New Felder FB 610 Band Saw

[Keith Outten]

I just finished connecting the dust collection piping to the new saw.
Next I need to design and build a crosscut sled, this one will be a bit larger than any I have built in the past
It will take me a couple days to decide where a couple small machines will be have to be moved to since the floor space they occupied has been reassigned. The Felder band saw is number four as I still have the 18" Jet, a 10" Rikon and my Baileigh metal Cutting horizontal band saw.

[Tom Dalabon]

Keith,
Now that you have had a few months to work on the FB610, how do you like it? Any issues? Would you do anything differently? Would you recommend the saw?
I am in the market for a new saw and am very interested in the FB510 and the FB610.
Thanks, Tom

[Keith Outten]

Tom,

I love the Felder FB610 band saw. I haven't had any issues with it at all and the performance exceeds my expectations. This is the saw I have been waiting for and although it took a long time I finally have it in my shop. I have been ripping, crosscutting and re-sawing up a storm with the new saw. The sign jobs in my shop lately have been all over the map from wood to Corian to PVC signs so I have had a chance to give the saw a good workout over the last two months. I haven't had to do any tuning, tweaking or adjusting on the new saw it was dead on right out of the crate.

I have been too busy to make the crosscut sled, I have several jobs that are promised by next week and when they are shipped I will get it done. The only nit I have with the machine is the size of the miter slot. The European saws have miter slots that are 12 by 7 mm I think which is much smaller that the 3/4" by 3/8" slots that are the most common. I can machine several lengths of Corian for my guide bars so I have some extras but I don't understand why the difference in the slot size.

I sold my 18" Jet band saw last weekend and I don't think I will miss it one bit

I recommend the FB610 without reservation.

[Tom Bain]

Keith -- sounds like a great machine. I'll be in the market for a new bandsaw in the not too distant future. I'm curious about 2 things with the Felder:

1) How did you find going from the ball bearing guides to the euro-style guides? I've played around with a Mini-Max that has the Euro guides, and I didn't love them but maybe it's something you get used to after a while.
2) Is the lack of a quick tension release an issue for you at all?

Thanks.

[Craig Behnke]

The only nit I have with the machine is the size of the miter slot. The European saws have miter slots that are 12 by 7 mm I think which is much smaller that the 3/4" by 3/8" slots that are the most common. I can machine several lengths of Corian for my guide bars so I have some extras but I don't understand why the difference in the slot size.

I agree, the miter slot is annoying, but it's an easy fix.

I've had a Felder FB510 since April of this year and it's a fantastic machine that exceeds my needs (and skills).

I've found the lower blade guides are annoying to adjust (it's a cramped space) and the foot brake doesn't stop the saw very quickly...and one or two times it has not rebounded from the depressed position so the saw won't restart until you manually lift the foot brake. I let Felder know and I'll get around to troubleshooting it sometime, but I'm just too busy right now.

Small nits. Overall it's a beast of a machine and it has met or exceeded my expectations so far.

below are some pics of the cramped lower blade guide area;
BS 3.jpgBS 2.jpgBS 1.jpgShop 1.jpg

[Phil Thien]

What an awesome saw.

How is the cut quality? My little bandsaws don't provide the same cut quality I get from my table saw. But, I understand larger bandsaws can meet a table saw cut quality.

[Rick Potter]

Curious Keith,

Do you use a carbide blade to cut corian?
How wide will that saw cut?

Rick Potter

[Keith Outten]

Tom,

The guides seem to be fine for me but the larger blade might be a reason why.
I never have released the tension on any band saw I have ever owned, frankly it never seemed to be necessary.

Craig,

I don't remember having a problem adjusting the lower blade guides, maybe there is more clearance on the FB610. I'll check when I go back down to my shop.
My foot brake has been working perfectly, no problems so far.

Phil,

The cut quality is better than any other band saw I have ever used, even the re-saw cuts are pretty smooth on Corian and PVC, wood is even better. BUT I am still using the OEM blade that came with the saw so I expect the quality might improve even more when I install a high quality blade, I have just been to busy to place an order.

Rick,

Cutting Corian is the same as wood, the only difference is you need to go slower. A slow speed will make your blades last longer. Over the years I haven't noticed Corian to be hard on any of my blades or router bits but Ken Dolph warned me when I started using Corian to go slow when cutting or routing. I believe Corian is much easier on blades then many wood species. When I get a minute I intend to order a Lennox carbide blade, probably one inch wide to start with.

The FB610 has a 16" re-saw capacity. There is 22 5/8" between the blade and the column and 16" max to the edge of the fence when its in the vertical position.
.

