Thread: Should I buy a combination machine

And yes I said 20 Amp for the kiln but that was a few hours ago and things have changed since then

Hi Rudy, a couple of our ovens at work are 30amp single phase, they seem to use the same large screw in points like 3 phase.

When Mrs. Q got a long arm quilting machine many years ago my Felder CF731 soon appeared.

Then I quit woodworking, then I didn’t. I now have a BF6-31 made a few months before my original machine. The quilting machine is long gone, and I never did get my custom quilted machinery covers🤔

Originally Posted by Greg Q

When Mrs. Q got a long arm quilting machine many years ago my Felder CF731 soon appeared.

Then I quit woodworking, then I didn’t. I now have a BF6-31 made a few months before my original machine. The quilting machine is long gone, and I never did get my custom quilted machinery covers🤔

Greg, funny you should mention that, Mrs P. is looking at buying one at the moment. I have reached the stage of starting to sell stuff I no longer need or should not have bought in the first place.

I have a point to add about machinery purchase.

Before I purchased the spindle moulder I was a bit uncertain, because it is capable of doing things that I dont need at the time and/or I have not developed enough woodworking skills to utilise the feature - point is, I only realised its is capable of doing certain things when it is sitting in my shop making shavings/dust, we are limited by what we know and dont know.

Sometimes it could be feature one can utilise to fast track your process. every second count when you make $ from your shed.

Dont be afraid to make that purchase. sometimes it pays to spend that extra $10k. you will make it back within a couple of jobs.

Originally Posted by delbs

Sorry mate I missed this. Yeah they usually have solid cast iron tables that could handle this and that was on my older c3 31 with a ‘GRRipper’ push blocks along the way worked a treat. I’d have to compare the table sizes again for the length but I’d be surprised if they couldn’t handle these sizes. Just make sure you get a helical head

@Delbs, did you get to keep that little machine?

Man, that looked really amazing.

The spiral head was incredible..... ffffwwwwwwwww....

Just a quick update, apparently both the Minimax and Hammer are inferior machines according to the opposing sales reps/importers....actually made me laugh !, may need to find an alternative

Have initial pricing and have decided on a 410mm machine, and am in negotiation on pricing which I will elaborate on once I have decided...don't want to give away too much detail as don't know who lurks on this forum and don't want to give the game away !

I think in a combination planer/thicknesser wider is always better. You will never use the 410 width planing, but often will thicknessing glued up panels. I have a 350 wide Sicar that just did the job on some 340 panels for example.

Both machines are inferior in fact. You can tell both reps that you have decided on Martin machines, but they were a close second��

Originally Posted by Greg Q

I think in a combination planer/thicknesser wider is always better. You will never use the 410 width planing, but often will thicknessing glued up panels. I have a 350 wide Sicar that just did the job on some 340 panels for example.

Both machines are inferior in fact. You can tell both reps that you have decided on Martin machines, but they were a close second��

Is all relative Greg, they are far superior to what I am currently using and yes a Martin would be nice and am sure is far superior but there is no way I could justify that kind of spend.

Received a final offer from Felder last night with a 5% special discount, am happy with the price so will be putting a deposit down Monday

Excellent! I was joking about the Martin btw. It would be nice to have one, but that would be overkill for anything I could contemplate making. When I got my first combination machine I was in awe for months, and still kind of am.

I think you are going to be very happy.

Greg

Originally Posted by Greg Q

Excellent! I was joking about the Martin btw. It would be nice to have one, but that would be overkill for anything I could contemplate making. When I got my first combination machine I was in awe for months, and still kind of am.

I think you are going to be very happy.

Greg

Was pretty sure you were joking Greg, and yes think I will be very happy in October hopefully depending on distribution, apparently stock is currently in transit so will see how we go.

Cheers,

Rudy

Hi guys. I've been following this thread and lots of helpful videos and so on. I am not entirely new to woodworking, but have been wanting to "step it up" for ages!! I have lots of smaller tools (sanders, saws, etc), but it's time for some bigger (preferably second hand/demo) purchases. Thus my post!

Me: Home hobbyist. I have a good collection of milled and rough cut hardwoods. Made all sorts of benches/desks/light fittings for our house. Have lots of requests from other to build the light fittings for them (so may be an income stream). Would love to finer work, especially furniture. Time for workflow is not a massive issue. Emphasis on fun and safety. I do not own a table saw/thicknesser/jointer.

The Shed: I have only 3160 x 4500 to work with. There is a sliding door at each end with an opening of 870. If really necessary, I could remove a door fitting to get a bigger item in (up to 1400 wide). I have a concrete floor, and exposed trusses on roof (so can easily hang/attach anything). Dust management will be really important, as will the ability to move tools (so I can get them out of the way when not in use, or place near a door so I can work with long stock, which I do a fair bit of).

The 2 big options in my way of thinking:

1. A quality table saw (looking at maybe a Sawstop pcs 36" t-glide). I could in-turn make this a "table" when not in use. I could also perhaps add (or just get) the optional router table insert/fence. Then add a combo jointer/planer on wheels. Have access to a Festool Domino if needed.

