New Felder FB 610 Band Saw

[Keith Outten]

The proximity of the lower blade guides to the dust collection connection may be the reason for the position of the guides. What you give up in access you gain in DC performance maybe.......just a thought.
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[Ed Meathe]

Craig and Keith,

Thank you for your replies. As it turns out, the other band saw in my two-saw selection list is the MM16. A friend of mine has the MM16 and has been very happy with it.

I have had a passion for wood working for most of my adult life. However, up until now, my wife and I have spent our time and financial resources raising and educating our children and developing our careers. Now that the children have completed college and are self-sufficient, and we have retired our most significant debt, it is time for me to indulge my passion. To that end, I have ‘confiscated’ two slots of our three car garage (my wife insists on having a covered, secure parking spot for her car) and am in the process of converting it to my workshop. I have a SawStop 10 inch, 3 HP cabinet saw, and I recently (1 week ago) ordered the Hammer A3-31 J/P. I fully expect to be working in my shop 3-4 days per week for 4 hours per day. My focus will be on building small to large pieces of furniture. I expect that I will do some resawing of raw timber, but mostly will be resawing unfinished lumber for veneers, inlays, etc. I will also be doing quite a bit of contour cutting.

Comparing the MM16 to the FB510 may not quite be comparing apples-to-apples – a better like-model comparison might be the MM20 to the FB510 – but the MM20 is well beyond by budget. At this point, I am slightly favoring the FB510 for its larger table size, deeper throat, and larger diameter wheels. The prices I have been quoted are very close, with an overall cost advantage going to the FB510 given the economy of scale I can achieve with simultaneous shipping of the A3-31 and FB510, as well as the discounts available on the Felder options.

Based upon Keith’s observation regarding the potential dust collection benefits of the smaller lower guide enclosure of the FB510, and the availability of dual dust ports, this also moves the scale a slight bit more toward the FB510. I have read Bill Pentz’s entire web page, and, based upon my engineering background, have found it quite insightful and informative. Most of my career has been spent doing clinical research at a large, multi-specialty medical center, and I have seen first-hand the debilitating consequences of pulmonary disease. Thus, I do not plan to skimp on the dust collection provisioning of my shop.

There is no doubt in my mind that I will not be able to immediately exploit the full capabilities of either the MM16 or the FB510; however, I am committed to rapidly closing the deficiencies in my wood working skills. I sincerely appreciate the input of Craig and Keith regarding the choice of band saws. I would welcome and value the input of other experienced wood workers on the forum.

I believe that I am going to enjoy and benefit from being a member of this community. Hopefully, in a few years, I may have the wood working skills necessary to contribute to discussions on this forum.

[Keith Outten]

Without woodworkers who ask questions 70% of the valuable information here would not exist.

Ed, all of the saws that you have on your list are excellent machines. Your final selection should be based on your own "Best Value" evaluation based on your needs, saw performance and cost. No doubt you'll be happy when the band saw you select is in your shop.

My situation is similar to yours, both my daughters are grown and graduated from college. All the loans have been satisfied and we have options today we never had before. I try my best to donate my time and resources to select projects when I can and I hope that I will always be able to contribute in some way. A percentage of my sign shop projects are donated to help those who need assistance and cannot afford my services.
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[Julie Moriarty]

Keith, you mentioned using the bandsaw in place of a table saw. I was wondering how that's been going. I have a Jet 18" with several blades (Woodmaster CT, Woodslicer, Carter) and none of them can give me the cut I get on my table saw. Here, I'm thinking mostly rip cuts and the edge I get with the bandsaw would have to be seriously milled before I could use the wood. Am I missing something or are you referring only to the requirements of your sign business when talking about a shop devoid of table saws?

[Rick Fisher]

Ed, Your choices in machinery .. (Hammer, Mini-Max, Felder) Those are fine choices. I would probably lean towards the 20" Felder saw for the same money but there is no bad choice. Get a really good blade on either of those saws and you will have no regrets.

