Felder AD 741 Jointer/Planer Review

[John Lankers]

John, thanks for the great review. I'm replacing my CF531 Pro with a KF700S Pro and a AD741 which is floating somewhere on the Atlantic right now, your report is very appreciated. I have the Euro Comfort Guard on my CF531 and I do like it but if you're looking for the best have a look at the SUVA jointer guard.

[John Seybold]

Ah, good. You'll really like the machines. Thanks for the tip about the SUVA guard.

[John Seybold]

Couple of additional updates after a (free! Thanks!) visit from the Felder rep.

It's fine to leave the transmission in gear while jointing, but the feed rollers are spinning, and so you lose a little power and add more wear and tear. It is better to disengage the transmission when leaving the machine idle for a while.

And, cross-posting from the "planer snipe" thread: I just adjusted the machine to eliminate snipe. You can set the pressure on the infeed and outfeed rollers by means of pairs of nickel-sized set screws (you can see them at top and bottom in the attached view-from-above image with the dust chute removed). These don't actually move the rollers; they preload the springs to change how hard the rollers press down on the board. The rollers are set so they bottom out a little bit below the cutterhead.

Attachment 314911

I thought the problem was inadequate outfeed roller pressure, so I started by cranking down the outfeed side. That made a slight difference, but I was still getting a lot of snipe. When I backed off the infeed roller pressure, though, the snipe went away. I don't know whether the roller was compressing the board, or maybe causing the whole cutterhead assembly to flex upward, but reducing the pressure did the trick. I was then able to back off the outfeed pressure a bit too without re-introducing snipe. I have the leading edge roller set with just enough pressure to draw the board cleanly and firmly into the machine, but no more. I do have to be a little more careful to support the board on the way in to avoid leading edge snipe.

[Allan Speers]

The Felder is clearly a nicer machine. I especially admire the powered planer bed; no need for cranking the handle many times. Although the change over is indeed not a big deal, I often find myself trying to find a way to avoid the planer......

That's exactly why I passed on the Grizzly 12" helical combo, and got a SP planer. This Felder sure does look sweet !

[Nate Daggett]

Wow,

Thanks for doing this. You are right there is zero info on this machine to be found.

I recently put a deposit down on this exact machine then changd my mind a month later and upgraded to the Ad941.

As i understood it the 741 machine is single phase 4.8 horse not the 3 horse you say.

Have fun with your new toy!

What made you change your mind and get the AD941? Happy with it?

[Jim Becker]

Nate, Patrick moved on to a huge Martin jointer in his shop and sold the Felder. He's no longer a member here and will not be able to reply to your question.

[Erik Loza]

Nate, I've sold plenty of AD7-41's as well as AD9-41's. Any particular questions I can answer?

Erik