Looking at buying a Mini Max FS 35

[Chris Livingston]

I need some help making a decision. I just sold my huge old 12" jointer and have been trying to find a good replacement. My garage is not as big as I would like so I was considering an 8" Powermatic parallelogram jointer but was not impressed when I saw it in person.

After selling the 12" though I really like the room I have in my garage so I started considering selling off my brand new 20" 5hp shop fox planer as well and getting a Mini Max combo machine but it is a huge jump in price and with the FS 35 it may be a 14" jointer but it is also only a 14" planer.

Am I going to be sorry if I loose a 20" planer? And more importantly am I going to kick myself for not spending even more money on the FS 41?

I do this as a hobby but it is a hobby that pays for itself and I like having more machine than I'll ever need in the 14" jointer and 4.8 HP motor and I can kind of sort of justify the price (as long as I funnel it through the business credit card first :) )

Let me know your thoughts.

Thanks,

Chris

[nic obie]

Hi Chris,

I know what you are going thru as I'm in the same predicament. In my case it's getting rid of my jointer and planner and buying the MiniMax combo unit in order to make room for a 15" wide belt sander.

I'm not to worried about being restricted with the 14" MM planner as I figure I could get by with the big sander in a pinch. What has got me worried are the relative short jointer tables on the MM machine.

That and the bucks involved.:D :D :D

What's a person to do?

nic

[Jim Becker]

I am very happy with my FS 350, which is the predicessor to the FS 35 Smart you are considering. Excellent tool and I don't find the 350mm planer limiting for the work I do...and in the rare case it might be, I can probably find someone with a big'in to deal with it. I haven't had an issue with the table length that Nic points out, but buying something like the Aigner extensions or making something similar would fix that real quick if I did.

[Jay Knepper]

Chris,
You might also consider the Hammer A3 31 (the one a competing vendor would like us to believe is made in China). The "31" means 31 cm, which is just over 12" capacity for jointing and thicknessing. They also offer a 41 cm (about 16") model if you need more capacity.

I recently bought and assembled one, and am quite pleased after limited testing. I added two 16" extensions which bring table length to a very nice 77", if needed. The slot morticer also seems to be very solid, but I have not had a chance to exercise it much yet.

[Alan Turner]

Jim
I'm here if you need a bit more width, you know.

[Kevin Murdock]

Hi Jay,

What are the prices like for those Hammer Jointer/Planer combos?

They don't have the prices listed on their website.

Thanks,
/Kevin



I recently bought and assembled one, and am quite pleased after limited testing.

[Charlie Plesums]

FWIW, I have been extremely happy with my MiniMax 410 mm (16 inch) jointer/planer as part of a combo machine.

I am not familiar with the shop fox, but I have been impressed with the performance of the "professional" grade planer (with metal feed rollers) that absolutely keeps the board flat on the planer table. If the first side is flat, so is the second... i.e. no snipe.

[Derek Arita]

You may as well get the 16" J/P. You know as well as I do that you'll regret not getting it from the get-go. Sounds like money is not a big issue, so go for it. I won't take up any more appreciable space either.

[Jay Knepper]

Kevin,

The listed prices for the A3 31 and A3 41 are $3,445 and $5,995.

[Mark Singer]

You may as well get the 16" J/P. You know as well as I do that you'll regret not getting it from the get-go. Sounds like money is not a big issue, so go for it. I won't take up any more appreciable space either.
I have the FS41 on order based on the same logic....I tend to make some big stuff and the capacity is really a plus....you only do it once!(hopefully):confused:

[craig carlson]

Hi,

Accumulate now while you have the earning power. I'm like you, a hobbiest, but near retirement so I'm buying everything I can afford so that when I do retire I'll be able to supplement my income with what I really want to do. Now if you really wa.nt to get rid of that clunky, space eating 20" planner for a reasonable price I'd consider driving up there from SF bay area.

Craig

[nic obie]

but buying something like the Aigner extensions or making something similar would fix that real quick if I did.

