new Edgebander choices

[Kevin Crawford]

Hello friends,
I am looking into buying an edgebander for my shop. I have been using my neighbors small SCM bander the last couple of years and before that using a small hot air blower version. My neighbors is an older used machine and its been getting worse, so I think its about time I invest in my own.
I run a small cabinet/furniture shop, myself and a helper. I am aware that edgebanders are the most fussy machines that we can buy so I was thinking about biting the bullet and getting a big name edgebander like a Holzher. But between the size and the cost, I'm not sure its worth it to go that level of machine given my shop size. I have a small smallish shop so I could make a holzher 1054 or similar machine fit but it would definitely take up a lot of space.
I am also entertaining the idea of getting a felder 360 with pre-mill or something like it because its half of what a pre-mill holzher would be.
Its a situation where I could finance the bigger more reputable machine and hopefully not have to mess with it very often but that's never a guarantee. Or I can go with the smaller less expensive competitor machine that may need more messing around on a regular basis.
I'm sure I'm not the only one who has been in these shoes.
What did you do?
Would you have done something different?
What machine did you end up going with?

[derek labian]

Hi Kevin,

Sadly I have no experience with edge-banders but I think general advice you've probably heard applies here:

1) How important is edge-banding to your furniture making, i.e. how much do you use the machine and how much time are you wasting on the older neighbors machine that you think you will save?
2) Its hard to argue that going with the best is a bad option if you can afford it and if the space requirements are similar. If it requires substantially more space or its the cost than you want, you probably should be looking at the Felder. Again, see point 1.
3) The money your going to save on the Felder vs Holzher, could this be allocated to something else that would be more productive?
4) You probably won't ever regret the Holzher if you buy it, unless its substantially larger and is in the way. It seems like a "buy once cry once" type situation.
5) I suspect that your gut is telling you go Holzher, but its always attractive to save money, etc. In my experience, more often then not, when I cheap out to save a bit of money, I often regret it and spend more money in the long run.

Derek

P.S. I'm sure both machines are fine. Minimax also has the ME25, I saw a video of it operating and it was pretty impressive; I'm sure its comparable to the Felder.