[bob cohen]

Hi Keith, Congrats on the saw. Looks like a real beauty. I am rebuilding my shop from scratch and also considered going the bandsaw rout instead of a table saw. Ultimately I got the table saw (PM2000), and now am in market for a bandsaw and jointer-planer. I keep changing my mind, of course, but for the bandsaw it will probably be the laguna LT20, the minimax MM16 or 20, or the felder FB610. My previous bandsaw was a laguna (16 inch Meber) and I was happy with it, especially after I outfitted it with a resaw king blade and upgraded to ceramic guides. But, I am not a fan of Laguna's customer service. I also have concerns about dust collection with their italian made saws (the meber was made in bulgaria?). What is your early opinion on dust collection with the FB610? Also how do you feel about the FB610 guides compared to the laguna's ceramic guides or other guides you have used? The adjustments on my ceramic guides (perhaps the original version) were cumbersome and the lower guide was positioned too far below the table in my opinion. The saw was a champ at resawing (provided the blade was sharp) but basically sucked at cutting curves. Resawing is my main concern with the new saw, but it would be nice if it could cut curves at least as well as a jigsaw. I had an inca 10 bandsaw before getting the laguna. Boy, do I regret parting with that. It cut curves beautifully and was a joy to use. Just not big enough for an all purpose saw.

[David Kumm]

The LT 20 and the MM 16 would be comparable for resawing and the MM 20 is the heaviest frame resaw of the ones you mentioned. For general work the wider throat and larger table of the 610 are handy but it was not developed as a resaw but rather a very nice lower priced alternative to Felders ACM sourced saws. Laguna LT are ACM too. Felder did a really nice job with the FB series that they assemble from components sourced elsewhere to compete with Italian machines but they are not primarily resaws. Depends on your main purpose. Dave

[Carl Knapp]

The LT 20 and the MM 16 would be comparable for resawing and the MM 20 is the heaviest frame resaw of the ones you mentioned. For general work the wider throat and larger table of the 610 are handy but it was not developed as a resaw but rather a very nice lower priced alternative to Felders ACM sourced saws. Laguna LT are ACM too. Felder did a really nice job with the FB series that they assemble from components sourced elsewhere to compete with Italian machines but they are not primarily resaws. Depends on your main purpose. Dave

IMG_7700.jpgIMG_7667.jpgIMG_7694.jpg
Dave,
Don't take offense, your posting bad information for the world to read. Call me if you need me to explain. Normally I will not jump in, although I need to correct some inaccuracies, The N4400, FB510 and FB610 are designed to Resaw. They can also run narrow blades. Weight alone doesn't give you frame strength. Frame design, bracing, gusseting Etc is more at play. The technology used today is the same found in unibody cars.

I ran high end collision shops for many years, The old heavy cold rolled steel framed cars and trucks collapsed and twisted more so than the much lighter unibody ones. I don't want to get into a debate, comment on any of the competition or get into a sales pitch here on line.

My suggestion to anyone looking for a machine would be to call the sales rep from each manufacturer and go through their machine in detail.

[David Kumm]

Carl, No offense taken and certainly didn't intend to give bad info. When I looked the the Felder saws in Atlanta a year ago, I was impressed with them. ( Felder runs the best booth there). I can't remember who I talked to there but he was very fair in telling me that as fine a saw as it is, it was not the equal of the ACM based machine for heavy use, and not meant to be. I may have mistakenly assumed that meant frame strength and resaw ability and in fairness that info is over a year old now. I should not have stated it wasn't developed as a resaw- assumption and not fact. I'm a cast iron guy but do like the smaller Centauro based saws over the comparable ACM until you get to 24" after which it doesn't matter much. You are absolutely correct that a buyer should check everything out for himself. There are some all Asian saws that are credible resaw machines as well. Dave

[Keith Outten]

Hi Keith, Congrats on the saw. Looks like a real beauty. I am rebuilding my shop from scratch and also considered going the bandsaw rout instead of a table saw. Ultimately I got the table saw (PM2000), and now am in market for a bandsaw and jointer-planer. I keep changing my mind, of course, but for the bandsaw it will probably be the laguna LT20, the minimax MM16 or 20, or the felder FB610. My previous bandsaw was a laguna (16 inch Meber) and I was happy with it, especially after I outfitted it with a resaw king blade and upgraded to ceramic guides. But, I am not a fan of Laguna's customer service. I also have concerns about dust collection with their italian made saws (the meber was made in bulgaria?). What is your early opinion on dust collection with the FB610? Also how do you feel about the FB610 guides compared to the laguna's ceramic guides or other guides you have used? The adjustments on my ceramic guides (perhaps the original version) were cumbersome and the lower guide was positioned too far below the table in my opinion. The saw was a champ at resawing (provided the blade was sharp) but basically sucked at cutting curves. Resawing is my main concern with the new saw, but it would be nice if it could cut curves at least as well as a jigsaw. I had an inca 10 bandsaw before getting the laguna. Boy, do I regret parting with that. It cut curves beautifully and was a joy to use. Just not big enough for an all purpose saw.