I didn't know about those options.

Thanks for the info Jim. I'll look into Aigner.

Jim S. from MM likes to call me a tinkerer (sp?) and I suppose I am. I'd love to make my own extensions. It's the $8k for both machines I'm balking at.
;)

[Chris Livingston]

Thanks for the "help." The biggest problem in deciding for me is the FS 41 is on backorder and will take 3 or 4 months to get and I sold my jointer already!

[Jim Becker]

Thanks for the info Jim. I'll look into Aigner.

I first saw the Aigner stuff at Steve Jenkins' shop in DFW. Martin is the US importer and is who to contact about it. The "system" consists of the aluminum tables and a series of different length support bars that get installed on your tools. One or two of the tables are all a "single woodworker" needs to accomodate all kinds of things at the J/P, BS, TS, etc. Felder also has some extensions, but I'm not sure if they are "universal"...and they are definitely heavier. The one that John R brought by the shop one day was cast iron and quite stout!

[Chris Livingston]

In a few years I will be adding on to my house extending my garage by about 22' and then I would have plenty of room for a large jointer and planer. In this case would you stick with separate machines or buy a combo jointer/planer?

[Jim Becker]

Chris, I still favor the J/P, although with a lot of space, it might open up the opporunity to try and score some "old and big iron". In my ideal shop, I'd want to be able to preserve more space for assembly and finishing, so being conservative with machine space still makes sense in many respects.

[markus shaffer]

Chris,

I have a Felder jointer/planer machine and have been extremely pleased with it. Granted mine is the monster 20" machine, but it has been nothing but a pleasure to work with. Of course I would love to have separate machines as there are times in the middle of a project where I need to plane something down and the machine is set up in the jointer mode or vice-versa. But overall, it's not a problem. Be sure to look into getting a motorized lift for the planer bed regardless of what machine you look into. Switching between the two means lowering the planer bed all the way down to utilize the jointer. Hand cranking that everytime you want to switch will be a pain. With the motorized drive and me having to switch my dust collection hose over to a different gate I can still switch between jointer and planer in about 1 minute.

Even if I had the space for separate machines, I'd still keep what I have and just get another planer. The machine I have is built like a tank and as a jointer is an amazing machine compared to the Delta I had before. an added bonus with the Felder machine which may be an option on the Hammer is the ability to easily add a power feeder. They make a heavy bracket that bolts to the back of the machine to mount it on. Not too many people think of this option on a jointer, but I have to say it's really nice. It puts the machine a bit out from the wall, but what it makes up for in ease of use when face jointing large boards is amazing. I had that feeder pull a 19 inch by 10 foot piece of mahogany through my jointer that I could not have run through on my own.

Whatever machine you end up going with, I don't think you'll be unhappy with any of them. The only other advice I'd offer is to get the biggest machine you can afford. Having the ability to work with wider boards is really nice. I can't remember the last time I bought anything under 8 inches wide and more often than not, it's usually in the 10"-16" range..

-Markus

[Jim Becker]

Markus, it takes me about a minute and a half to switch my FS350 around...with hand-cranking the planer bed included. I agree that the motorized bed is a must for a commercial shop, but the extra cost for a hobbiest might be unnecessary. (MM doesn't offer it; Felder does)

[Dan Forman]

With the Mini Max FS 35, you only have to crank the table down half way, about 4 1/2" in order to use the jointer, not bad at all. It works well for my basement shop. They have odd sized dust ports, 120mm, about 4.25", but you can get a 5" to 120mm reducer from Oneida air to connect to your DC.

