Given what David said about the dust extractor position for 49" clearance to the right of the blade, I might as well stay with the 49" rip capacity option.? One of the pluses of this machine is the ability? to process full-size sheet goods.??

You don’t have to have a 49” rip fence to cut to the center of a 4x8 panel, but you do need to have the overhead support post at the 49” position (which is how my Kappa is configured).

I looked at David's pictures.? David, you have the mitre indexing system.? Is that Option 170 or 173?? Do you find it useful and simple to use?? It looks complicated from the pictures and catalog.? I cannot tell if it can be used accurately.??

I have the “Mitre index scale with length compensation” option?430-26041 on the quote. ?On the Felder web site for the KF700, it’s referred to as option 173. ? I have a number of comments about this option. ? 1 - yes, it is accurate - both in angle settings and compensating for length. ? 2 - it is cumbersome to use with the digital crosscut fence because that fence is so heavy and awkward to reposition. ? That option makes more sense to me in conjunction with the simpler, lighter weight analog crosscut fence. ? The process of using the indexing system is as follows: ?unlock the lever that clamps the fence to the outrigger table, push the fence toward the blade to disengage it from the 90-degree index stop, move the fence to the desired angle as you also continue to push the fence toward the blade, once at the desired index stop, push the fence into the index detent, then re-lock the fence to the outrigger table. ?3 - only selected and commonly used angles index with length compensation - you can set any arbitrary angle of course, but length compensation will be wrong and you’ll need some other method to know you’re on the target angle. ?

Because of the cumbersome nature of this setup, Felder developed an option for the outrigger called the Outrigger X-Roll table - essentially putting the crosscut fence on it’s own linear actuator which also includes a digital readout of the angle, and positioning can be fine adjusted with a rotating wheel. ?Lucky has this option and I wish it’s what I ordered. ? To get length compensation with the X-Roll outrigger table, another option must be added that communicates between the digital crosscut stops and the DRO on the X-Roll linear actuator. ?But so far as I know, the outrigger X-Roll option is only available on the Kappa 400 series. ? You might ask if they’ll do a special for you since there is absolutely no physical reason why the X-Roll outrigger couldn’t be configured onto a 700 - it’s just a marketing contrivance that it’s not listed as available on the 700 so you’ll up-sell to the Kappa.

The other indexing option available for the 700 is "Precision miter unit with pin locating system for outrigger table crosscut fence” or option 170 on the Felder web site is not worth having. ? I had it on my K975, and it’s not accurate and just as difficult to use as option 173.

I don’t do a lot of mitered cuts using the crosscut fence. ? So feel like I wasted the extra $1,000 they get for option 173. ? Your situation may be different. ? Additionally, I found the indexing peg that sticks down from the bottom of the crosscut fence to be an annoyance as it complicates position of the fence to an odd angle, so I removed the peg and thereby disabled the utility of the miter indexing system. ? Option 173 absolutely can not be added in the field - it’s calibrated with custom jigs at the factory, so if you ever think you’ll want it, order it with the machine.

I recall reading that the KF 700 SP should be specified at time of order to configure it to be able to use a grooving/dado cutter without removal of the scoring blade.? Can someone elaborate on this?? This information is not in the catalog or at Felder website.??

This is news to me if you’re talking about a Felder dado set. ? That set is 228mm diameter, and I know for a fact that you can have a 250mm saw blade along with the scoring saw blade mounted. ? The conflict with having to remove the scoring saw blade occurs when the saw blade is larger than 250mm but I don’t know the current limit. ? I believe there is an undocumented option to allow 350mm saw blades on the machine without CE certification. ?I would love to learn more about this, so if you dig to the bottom of it, please post here.