2. A full combo machine. Looking at SCM Lab300, c30 or similar. I figure as long as it can rotate 180deg, then I can run long stock through the planer/jointer and out the sliding door. I like the idea of the control and added safety of their sliders for the saw/shaper. Probably don't need the mortisers that come with them, but happy to hear opinions!

Both options add up quick! For example,
- option 1 (new) would be about $6680 for the Sawstop plus router table, $2150 for a slider, then maybe a further $1200 or more for the router lift/router/bits. Then a combo thicknesser/jointer (10") might be $3000. We're already easily over $12k.
- Option 2 is looking at over $16k for a Lab300 new, but I've seen fairly new used SCM units (such as c30) go for under $10k.

I am sure many of you have been though all this. I do not part with hard-earned easily, however am happy to do so for the right item and high quality. Space is a big issue, so I suppose that's where I need to start!

All the best,
Mat

Originally Posted by mat-with-one-t

Hi guys. I've been following this thread and lots of helpful videos and so on. I am not entirely new to woodworking, but have been wanting to "step it up" for ages!! I have lots of smaller tools (sanders, saws, etc), but it's time for some bigger (preferably second hand/demo) purchases. Thus my post!

Me: Home hobbyist. I have a good collection of milled and rough cut hardwoods. Made all sorts of benches/desks/light fittings for our house. Have lots of requests from other to build the light fittings for them (so may be an income stream). Would love to finer work, especially furniture. Time for workflow is not a massive issue. Emphasis on fun and safety. I do not own a table saw/thicknesser/jointer.

The Shed: I have only 3160 x 4500 to work with. There is a sliding door at each end with an opening of 870. If really necessary, I could remove a door fitting to get a bigger item in (up to 1400 wide). I have a concrete floor, and exposed trusses on roof (so can easily hang/attach anything). Dust management will be really important, as will the ability to move tools (so I can get them out of the way when not in use, or place near a door so I can work with long stock, which I do a fair bit of).

The 2 big options in my way of thinking:

1. A quality table saw (looking at maybe a Sawstop pcs 36" t-glide). I could in-turn make this a "table" when not in use. I could also perhaps add (or just get) the optional router table insert/fence. Then add a combo jointer/planer on wheels. Have access to a Festool Domino if needed.

2. A full combo machine. Looking at SCM Lab300, c30 or similar. I figure as long as it can rotate 180deg, then I can run long stock through the planer/jointer and out the sliding door. I like the idea of the control and added safety of their sliders for the saw/shaper. Probably don't need the mortisers that come with them, but happy to hear opinions!

Both options add up quick! For example,
- option 1 (new) would be about $6680 for the Sawstop plus router table, $2150 for a slider, then maybe a further $1200 or more for the router lift/router/bits. Then a combo thicknesser/jointer (10") might be $3000. We're already easily over $12k.
- Option 2 is looking at over $16k for a Lab300 new, but I've seen fairly new used SCM units (such as c30) go for under $10k.

I am sure many of you have been though all this. I do not part with hard-earned easily, however am happy to do so for the right item and high quality. Space is a big issue, so I suppose that's where I need to start!

All the best,
Mat

Have you considered Felder/Minimax? although I have almost full SCM gear in my shop but when it comes to combination machine I think Felder/Hammer really shines...

If Felder/Hammer is out of the question then I think if I were you I will go for Lab300. a slider saw is different from a traditional table saw, I dont even have a mitre saw in my shop almost everything is done on the slider.

The mortiser is nice to have but time consuming to put on... go Domino if you can.

Saw/shaper sounds good but not that easy to use you will spend a lot of time setting the spindle up for one cut and then revert back to saw and then when you are in saw mode you realise you forgotten that one panel need to be done on the spindle moulder... etc etc.

Originally Posted by Albert

Have you considered Felder/Minimax? although I have almost full SCM gear in my shop but when it comes to combination machine I think Felder/Hammer really shines...

If Felder/Hammer is out of the question then I think if I were you I will go for Lab300. a slider saw is different from a traditional table saw, I dont even have a mitre saw in my shop almost everything is done on the slider.

The mortiser is nice to have but time consuming to put on... go Domino if you can.

Saw/shaper sounds good but not that easy to use you will spend a lot of time setting the spindle up for one cut and then revert back to saw and then when you are in saw mode you realise you forgotten that one panel need to be done on the spindle moulder... etc etc.

Thanks mate. Yes I’m looking at SCM Minimax (26, 30, lab300), or Felder Hammer, although the letter seems harder to find used and is maybe a fair bit pricier? I understand that maybe the trick with a combo unit is planning ahead what you want to do in order to minimise mucking about with setups. I am also, like you say, considering the slider. I was originally assuming the first thing I’d do would be to get a Festool Kapex 120REB mitre saw and build a nice station and bench. Then I came to realise all its functions were easily done on the table saw. This saves me 600mm of space along the longer wall (by not getting the mitre saw). I ave an old Hitachi mitre saw, a circular saw, a jig saw, etc, so can rough chop long stuff outside if need be......