Dan

[John Renzetti]

Markus, it takes me about a minute and a half to switch my FS350 around...with hand-cranking the planer bed included. I agree that the motorized bed is a must for a commercial shop, but the extra cost for a hobbiest might be unnecessary. (MM doesn't offer it; Felder does)

Hi Jim, I've had the power drives with the electric raising and lowering of the tables on my machines. Really like them plus the digital readout that I can set to a .1mm. This stuff is becoming more commonplace: I think Knapp also has it besides Felder. It's not just for a pro shop. The cost difference now for adding the electronics is not that great.
take care,
John

[Jim Becker]

They have odd sized dust ports, 120mm, about 4.25", but you can get a 5" to 120mm reducer from Oneida air to connect to your DC.

Naa...not "odd sized"...just different that we are used to! We in the US are merely an island in a metric world!

[markus shaffer]

Jim,

I didn't know that Minimax doesn't offer a motorized lift. Is that for all their models? Somewhere I thought I had read that it was an option. My mistake. As for the hand cranking... You're probably tougher than me.. I've grown soft living in the city.. Joking..

I lucked out when I bought my machine. I had actually wanted a 16" machine. Felder happened to be in the process of changing the models over that year. They didn't have the new machines in the showroom yet, but they did have the trevious year's 20" model. It turned out to be less money than the new 16" model. At John Renzetti's suggestion, I told the salesman if he'd add a motor to the planer I'd take that floor model. They wanted to move that one out and make room for the new one, so.... Here I am with this monster. I can't complain..

-Markus

[Jim Becker]

Markus, this is one of the differences between Mini Max and Felder. MM does offer some "creature comforts" on the big 410 combo if you want to order them, but stuff like motor drives are not in the options list for the rest of the combos to the best of my knowledge. Cranking the bed really doesn't bother me since I tend to use the planer in "planned" sequences, but use the jointer ad-hock and often. So I leave it set up for jointing the majority of the time. I will say that the DRO I added does make for a more pleasant experience when working with the planer...great repeatablity without straining my eyes.

You did a great thing picking up a "floor model"...something I essentially did with my FS350 J/P with MM as it was close to the changeover to the current FS35 Smart and also a trade-show machine. Big cost savings and you can often get some nice extras if you smile nice! This is kinda in-line with one of my tool (and lumber) buying philosophies...keep an open mind and take advantage of a good deal when you can.

[Chris Livingston]

Ok I'm sold on a combo but now which manufacturer should I go with? I'm thinking of biting the bullet and going with the MM 16" model but that is a big chunk of change. What do the others cost? None of the web sites list pricing.

[Paul B. Cresti]

Ok I'm sold on a combo but now which manufacturer should I go with? I'm thinking of biting the bullet and going with the MM 16" model but that is a big chunk of change. What do the others cost? None of the web sites list pricing.
Chris,
I guess I am "slightly" biased here but I tuly believe for the price range and size the MM FS41 is simple the best 16" j/p out there period. I have seen just about all of the usual suspects I still feel this way. The one thing that amazes me that people seem to miss is the mortiser attachment for this machine, it goes on the back of the unit! Assuming you have the room this gives you three machines for the price and each one performs flawlessly. The mortising unit is heavy (all cast iron) and since it goes on the back your never need to take it off. Some will argue that is does not have the electric lift but to me when i got it I wanted reliable performance and that is what I got. The sprocket/chain crank that lifts the table will never fail. The fence is also another important aspect to me. It does not flex because it is a center mounted fence post unlike other manufacturers which relly on an end mounted fence that does flex. As far as table length I regularly joint 8/4 and thicker stock up to 10"-0" long on the FS41 with no problem. I do use roller guides only as a holding device before I start the milling. You definately can spend more but will not get better results. If you realy want the ultimate j/p look at MM's parent company SCM for their FS510. It is a 20" j/p with the option to add an automatic/hydraulic conversion to switch between jointing and planning mode! The dust chute comes down and everything.

[Chris Livingston]

I think I'm going to bite the bullet and get the 41 (unless the SCM 20" is reasonably priced which I'm doubting). I may be waiting for 4 months but I know I'll be wishing I'd bought it if I buy the 35. Dang "more power" fetish. I don't supose anyone has a hook-up with Mini-Max that can get me one sooner :-)