A couple days late jumping in on this topic to share my experience. I have had a Minimax FS 52es for several months, and am 100%b satisfied. Before purchase I was considering this machine or the Felder Dual 51. I consulted with several owners of both machines, including FOG expert members and Sam Blasco at SCM. The price of the two machines was very close, the FS 52es a little more than the Dual 51. Do not be put of by the "Minimax" label - the FS 52es is not "mini" in any way. As David Best has pointed out, the FS 52es' parallelogram jointer table suspension system is superior to the value engineered system on the Dual 51. The machine is very robust, and arrived in perfect condition and alignment, ready to go to work. Jointed surfaces/edges are dead flat - no concave "sprung joint" edges as reported on many Felder jointers. The electronic thickness control on the planer is accurate and reproducible out-of-the-crate within 0.1 mm, which is good enough for me. Dust extraction is very good, even though the FS 52es dust port is a a little smaller diameter than the Dual 51. There is no need to flip the dust port hose orientation when switching from planer to jointer function. The jointer fence is stout and maintains square alignment. The mobility kit works well and there is no handle attachment bracket sticking out from the machine.?
On advice of Sam Blasco, I selected the Tersa cutterhead instead of the SCM Xylent spiral carbide insert head, and am glad I did. I previously had a jointer with a Byrd Shelix head and thought it was great, but he Tersa surface finish is FAR better. For my low volume shop I have no dog in the Tersa versus segmented knife fight and don't care about their comparative costs.? Both are good systems depending on the type and volume of work one does. The straight knife Tersa finish is astounding. and as pointed out by others, the fluffy Tersa shavings do fill up the dust bin faster.
Starting with Sam Blasco, the sales process with SCM was great - more informed and straightforward than my previous Felder experiences. The SCM North American HQ in Georgia was good to deal with on order and delivery logistics.? The SCM tech support was very responsive in answering my few questions that arose from the terse user manual. On the other hand, I have also had very good experience with Felder tech support for my K700 and FB 510.?
Don
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