Thread: Felder or hammer planer thicknesser

Mick,

I have the Felder 700 series planer/thicknesser. I am very happy with it. It works as expected, works hard, easy to use and easy to change blades.

I bought it 3 years and have since forgotten why I chose it over the Hammer.

Thanks for the reply. There must be a few more people who have bought these machines. Would be interested to know what they thought of them.

Hi Mick,,

I Have the Hammer c3 31 and I am more than happy with the thicknesser jointer. I have been processing metres of NG Rosewood from 200x50x2700 and the finish is terrific.

Not sure whether the extra cost of the Felder is worth it but not having both very hard to comment.

Felder is Hammers bigger brother but there are a lot of bits in common. One thing I am certain about is that either machine is a street ahead of the competition unless you get into the real heavy duty professional.

jeff........

Thanks for replying. I want to get a machine that will machine up pretty much any sought of timber i throw at it. i.e australian hardwood timbers big enough to make 8 seater dining tables. I dont want to be upgrading in a couple of years time because what i buy cant handle the timbers or lengths i put through it.

Mick, I have had the Hammer A31 thicknesser/jointer for 6 months. I am an absolute beginner, never used one of these machines before. No problems setting up, once fence is adjusted produces perfectly square, smooth finish. Have been using it with 8' lengths of tallowood no worries. Very happy, Ross

Thanks for replying. I am edging towards the hammer as it is about half the price of the felder but i just dont want to be disappointed that i didnt buy the felder as i cannot see myself upgrading again.

Hi Mick. I bought a Felder AD 741 planer thicknesser about 18 months ago. I was new to these machines at the time, so it was an expensive buy for a newbier (I bought a Hammer 4400 bandsaw at the same time - a great machine). I looked at all the Chinese imports before going to Felder NSW. I was originally interested in the Hammer planer thicknesser, but I chose the Felder for the following reasons. First, it has a 4 blade cutter head, so you can use it with 2 or 4 blades, depending on how many blades you want to ruin on difficult timber. The blades are a bit pricey, but incredibly simple to change. Second, the fence on the Felder was more substantial and straighter than on the Hammer. Third, there are heaps of options and accessories for the Felder. For example, I upgraded the motor. Finally, and for me, most importantly, I got Powerdrive. This is an expensive option, but it is fantastic. I really didn't want to crank the thicknessing table 60-80 turns one way, and then 60-80 turns the other, every time I switched from planing to thicknessing or vice versa. Powerdrive does this in seconds, and makes setting the thickness a breeze. And it's accurate to 0.1 mm. I am SOOOO glad I got this option. BUT ... the Felder and all these great options are expensive, and the Hammer is a great machine and is much cheaper, so ultimately it comes down to how much you have to spend and how much you're prepared to spend. I have never regretted my choice and I'd recommend the Felder AD741 to anyone. I'm lucky I could afford a Felder. Cheers. Shamus.

Thanks for replying. How expensive was the power drive and does anyone out there have these machines without the powerdrive and is it a real hassle to wind the tables up and down without it?

Hi Mick. The Powerdrive option was $1500. All up I spent about $13,000 on the AD741, including 3 phase, motor upgrade, table accessories and Powerdrive. I've never used a planer thicknesser without it, so I can only guess how it would be to crank the thicknessing table up and down. There are plenty of folks out there who could comment from experience. Try one in a store and see what you think. Cheers. Shamus.

Hi guys, sorry its taken a while to get back but i have bought the AD531 felder planer thicknesser and am very happy with it. I got the single phase option with the four knife cutterblock, power drive for the thicknesser rise and fall was not an option. I also got a wheel around kit and some table extensions. I would suggest that anyone who buys this machine with the wheel kit puts the wheel kit together when the felder bloke is their with his trolley jack as the machine is very heavy to lift later to put the wheels on.
Thanks for everones input.

Hi Mick. Congratulations. I'm sure you'll love it. Good point about the weight and the wheel kits. We used a fork lift. Cheers. Shamus

Hi Mick,

Sounds like a great machine, (that goes without saying I guess). You know what they say about threads without pictures don't you?

Just to impress those that do not have a Felder, any chance of posting a few pictures of it in action mate? We all love pictures of tools and machines.

Has it stood up to the timber you have put through it? Is the finish as good as you expected?

Cheers
Pops (very jealous)

Hi pops, not to good with posting pictures just yet but i will work on that. The finish has been quite good. I have put some spotted gum through it and was quite happy with the results( much better than the scheppach that i used to have). I have also put some quartersawn silkyoak through it with a little pit of tearout in the flecks but i think that that was always going to happen.

Mick