Bob,

My experience with band saw dust collection is very limited simply because the band saws I owned in the past really weren't worth the effort IMO. I agree that my position was pretty dumb but I never had a really good band saw that I felt was a production quality machine. I treated them like skill saws or jigs saws, you use them and get rid of them when you needed something bigger or they were worn out. I've known for a long time how valuable a high end band saw can be but my budget has been spent over the last few years in another direction and this year I decided it was time to upgrade some machines in my shop that aren't laser engravers or CNC routers. As it turned out the only areas of my shop that I felt warranted the financial investment this year were my Jet 18" band saw, welding machines and a new metal cutting band saw.

Its tough to upgrade both metal and woodworking machines in the same shop but my principal projects are signs which means I have to work in multiple mediums. I decided that my very old joiner, planer and mill/drill are still perfect for my shop and there was no need to even consider upgrading them. I spent a considerable amount of money on my table saw a few years ago and now I find that it rarely gets used anymore so I intend to re-purpose the floor space very soon because my 24 by 36 foot shop is very crowded.

Now back to the band saw dust collection topic I connected my new FB610 to my DC system on day one and I am very happy with the performance. I probably should share some details because my DC system is unlike most because I use an exterior chip box. My system has no cyclone, filters or bags. My 20 year old Grizzly 1.5 HP dust collector is connected to the primary machines from one end of my shop to the other via a 4" PVC pipe system. The exhaust line from the dust collector goes right thru the wall to an big steel tank outside my shop. The performance is excellent when you consider how inexpensive my system is and its based on the idea of removing the back pressure so a small system can function above its normal capacity and fine dust can't leak inside. Since the DC system is part of the band saw dust collection performance I thought I should share this information. In a nutshell I can use the band saw all day long without the need to stop and sweep or vacuum and I'm surprised at how few chips end up inside the bottom of the cabinet.

My evaluation of the guide system isn't worth much at this point because the FB610 is the first saw I have ever used with this design which is radically different from the bearing style systems that my previous saws used. So far so good, the Felder works better then I expected no matter what I have tried to cut or re-saw the FB610 has been a joy to use. I should add that the band saw is so dang tall that I need to reposition a couple ceiling lights because it is casting a shadow on my CNC router table

I gained a lot of knowledge from our Members here at The Creek before I contacted Felder. There are some very talented people here with lots of band saw expertise that I have been listening to for a long time, reading their posts trying to determine which saw would be the best value for my shop and hopefully be my last band saw. I spent a lot of time at IWF in Atlanta a couple years ago visiting vendors as well so I have been planning this purchase for some time.

I'm grinning like a smile onto a possum
.

[Ed Meathe]

Craig,

I have been researching bandsaws for the past year and have narrowed my list to two, one of which is the Felder FB510. I have found your posts on your experience with the FB510 very informative, particularly those regarding the tight adjustment space around the lower guides. Have you found this to be a significant issue? Also, I noted that the bandsaw shown in your shop pictures has changed from the original picture dated 5/18/2013 (FB510 with the green blade guards) to that shown in your recent post with the shop picture dated 9/15/2013 (red blade guards and a different style knob on the front plate of the upper housing). What model of bandsaw is this machine? Is there a reason that you changed from your original (5/18/2013) configuration? Experience of users of the FB510 are rather limited, so I truly appreciate your commentary and would like to incorporate your experience into my final decision process. Thank you for your input in this regard.

The images shown below are the ones that I am referring to in my post.

BS 20130518.jpgBS 20130915.jpg

[Craig Behnke]

Ed,

The tight quarters of the lower guide aren’t a deal breaker, but I wish the lower guides were as easy to access as the MM16 that I had some experience using (at a friends workshop). The MM bandsaws are fantastic machines and they are incredibly popular because they are so well made and perform so well.

I think the FB510 is a great high-end hobby machine, it has proven to be a fantastic bandsaw that exceeds my needs and skills. I had a fixed budget that I had to stay within. If I had an extra $1,000 to spend, I probably would have gone with the MM16 and the Hammer Jointer Planer (I really wanted the spiral cutterhead for working with figured wood). But doing that I would have given up some meaningful discounts and my shipping cost would have more than doubled.

I’ve read conflicting info, some say that the lower blade guide closeness to the underside of the table isn’t very significant…but I don’t know, I’m not a professional woodworker with 1,000’s of hours of experience resawing and such. I'm sure others Creeker's can help you with that question.

The change of green to red was just me modifying the machine. I thought the green accents were pretty ugly. I was just matching it to the Hammer Jointer grey and red color scheme, that was all.

Both Minimax and Felder make great machines and it’s very likely you’ll be very happy with either Bandsaw. So much depends on your budget and the type of work you’ll be doing. Either way, have some fun with the decision and keep us updated!