my self but the idea of the tech doing it is very appealing. Does it cost extra and how much?

I think I'll plan to weld a frame and bolt on the casters for the J/p and the slider unless there are convenient plates to bolt them to on the bottoms.

I'm fine with using the Tersa on the J/p, but how big a deal is it to get a bryd head for it?

I wouldn't go with a Byrd head, you'll like the Tersa system.

I also wouldn't go with a base with casters unless you're very tall, the supplied mobility kits work very well and don't raise the machine up much............Regards, Rod.

[Kevin Crawford]

The only reason I wanted to go with byrd is the noise factor. Im in an area where I cant be too noisy. I will be insulating the walls more to help with this but I'm not sure that things are going to sound like when its all said and done.

Im planning on buying the machines around the woodworking show in July I think, Do you guys happen to know how much Felder or mm take off the ticket price during that time? Also do they offer good discounts for buying multiple machines and if so how much do you think?

Jim, I also have liked the mm16 when i've been able to use it. I was planing on getting an mm20 on the next batch of upgrades because I've heard nothing but good things about them. I haven't actually heard much about the felder bandsaws though have you?

Rod, I'm 6' 1", and the standard 35" height is fine but I just like the idea of moving things around easily.