Joe Hollis
08-13-2017, 5:56 PM
Hello everyone,
I took delivery of a Felder AD 741 Jointer/Planer this past week, and thought I would offer a few observations on my experiences to date, along with a few pics of the machine.
Packaging
The machine arrived from the local dealer partially assembled on a large wooden pallet, covered with a heavy weight plastic sheet. It was very well secured to the pallet using purpose-built brackets. The fence assembly was similarly secured to the pallet separately from the machine. I did a visual inspection upon delivery and did not identify any damage (cosmetic or otherwise) or missing parts.
Set-up/Installation
I purchased the mobility kit, and even though it was expensive, it made moving the machine off the pallet down the wood ramp I had built for this purpose and then into my garage shop a breeze. It's amazing how easily I can move around almost 1,200 lbs. of machine with it. Following the manual, step by step I put the balance of the parts together. I can say that there are significant opportunities for improvement to the manual. While it is certainly possible that less salient points are lost during the translation process, there were also several factual errors, and several steps could have been MUCH better explained (at least for me).
Unlike some of the Asian manufacturers of woodworking machinery, Felder does not coat the machine's surfaces in Cosmoline, but applies an impregnated corrosion-preventative paper to both the jointer and planer tables. After removing the paper, I just carefully wiped those surfaces down to remove any oily residue. I also wiped off some excess grease from some of the surfaces (there was very little excess really).
After installing the fence assembly and connecting it to the backside cutter head cover, I tightened everything up and got out my straight edge and machinist's square. Checking at five different places along the length of the fence, I could not get a .001" feeler gauge between the blade of the square and the fence anywhere except at one position on the fence. I also used my straight edge and checked the diagonals on the fence along its length. There is no twist whatsoever that I can identify.
I plugged in the machine to its new 30 amp circuit, checked everything again, took a deep breath, and pushed the start button. I am amazed at how quiet the machine is. The head also stops rotating about 5 seconds after the stop button is pushed.
I have yet to get all the dust collection set up for it, so I have not run a board over through it as of yet, and cannot comment on the results.
I have never owned any piece of woodworking equipment ever that is close to this in quality. I am sure there is heavy-duty/better stuff available than this, but for me, it is the best I have ever had. It replaces my Ridgid 6" jointer, which is still a great little jointer in its own right. I look forward to setting up the dust collection and trying the machine out some time early this coming week. The 120 mm O.D. dust collection port isn't the easiest to find fittings for...
Thanks again to Jim Becker and others that provided me with very helpful advice when I was considering such an upgrade.
Regards,
Joe
I took delivery of a Felder AD 741 Jointer/Planer this past week, and thought I would offer a few observations on my experiences to date, along with a few pics of the machine.
Packaging
The machine arrived from the local dealer partially assembled on a large wooden pallet, covered with a heavy weight plastic sheet. It was very well secured to the pallet using purpose-built brackets. The fence assembly was similarly secured to the pallet separately from the machine. I did a visual inspection upon delivery and did not identify any damage (cosmetic or otherwise) or missing parts.
Set-up/Installation
I purchased the mobility kit, and even though it was expensive, it made moving the machine off the pallet down the wood ramp I had built for this purpose and then into my garage shop a breeze. It's amazing how easily I can move around almost 1,200 lbs. of machine with it. Following the manual, step by step I put the balance of the parts together. I can say that there are significant opportunities for improvement to the manual. While it is certainly possible that less salient points are lost during the translation process, there were also several factual errors, and several steps could have been MUCH better explained (at least for me).
Unlike some of the Asian manufacturers of woodworking machinery, Felder does not coat the machine's surfaces in Cosmoline, but applies an impregnated corrosion-preventative paper to both the jointer and planer tables. After removing the paper, I just carefully wiped those surfaces down to remove any oily residue. I also wiped off some excess grease from some of the surfaces (there was very little excess really).
After installing the fence assembly and connecting it to the backside cutter head cover, I tightened everything up and got out my straight edge and machinist's square. Checking at five different places along the length of the fence, I could not get a .001" feeler gauge between the blade of the square and the fence anywhere except at one position on the fence. I also used my straight edge and checked the diagonals on the fence along its length. There is no twist whatsoever that I can identify.
I plugged in the machine to its new 30 amp circuit, checked everything again, took a deep breath, and pushed the start button. I am amazed at how quiet the machine is. The head also stops rotating about 5 seconds after the stop button is pushed.
I have yet to get all the dust collection set up for it, so I have not run a board over through it as of yet, and cannot comment on the results.
I have never owned any piece of woodworking equipment ever that is close to this in quality. I am sure there is heavy-duty/better stuff available than this, but for me, it is the best I have ever had. It replaces my Ridgid 6" jointer, which is still a great little jointer in its own right. I look forward to setting up the dust collection and trying the machine out some time early this coming week. The 120 mm O.D. dust collection port isn't the easiest to find fittings for...
Thanks again to Jim Becker and others that provided me with very helpful advice when I was considering such an upgrade.
Regards,
Joe