Did i make a newb mistake..

[Patrick Walsh]

I purchased a single phase Felder AD 941 with a 4 horse motor.

For those not familiar with the Felder line thats a 16" jointer planer combo. I opted for the spiral cutter head and i assume that will work in my favor with the smaller motor.

I only ask as i was talking to a Felder service tech and he was surprised i purchased such a beefy machine with only a 4 horse motor.

Being the machine will live in a home shop single phase only made sense to me. As i understand it if i went 3 phase and static phase converter i would had needed a 7 horse machine to get 4 horse all said and done.

Really my concern is with future purchase. Namely a oscillating edge/spindle sander and a sliding table saw shaper combo machine. Is the 4 horse gonna cut it on all these machines?

[Jesse Busenitz]

I have a 5 hp on my 16" jointer and my 20" planer so I'd say your in the ball park,but I've never heard someone say their motor was too big.... I bought a Oneida Cyclone DC and they had 2hp,3hp, and 5hp. I went with the 3 but now I'm kicking myself for not going with the 5.

[Matt Day]

Why wouldn't you get a VFD instead of a static phase converter? No power loss with the VFD.

[David Kumm]

As the FOG have said, you will likely be fine but I would never put a static converter on a good quality machine, and especially on a Euro motor. When you go high end, you need and RPC or a VFD. Dave

[John Lankers]

Patrick, you should be ok. I have the AD 741 with spiral cutter and 4 hp single phase motor, when it gets tough I just take a smaller bite - and hogging off a 1/4" at once is stupid anyway IMHO.
As David suggested go with a VFD, Felder installed one in my KF700 with 7 1/2 hp 3 phase motors and I love it. The best part is, it works on a 30 Amp breaker, I haven't tried the heaviest shaper cutters yet - we'll see.

[ian maybury]

Off topic, but the big advantage of a VFD is the option to ramp the start - as John it holds the start up current right down. It's a big deal over here where 60 or 80 amp limits on service fuses are the norm.

[Bill Orbine]

if it wasn't OK then Felder would not have offered a 16hp jointer/planer combo with a single phase 4hp.....see?

[Martin Wasner]

Insert heads aren't made for hogging material off anyways. The gullets aren't deep enough to effectively evacuate material. Doesn't matter what brand or how much horsepower.

[John Lankers]

Off topic, but the big advantage of a VFD is the option to ramp the start - as John it holds the start up current right down. It's a big deal over here where 60 or 80 amp limits on service fuses are the norm.


Not at all off topic :), that's a very valid point. When you push the start button the machine starts so smooth you barely hear it.
Another advantage of the VFD is when using the router spindle or the sanding sleeve you can use it as a speed control (for light duty work only). 7 1/2 hp router and sanding sleeve :D:D:D
I was skeptical when I first ordered the machine with VFD, I was sure I had to go with either 4 hp single phase or upgrade the whole electrical system and install a RPC, but now I wouldn't have it any other way.

[David Nelson1]

if it wasn't OK then Felder would not have offered a 16hp jointer/planer combo with a single phase 4hp.....see?

+1 for what he said.

[Keith Hankins]

4hp isn't bad and will probably serve you ok. If you only have one tool then a VFD is ok if you want to go bigger and do 3phase. I have a Rotary Phase converter 10hp and that serves multiple tools, and is cheaper if you are ever planning on doing multiple 3ph tools which the old american iron can be had at a great price thats why i went that way. You will be fine and that's a heck of a tool.

[David Nelson1]

Patrick,
I can only imagine because the machine is standard with 5.5 3ph motor. Myself I would most likely opt for the same motor since I never push a machine to it's limits, but course I don't have the room for that monster. Sold a 8" jointer with almost the same foot print and a 20 inch planer to gain some room.

[John Lankers]

4hp isn't bad and will probably serve you ok. If you only have one tool then a VFD is ok if you want to go bigger and do 3phase. I have a Rotary Phase converter 10hp and that serves multiple tools, and is cheaper if you are ever planning on doing multiple 3ph tools which the old american iron can be had at a great price thats why i went that way. You will be fine and that's a heck of a tool.

Correct, a VFD is matched to work with 1 motor or more that are identical.

[Mike Schuch]

I would not be the least bit worried about 4hp for a 16" jointer or planer. You won't be able to hog off 3/8" from a 16" wide hard maple board... but you shouldn't be doing that anyway.

4 hp is plenty for a 10" table saw. My Powermatic 65 is a 3 hp cabinet saw and has never lugged on any cut. My Powermatic 71 is a 5 hp 12" cabinet saw. Occasionally the extra depth of cut is nice on the 12" but Ihave never gone to the 12" for extra hp. I do run a full kerf 12" blade vs a narrow kerf 10" blade on the smaller saw. But the only thing the full kerf blade really gives me is more saw dust and less board.

I have a 3hp and a 5 hp shaper. The 5 hp has a 1.25" spindle vs the 3hp 3/4" spindle which makes it more capable for some larger cutters but I would not worry about not having enough power with a 4 hp shaper motor. Spindle size and spindle bearing size is much more limiting than hp. The same 1.25" spindle shaper with a 4hp 1ph motor vs a 5hp 3ph motor isn't going to have any noticable difference in my experience.

I would really consider a larger than 4hp motor for an edge sander of any decent size. Of all the machines you listed a sander is the most power hungry in my experience. A board of a decent width and reasonable length can easily slow or stop a sander. I would guess you will notice the difference between a 4hp 1ph motor and a 5hp 3ph motor on an edge sander and you will probably really wish you had a 7.5hp motor if you ever needed to sand a large board with a large surface area to be sanded.