Thread: Felder K500s

In my experience all the Felder gear is good. if you want to spend a bit less the Hammer is great too. replacement parts and consumables can be a on the pricey side tho.

Hi Zack

Welcome to the forum.

I do not know anyone here with a Felder K500. I have a Hammer K3 (made by Felder), which is similar. Happy to discuss this. There are others here with one as well.

What is your background in woodworking?

Regards from Perth

Derek

Thanks Zed and Derek for the replies.

From what I've been told and read the K500 is a Hammer K4 base with the 'x roll' table.

Im a carpenter whose work is starting to intertwine with his hobby. I do a lot of case work with birch ply and the likes, So wanted something with a 2800mm-3200mm table, I got a price on both of them and there was about $500 difference in the total. Except on the Felder, the 'x roll' table and the titling components have a 10 year warranty. So if it were a 2 horse race The Felder would win.

Do know if there are any other single phase panel saws you could recommend.

Cheers,

Zack.

You could look at Minimax which should be of equal quality but Felder seem to have better after sales back up, just my observation.

Hi Chris,

Thats one of the reasons I went for Felder to begin with. Plus Im pretty close to the Melbourne office.

Cheers,

Zack.

It’s a shame you’re stuck with single phase, it limits your choices a lot. Felder may be the best option for you, SCM seem to go below or above the K500 spec, the SC3 is only 3hp in single phase (with belt driven scriber not independent) and the models above that are more competitive with the K540 with 3 phase and 350 or 400 blade. I think Robland might only be 3hp in single phase which really isn’t enough and other brands don’t even offer it. There’s a few choices in Chinese saws, though I expect if you’re looking at Felder then Nanxing and the like aren’t on your radar. It’s rare enough to find a single phase panel saw with over 2500 long slider, let alone one with enough power.

Hi Richmond68,

The quotes I received to get 3 phase power to my property were crazy. It deffinatly limits my options. I started the hunt for a panel saw in January this year, and I'm sure I would of had one by now if I had 3 phase power.

An independent scoring blade over a belt driven is far superior, thats another reason Felder jumped out at me. Ive looked at plenty of Chinese ,Taiwanese saws but the quality just is not there, plus the after sales back up with Felder seems the goods. The 16 week wait on the other hand.

Thanks for your input. Greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
Zack

Is running one from a VFD not an option? NCARChER might be able to advise on this.

Hi Chris,

It did cross my mind, but knew to little about it. Trying to keep the process for me as simple as possible. Plus I asked my neighbour (an electrician) he told me to steer clean if I could.

Also if I were to move in the future to somewhere with 3 phase power. I feel the resale value of a Felder machine would be far better than a Chinese, Taiwanese machine.

Cheers,
Zack.

I think most domestic electricians who do not have the working knowledge would say the same thing, only sparkies who have a commercial/industrial work background have a true knowledge of VFD's and NCArcher is one of those. PM him if he does not see this thread and ask his advice.

Thanks Chris, will do.

Zack.

I have a Felder BF631 three phase which I run off a phase converter (Home Page | Phase Change Converters). The phase converter takes a 32 amp single phase circuit, cost a lot and is a bit noisy, but allows all my three phase stuff to run without any modifications.

I considered VFDs but a machine such as the Felder has three motors so it really requires three VFDs, which starts getting a bit complicated. And a conversion to VFDs would obviously void any warrantee.

I would do it the same way again.

Leigh


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I have a Felder K540S. I bought the unit new approximately 8 months ago. After some setup from the Felder team, the machine performs incredibly well.
What attracted me to this unit is it can take a dado blade, which I was used to in my old tablesaw.

I love the fact that can rip large sheet goods which was difficult on the standard tablesaw.

Robust design, accurate cutting, enough power and great dust extraction.

Very happy overall.

I think its better to invest in 3 phase power and then you'd have virtually unlimited amount of 3 phase machines to choose from...

I was in that position with single phase power only, the issue with single phase is that its for domestic, if you want to run anything commercial from your operation its like asking a chihuahua to do a Malamute's job.

I had an electrical engineer friend to design and spec the power distribution and electrical drawings for my workshop and then hired an electrician to do the job. quote was astronomical but the sparky laid it out and we went ahead.

Best investment ever.

one regret though - I didnt spend the extra $$$ to get 100amp supply.

Apart from the power, K500 is a very good saw, the servicing and parts is expensive if you dont use it commercially, however if you have 3 phase sorted and has enough room, see if you can get a second hand Altendorf or Martin.

I have a single phase 3hp Robland full slider in my workshop, I think if you have proper blades then 3hp is enough for daily use... I bought mine new and had it for over 5-6 years now. I use it semi commercially, Robland is about half the cost of a Felder, made in Belgium if they havnt changed.