Hey everybody I was wondering if y¡¯all could help me out with recommendations on a new slider. I am torn between what machine to get.
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I am 29 years old and simply a hobbyist who would like to upgrade to nice slider that I could have for a very long time (currently running a PM2200). I live below Washington DC and about 2 hours from felder in Delaware so I was able to look at some of the machines they have to offer. I originally was thinking about getting a K3 but then I got to play with the x-roll table and lets just say i wish I didn¡¯t because now i feel like I want to step it up to the felder line. I just got done building a 30x40 garage which I use as my workshop so I don¡¯t have a space issue.
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My first thought was ¡°I want a slider that could straight line rip a 8¡¯ sheet¡± which led me to a k500 with a bigger slider or the k500s but after being on the phone with my sales rep for an hour he basically made the recommendation towards the 500 professional since his justification was ¡°if your not ripping 8¡¯ sheets all the time I wouldn¡¯t worry about it¡± he said their was a trimming shoe that I could buy to rip 8¡¯ sheets on the occasion. Im not quite sure though how that works so im confused there. He quoted me that the package deal on the larger k3w was $5,900, the 500p was about $7000, and the 500s was about $9200.
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So my thought was if im gonna take the plunge and spend $5900 on a new saw then I could stomach another $1100 for the xroll but honestly the 500s seems out of reach for me.
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I also considered the KF500 and B3 comfort as options but im not sure If I want a stand alone shaper or deal with the conversion. The biggest turn off is flipping up a power feeder when I want it. Another issue I have with the felder shaper is the spindle size I have a huge collection of freeborn cutters I picked up on CL from someone for basically free but they are ?¡±. I did think about the option to mill a spare spindle down to ?¡±. Im currently looking at the laguna 5 hp shaper.
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All feedback and recommendations are welcome.
