Official "gloat" and initial impressions on FS-350

[Jim Becker]

Ok, boys and girls...I am pleased to say that the MiniMax FS-350 14" jointer/planer combo has finally made it into the shop. The only thing that made the wait palatable was the fact that I was traveling on business all week anyway. It was on my friend Russ's lift-gate truck all week as his wife needed emergency surgery--and trust me, that was much more important than any tool or woodworking activity. I would have cheerfully waited for however was long necessary. He arranged for me to get the keys this morning, but decided to drive up himself...I guess he needed to get out for a few minutes. (His wife needs a second surgery at the beginning of the week--your thoughts will be appreciated)

It took a couple of hours to clean off the remaining cosmoline (or whatever) that wasn't taken off by MiniMax prior to the show, fit up the electrical connection and put it in place where it will probably reside in the shop. The fence needed minor adjustment to bring it exactly 90º to the tables, but that is to be expected.

Initial Impressions - Positive

1) Very well made machine with great fit and finish
2) Very heavy...this tool isn't going to walk away by itself
3) Easy operation and change over from jointing to planing
4) Fence adjusts easily and precisely
5) Parallelogram table design insures that the lip of the infeed table is always exactly the same distance away from the cutter head
6) Tersa knives are extraordinarily easy to change and never need "setting"
7) Mobility kit makes placing and moving the tool easy, yet is designed so that the machine sits on the floor, rather than any wheels, when it is stationary
8) Motor and cutter head noise is very reasonable...it's not a screamer like the portable planers are!

Initial Impressions - Negative

1) Dust collection hoods are 120mm and will not mate with "standard" US hose and components. I had to order two adapters from Oneida to hook up to my 5" hoses
2) The front cutter head safety guard is made from lightweight plastic which is inappropriate for such a fine piece of machinery. For what these tools cost, this guard should have been metal like the guard that follows the fence in the rear. "For shame!"
3) The manuals are in a difficult to read format with five languages spread horizontally across the pages. The translations from Italian are not necessarily "the best" or clear on some things, too

Pictures

1) From the front in jointer mode
2) From the end in jointer mode...note that this tool cannot get right up to the wall due to the fence support design. For size reference, the DC duct on the wall is 5" in diameter
3) In order to get the tool closer to the wall, I use a hole-saw to open up the OSB paneling to give 2" more clearance when the fence is fully retracted to the back of the bed. The post goes right into the wall...
4) From the front in planer mode
5) Somebody is bound to suggest that this tool may have other purposes... :D

[David Klug]

Hey Jim, are you hinting that this joiner could double for an aircraft carrier?

Nice looking machine. I'm sure you will enjoy using it. Give us a review on it when you get it going.

Dave

[John Miliunas]

And to think...I just "placed" my little 6" Grizz jointer and the new Dewalt, 13" planer in their respective parking spots today. Until this thread, I *was* pretty proud of them! :mad: Sheeesh...I though I was doing pretty good keeping up with the Jones's, but this whole keeping up with the Becker's is a losing battle! Oh, do I sound just a tad envious? Jealous? No-o-o-o-o-o-o, NOT a chance of that!

Hey Jim, all kidding aside, best of luck with that monster! Definitely looks like a sweet machine and keep us posted with useage feedback. :) 'Scuse me while I go give my mini-tools a hug. They're feeling just a bit neglected right now. :cool:

[Lloyd Robins]

WOW. a 14" jointer! That is a beautiful machine. You have more shekels involved in that machine than I do in my entire shop. :eek: I think that I will show this to the LOML when I want to make another purchase for the shop monster. Maybe she will be a bit more understanding (or maybe not.) Good luck and let us know how it works. :)

[Chuck Wintle]

I was just wondering what a Tersa knife is and why it never needs to be set.
Thanks

[Steve Jenkins]

They are nice machines Jim. I bet it feels good to finally get it set up and running. I know you'll love the capacity. Steve

[Dave Avery]

JIm,

My turn to be jealous.... nice looking machine. When I scanned your review before reading in detail, I was surprised to see 'negatives'. After a through read, it's nice to see that they are minimal. I'm considering a similar upgrade, so please let us know how you like it after using it for a while.

Cool pic with aircraft..... but I'm sure Dominic will chime in and remind us that real aircraft carriers have arresting gear :)

Dave.

[Jim Becker]

I was just wondering what a Tersa knife is and why it never needs to be set.

Very good question, Charles.

Tersa knives are analogous to the reversible/non-sharpenable knives that are used in the Delta (and new Dewalt) planers. They slip into the cutter head from the side, in this case, and since they are always exactly the same size as the ones they replace, there is no variation in the height of the knives relative to the outfeed table...for all three cutters. Tersa is apparently a Swedish concern, based on the markings on the cutter head.

Changing them is a really easy and interesting process. There are three "gibs" that are immediately behind each knive...equally spaced and covering the full width of the cutter head (see pic below). To release the knives, you strike each gib downward with a small tool and then slide the cutters out through a hole "conveniently located" in the front of the machine, taking care not to make your hand and fingers a bleeding mass of lacerated flesh. (These puppies are sharp even when they are not...and are only about 3/8" wide/deep by 1/8" thick) After inserting the replacements or the same knives turned over for the second cutting surface, you merely turn on the machine and let centrifugal force reset the gibs tight against the knives. It's a pretty elegant solution, IMHO!

[John Miliunas]

OK, here's my (drumroll please...) "Dumb Question of the Day": How does one go from jointer mode to planer mode? From here, it looks as though you have to remove the infeed and outfeed tables. Unfortunately, unless Saint Powerball visits me, there's little/no chance of acquiring one of those bad boys, but I'm curious, just the same. :cool:

[Jim Becker]

OK, here's my (drumroll please...) "Dumb Question of the Day": How does one go from jointer mode to planer mode? From here, it looks as though you have to remove the infeed and outfeed tables.