[Keith Outten]

Julie,

Since I got my new band saw my table saw has been a storage bench. Honestly I haven't used the table saw much this year. The cut quality of the band saw is very close to what I get with my table saw and that is with the OEM blade so I expect it will improve. My decision to not use my table saw is based somewhat on my sign work, I know that others have also stopped using table saws as well which is why I started thinking about the possibility for my shop.

The new band saw will rip boards as fast as my table saw will and it seems to be much safer. I have owned a table saw for probably 35 years and I have had my share of close encounters and kickbacks, luckily none of my fingers have ever contacted the blade. Now here comes the hard part...my decision is based partly on a loss of grip in my hands over the years. If I can still do the work required, without a table saw, I will be better off and probably improve my chances of keeping all of my fingers. The years working in a shop take their toll.

I have a panel saw that I use to break down sheet goods and most of the pieces I cut end up on my CNC Router for final dimensioning. If I have to glue up large wood panels for a sign blank my joiner takes care of the edge prep so the edge quality isn't as crucial as it was in the past. Even though there are jobs that are best done on a table saw it all comes down to my ability to work safely and confidence is part of that equation. I know the grip in my hands is often unreliable so I am adjusting as best I can and still be able to work on select types of projects. Some of the jobs I used to do I won't even consider today.

My shop is pretty crowded so recovering the floor space that the table saw consumes will be valuable for other purposes. I have custom 24" table saw wings on each side of my saw which makes it wider than the stock 12" wings. Both of the custom wings have router raisers in them, that is the part I will miss the most but I am already planning on building a new Corian router table.
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[Tom Dalabon]

Thank you Keith,
I have some decisions to make!
Have a good Thanksgiving!

[Keith Outten]

Your welcome Tom and good luck with your decision.

FWIW I'm almost finished with my new sliding table for my band saw. I only have to cut and mount the fence.
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[Keith Outten]

I started a new thread for the slider.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...lider-with-Pic

[Rob Parsons]

Keith,

I'm thinking of getting a smallish pallet jack for my shop mobility needs. What size is yours and how do you like that system? Thanks.

[Rick Fisher]

Bump

Keith

Wondering if you still like the Felder FB610 .. I know this is a 3 year old post, but your an expert now if you still have it .. Anything to report ?

In particular I wonder if you've run a 3/8" or 1/4" blade on it ? Or what the smallest blade you've run is ?

Any problems, any regrets..

[Keith Outten]

Rick,

My Felder FB 610 has become the center of my workshop and it is literally in the center of my shop . Its a great machine and is now invaluable for just about every job that I work on these days. This past Christmas I both machined and resawed some mahogany for several candle holders I was making, did the entire job on my band saw. I cut lots of Corian for sign jobs and have been using the FB610 for ripping lumber since I first got the saw. Corian cuts like butter with little effort required to push the material through the saw.

In short I have no regrets, this has been one of the best machines I have ever purchased. I wish that I could have been able to buy this machine ten years ago.

As far as blades go I only have one blade which is a one inch 3 TPI Lennox. I own one of the small Rikon band saws that I use for curved work.

[Keith Outten]

Keith,

I'm thinking of getting a smallish pallet jack for my shop mobility needs. What size is yours and how do you like that system? Thanks.

Rob,

I'm sorry I missed your question but if your still interested my pallet jack is the small one that Northern Tools sells. I hesitated purchasing a pallet jack for many years which was a mistake. I could kick myself for not buying one back when I was building my own shop stands as it would have been easy to design access for the pallet forks and save myself the cost of buying wheels. Even very heavy machines are a snap to move around with the pallet jack, much easier then pushing them on wheels.

I hesitated because my shop space is very limited and I didn't think that I could find a place to park the jack when it wasn't being used. This is a non-issue as I park the jack under any number of machines to keep it handy but out of the way so it doesn't take up any floor space at all. I've seen pictures of workbenches that some people build with pallet fork access built in instead of wheels, they can move their benches as well as their machines anywhere in seconds which is pretty handy.

[Ben Rivel]

Did you end up getting rid of your table saw or are you still using it as a workbench? What table saw did you have?

[Keith Outten]

Ben,

''I still have my Grizzly 1023 table saw and it's still a workbench most days. It has routers in each of the table extensions that are useful.