Thread: Combination Planer/Thicknesser recommendations.

Consider a second hand setup, there’s heaps of older,solid, three phase stuff for sale that will pull the pants off those you have mentioned and do it for many years. I bought this from a place that was “upgrading” for tax purposes 2C14BE23-C27C-4A86-B745-A6A0F7E40A45.jpeg
I paid $600 for it and it sings like a bird. You don’t HAVE TO have a spiral head, they are nice, but not the be all and end all. For a couple of grand, you could find two nice older machines, and with the change you have from what you would have spent on a new one, you can buy other machines, or a big pile of timber to put through them. Good luck.

I will PM you.

I have an A3-31 spiral which is one of my favourite machines. It's so accurate. They are pricey, and you will wait a long time to get it as they are built to order, and then have come from Europe.

This AD531 is possibly too narrow for you, but it's been sitting at Felder NSW for a long time. It's an ex-customer's machine, and looked pretty much like new. I think he wanted $7500 for it. Felder ended up buying it from him to loan to another customer while he waited for his new machine, and then re-advertised it at a price premium! ie if interested, I'd negotiate very hard! (I think Felder take at least 10% of the price for anything they sell for customers, so I reckon they paid under $7K for it).

If you have a shed the size of a football field and 3P like that swine Riverbuilder, and a way to shift heaviness, then his advice to look at big old 3P machines is good advice - there've been a few around lately.

That was my plan to buy older 3 phase machines. I'm actually having trouble finding some that are still connected, so I can see if they are working as they should. Even Machines4U is a little light on for second hand machines, unless you are in the need of a massive industrial thicknesser.
I will definitely keep looking.
I just like the idea of the spiral cutters with the four sides blades and the fact that they make such a clean cut, which I hoping will cut down on the need for me travelling into town to get the glued boards sanded through a thickness sander.
Cheers .

And $600 is an awesome price for the jointer you have. Most I can come across are in the $2000-$3000 range.

So it's happened. I bit the bullet and bought the Hammer A3 41. I should have it by the end of the month and I'll let you know how I go with it.
It was the most expensive out of all of them and they don't budge on price either. But after doing a heap of research it ticked all the boxes for me.
Cheers.

Originally Posted by Clampdown

So it's happened. I bit the bullet and bought the Hammer A3 41. I should have it by the end of the month and I'll let you know how I go with it.
It was the most expensive out of all of them and they don't budge on price either. But after doing a heap of research it ticked all the boxes for me.
Cheers.

I didnt see this until today, I have a Felder AD951, I hope you have viewed both machine before you made the decision.

SCM puts more emphasis on industrial player, not alot on home owner/hobbyists.

Hammer/Felder has better marketing/online presence compare to SCM, probably because most of its user are the owner/operator.

A bit late. I own 2 Hammer machines ( A3-31 and N4400 ) and an Elite series Minimax machine (SC4E), the Minimax is in a completely different relm to the Hammer machines and they seem like toys in comparison. In short I dream of the day I can upgrade the Hammers to Minimax's.

Originally Posted by barramonday

A bit late. I own 2 Hammer machines ( A3-31 and N4400 ) and an Elite series Minimax machine (SC4E), the Minimax is in a completely different relm to the Hammer machines and they seem like toys in comparison. In short I dream of the day I can upgrade the Hammers to Minimax's.

This is my feeling as well, I am planning to upgrade my AD951 to SCM jointer and planer in a year or two.

Thanks for the advice. It's not a full time job building furniture, it's more of a side project thing. I can't really see it taking off that much that I have to quit my day job. I looked at the SCM range, as I have an older SCM Minimax panel saw and they seem will built. The SCM combo that was similar to the Hammer A3 41 was nearly $5000 extra and I stretched the budget to by the Hammer and not a Woodfast machine. I'm sure it will do everything I want it to do and probably more. I would have loved to be able to have the room and budget to buy two stand alone machines, but that's not the case.
I'm sure if things kick off and I look to get a heap of jobs I can always sell and upgrade if need be. I have also found that with buying machines is like buying a new car. People have both good and bad stories and experiences with products, so I sort of take go from there.both sides and smooch them together and
No I didn't see the machine as they had no machines in stock and this one has only just landed in Australia.

Thanks again Paul.

Originally Posted by Clampdown

As the title says I'm after some information and advice on a combination machine. I know this has been asked on here a few times, but I'm only able to find threads that are about 10 years old.
I have three combo machines in mind:

SCM MiniMax FS410 $14,500
MiniMax FS41E Combination Surfacer Thicknesser – SCM Australia

Woodfast 400mm $5995
M M Vic Sales and Service - M M Vic Sales and Service

Hammer A3 41 $ ? Can't get a price on one of these as no-one at Felder will get back to me.
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I've never used a combo machine and I have the room for separate machines but I just like the idea on saving space and a little money too. I have 3 phase power so I'm wanting a 3 phase machine.

SCM would be good but I can't really justify the big price tag for a job that's not full time as of yet and will probably only ever be a bit of a side hustle.

My only issue with the Woodfast is that they are no longer made in Aus, which has been the case for sometime now. The other two machines are made in Italy (I think) and I know their quality is good. I
I also like the idea of the spiral cutting heads that the new machines offer.

So any feedback, advice, quality, spare parts, experience with the machines or if you can throw another quality built machine in the hat, just to really confuse me that would be great.

Wow, I am considering a new, larger jointer-planer and got some quotes. Holy heck have prices skyrocketed the last 3 years (probs mainly the last two due to massive monetary inflation I guess). A Felder AD941 that was $15k in late 2018 is now over $25k and even the SCM Minimax F41E you got a quote for $14500 less than three months ago is over $16,000! I'm not sure if this is transitory, but I highly doubt it so I suppose I should suck it up and just ignore the 70% price rises.

With the wild price of new machines, there are some gems in the second hand market even if you have to factor in a phase changer to get three phase working.

I stumbled across an auction in NSW with three big 70’s planer thicknessers. There’s an SCM 20” and a couple of Wadkins. Likely will need some modifications to the chip collection but they all look like serious machines that would likely still do good work 50 years from now.

IT, Recreational and General Goods - Pickles Auctions Australia

I can’t edit my post above, so I have to reply to myself: Only the 20” SCM is a planer thicknesser despite the auction listings. The Wadkin Bursgreen 12” machines are planers only. All of them would be three phase, all are ex TAFE, all need some restoration to one degree or another.

If I was younger I would buy that big SCM machine for myself.