Hi Stan
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Welcome to the group. Many wise heads here. Wiser than mine.
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I am also a hobbiest, working from a two-car garage, and after a few decades of Chinese-made machines, upgraded to Hammer machines about a dozen or so years ago. My slider is the Hammer K3 with a 1250mm wagon. This is a "short stroke", but entirely satisfactory for ripping shorter boards and crosscutting all. I only work with solid hard woods. Keep in mind that extra long boards are rarely kept this way - unless you are in the habit of building lots of dining tables and kingsize beds - and even then there is a work around. Most boards are broken down, and then ripping on the wagon is rarely an issue. The K3 does have a fine rip fence as well, just like a cabinet saw.
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For the very rare use of panels, there is a tracksaw available.?
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My K3 is somewhat "modified", insofar as their is a router table built into the outfeed, an parallel guide for the wagon, which is used in harmony with the crosscut fence (situated at the foot of the wagon - short stop sliders work in reverse), and a knee-stop for the on-off switch.? There is microadjust sfor the rip- and crosscut fences.
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I'm very happy with the K3. There are better machines available, but it does all I need it to do in building furniture,. Much of the time I include hand tools as well. I really have no desire to upgrade after 10 years of ownership.
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My other Hammer machines are an A3-31 combo and N4400 bandsaw. Again, the quality of the Felders is another jump up, but these represent extremely good quality for their cost. I am very happy with all of them, for their performance and reliability.
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No thoughts for a shaper. The router table fence is connected to the rip fence and uses its micro-adjust ...
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Please free to reach out for more.?
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Regards from Perth
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Derek
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inthewoodshop.com
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