Good question--not dumb at all! If you look at the fourth picture, you'll notice that the outfeed and infeed tables rotate up out of the way when you are in planer mode--you don't "remove" them. They have a spring-loaded balancing system that makes lifting and lowering them almost a one-finger operation. Once the tables are rotated up, the planer hood is rotated up from where it lives with the tables down and covers the cutter head. Changeover between functions takes no more than a minute, not including cranking the planer table up/down. (It must be lowered to at least the 6" depth mark before you can go back to jointer mode)

One interesting thing...jointing is the "normal" direction of right to left. Planing is just the opposite! Left to right. This all has to do with cutter head rotation.

This machine also has an available mortiser ("slotter" in SCM language) that goes on the "backside" of the machine. I didn't opt for that tool given I have a mortiser and also could not provide access to all sides of the machine in my shop. This is something for anyone to think about if considering a "combo" machine...almost all of them require 360º access to use the various stations. You don't have quite the flexibility that you do with separate tools. The MiniMax CU300 that Bill Grumbine will be getting is a good example and he has the perfect shop for it...wide open. He'll end up with a net gain in space plus a gain in functionality at the same time. If not for the dang stairway in the middle of my shop, I'd certainly would have considered the CU300 after seeing it's great functionality.

[mike malone]

Ok, boys and girls...I am pleased to say that the MiniMax FS-350 14" jointer/planer combo has finally made it into the shop. The only thing that made the wait palatable was the fact that I :D

Hey Jim
TOO-O-O-O nice
"may your children walk backwards...."

I'm sure you will enjoy using it. Give us a review on it
when you get it up and runnin'.
regards
mike

[Tom Sweeney]

Sure looks like a great way to get big capacity machinery for the hobbiest shop - assuming you have the bucks for it. Looks like a cool machine :cool: - good luck with it.

[Mike Laing]

Hi Jim,
That is a fine looking piece of equipment. My felder CF741P just arrived it has a 16" J/P combination with Teresa heads. I can certainly see why you posted the picture with the airplane. I keep the shop door closed because we live close to the hospital and the darn air ambulance is always coming over the short-wave radio asking for landing clearance :).

Enjoy your new machine

Mike




Hey Jim
TOO-O-O-O nice
"may your children walk backwards...."

I'm sure you will enjoy using it. Give us a review on it
when you get it up and runnin'.
regards
mike

[Jim Becker]

My felder CF741P just arrived it has a 16" J/P combination with Teresa heads.

I would have loved the 16" unit, but it was a) too big for my shop {the FS-350 was tough to accomodate as it was} and b) a couple grand more than I could afford. Except for the deal they gave me on this due to the show, I wouldn't have bit on this one either...at least "now". :D But it still would have been on the list for later...

Be sure to let us know all about that big Felder! More and more folks are getting interested in these type of machines and the larger the pool of information people have from owners/users, the better the decision making process will be for all.

[Dominic Greco]

JIm,
Cool pic with aircraft..... but I'm sure Dominic will chime in and remind us that real aircraft carriers have arresting gear :)
Dave.

Dave,
Yeah! I was gonna say something about the lack of a CDP (Cross Deck Pendant. Also called a "hookwire") on the top of that deck. Not to mention the lack of Green or Orange shirted crewmen. :D

But remember, not all arresting gears are located on the carriers..... :D Land based stuff is my specialty!

Jim,
BTW, Nice score on the MinMax. It looks like a high quality machine. I'm sure you'll be putting it to good use soon.

(Personally, I'm "Jonesing" for their 18" bandsaw now.)
Later

[Mike Mastin]

As we discussed during your visit Jim, a 12"-16" jointer is what I ultimately want for our shop. Man could I use it :-)
It really looks like that is one sweet machine you have there. I am green with envy.

[Anthony Yakonick]

I was there when Jim picked it up and when it came time to load it I ran the other way. :D

[Mike Wilkins]

Thanks Jim for the review. I have been lusting after this exact machine
for quite some time. I have even put a photo of it on my cubicle wall &
have begun to save some pennies for a future purchase.

Just curious: any reason you opted not to get the fence that mounts on
the end of one of the tables? This will allow placement against a wall
but I'm not sure of the rigidity of this fence vs. your center mount.

Anyway-congrats you lucky bum.

Mike lusting away in NC.

[Jim Becker]

Just curious: any reason you opted not to get the fence that mounts on the end of one of the tables? This will allow placement against a wall but I'm not sure of the rigidity of this fence vs. your center mount.

A very simple reason...I didn't really notice that there was an alternative fence, but they did have the end-mount at the show sitting around in the booth. The one I got is much better in design and I can live with the extra room as well as the hole in the wall to accomodate the post an extra 2"... :D

[John Weber]

Jim,

Nice gloat and looks to be a heck of a machine. Does it use both a pressure bar and chip breaker like larger North American planers? I think it would look good in my shop if you decide you need a bigger machine.

John

[Jim Becker]

Does it use both a pressure bar and chip breaker like larger North American planers?

I believe this is correct. The "outfeed" side when in planer mode has a chip breaker setup and smooth roller and the "infeed" side has a serated roller in a spiral pattern. Once I get the dust collection hooked up, I should be able to see how effective the feed is, but anticipate it will be super.

[Brad Schafer]

nothing to add, except ... nice. will be interested to hear how well it makes sawdust.

(dom - cool plane pic.)


b

[Bruce Page]

Jim, that's a verrrrrry nice machine!

I am extremely envious.

[scott spencer]

Nice looking machine Jim! Congrats and thanks for the information.