Looking for a Martin sliding tablesaw

[Jim Becker]

I also agree with the sentiment that while it might be nice to shoot for a particular brand of machine, there are really high quality sliding saws from various brand names that come up on the used market and each should be evaluated individually, especially since there's a budget involved. It's probably more important to understand wear and tear than what color the machine is.

[Gregory Stahl]

Edward Papa at Simantech on Long Island is a Martin dealer and quite knowledgable. From time to time he takes older machines in trade and resells them. Worth a call.

I highly recommend Simantech--great family business to work with. I bought a used SLR saw from him several years ago. It was crated and wrapped up better than many new machines I bought. And the shipping--don't know how to say it--but I don't think he could have found a better way to get it to me. The truck driver beat me to my shop on delivery day and was waiting. When I pulled up I was shocked. A completely custom rig and trailer was on my lot. No pressure to unload--"take your time, my next appointment is tomorrow morning" says the driver! The company he used was a glass shipper. The trailer was compartmentalized for glass panels. It was pretty cool.

[Gregory Stahl]

Greg, sorry about the sourcing screw up. Am I remembering right that you thought the WA80 compared quite favorably or even preferably to the Felder Format saw? Dave

Yes. I had a Felder 900-series saw from 2008-2014 when I replaced it with my current Altendorf F45. I studied the WA80 at Stiles' Grand Rapids training center. It was under power and set-up for use in their demo/training shop. I ultimately went with the F45, but clearly remember deciding the WA80 would be a better option for me than the Format 400 saw. The WA80 is a much larger saw, to be fair. I asked Felder to quote their larger saw and they did not want too for some reason.

Here is an interesting Altendorf video. About half-way through, they show assembly of saws and machining of the table. If you watch close, there is a WA80 mixed in with the F45s on the assembly line. Sorry, it is in German though!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRbTdesYEzw


I really like the SCMI sliding tables. No matter how old the machine is, if it has been taken care of, the table always feels tight and smooth. A buddy bought a small mini-max slider last year. He cleaned up the table and lubed it and it feels just as smooth as the more expensive higher priced saws! I may buy a Mini-Max sliding table shaper based on my experience with his saw. If I had a limited budget of $10k or less, this where I would be looking.

[David Kumm]

The old SCM saws had separate ball bearings held in a plate with holes. The ways of the older saws were curved to match the diameter of the balls with some adjustment. The system seems to hold up pretty well although I've read posts from commercial users who said the eventually there will be wear. I've found it is pretty easy to identify those used machines that have been beaten hard. There will be evidence in the grinding of the fixed table near the blade and lots of wear and chewed up edges on the slider.

The Minimax shaper with the Aluminum table is better than the SCMI T130 NPS which uses a cast iron table. That sliding table is less smooth and the larger table opening puts it quite far from the cutters unless the tenoning attachment is used. I digress. Dave

[Patrick Kane]

Entertaining to read everyone's comparison opinions. As far as the OP is concerned, i echo the other sentiments towards Martin. I dream of owning a T54 one day, but the realistic scenario of me owning a 20" jointer will be in the form of a griggio, scmi, kolle, or some other euro make that isnt blue. ha, unless its maybe an olive green martin that is 30+ years old! Same for a slider. I have a Felder 700 series, and while its a pretty good machine, it isnt nearly as robust as the Holz saws ive used, or even the videos of martin's offerings. Now, its good for me, because i do need to take the outrigger table off when im not using it. I work in a shoebox, and with the outrigger on the saw i have about 11-12" of space to squeeze in between the wall and the crosscut fence. On a martin, this would be considerably more difficult. Their outrigger table is 4-5x as heavy as Felders. I think it weighs 200+ pounds while the felder is around 50, id say. Im sure the martin holds its settings incredibly well, but the felder hasnt disappointed me yet despite removing the table a few dozen times. With that said, i dont get the sense i could sit on the end of the outrigger, and im always tender with placing workpieces on my machines. If its about owning the very best you can buy, then these guys confirmed what you already suspected. However, if its about getting a fantastic saw under $10k, then there are plenty of options out there that would fit the bill. My machine was less than half your budget and its a combo saw/shaper.

[Charles Boone]

Thanks for all the feedback. Seems I will have to lower my sights a bit. A Martin, is probably a bit big for my current shop anyway. However I still think I can get a slider in my two car, lol. I have looked at Altendorf, I even like the wa6, nice looking saw. I have also looked at Hammer and Felder which have some good options. These three are a bit more in my price range. Again thanks for all your comments!

Ash

[Jim Becker]

Charles, for a two car garage, you really may be better served by looking a current offerings from Felder/Hammer and SCM/Minimax rather than the larger, used "industrial" saws that might become available. There are two reasons for that. One is just size...you can get ~8' sliders into most garage sized shops with some careful planning, but getting a ~10'+ slider, which many of the "industrial beasts" are isn't going to work because of the required front to back space for the wagon to have full travel. The other is power...you're going to be forced into dealing with 3 phase power for many of the "industrial" machines, but can get a mighty fine single phase saw from Felder/Hammer and SCM/Minimax with no issue.

[Joe Jensen]

Charles, I have a 3 car garage shop and when I was shopping for a slider in 2009 there were lots of cheap used industrial sliders (recession). I concluded that they were just too large. I ended up buying a new Felder 700 series saw/shaper instead of a used Altendorf or Martin.