Hi Albert (I assume)?

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I have a 1990s FS900KF. It is a great machine with minor caveats below. I don’t know about the new machines except that they are pricey here in Australia ($20K + AUD). My comments below are for my vintage machine.

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What I like…

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This machine fits between the cheap, light, hobby machines, and the big, heavy commercial units from Germany. I paid $5K AUD for mine and am very happy with it.

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It has long belts and long cast iron tables on both sides. I use the open-belt + cast iron platen side the most simply because I don’t do huge amounts of edge sanding and it is easy to turn on the machine, do some sanding, and walk away.

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The adjustable cork platen side came to me totally worn out and I was pleasantly shocked that Felder Australia had parts that fit a 30+ year old machine. The platen works well, is fully adjustable in and out and for square, and has hard cork and silicon, and fits between two robust rollers. The fences are adjustable for in and out but they are not adjustable for square, other than fine-metal-shims inserted under connection bolts. I don’t think this is a problem. The infeed fence adjustment works well for depth of cut. To control snipe and outfeed support, the platen is moved in and out. This also works well.

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The oscillation “travel” seems like a “lot” when I compare it to other machines. I have never felt the motor to be lacking. There are two switches for turning on the main motor and oscillating feature so if I just want to sand something by hand (think steel fixture) I don’t bother with the oscillation feature.

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The machine has capacity for a feeder and it is on my list to buy. There is a heavy collar in the very centre of the machine to take a vertical feeder shaft – no flat area for a plate and bolts. I can’t imagine it would need a very strong feeder motor.

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At first I didn’t like that it has two sides which makes it harder to put up against a wall and connect dust extraction. However, I now have mine on rollers and it moves out just fine when I need “the other side”. Dust extraction is good without being stellar. I don’t think any of the larger edge sanders have “stellar” extraction?

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I only paid a few grand for mine as it has some issues, but I’m delighted to have it in my shop. If you buy one, new or used, you will want the extension support bars. That is on my list as well. While the tables are very long, they are not very wide, so if you plan on doing any kind of larger panels (think large cabinet doors) you will want those bars.

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The cast tables are very robust and do not appear to suffer any movement in service. The mechanism for moving the entire sanding assembly (the assembly moves while the tables stay put) seems exceptionally robust. Everything is rock-solid and at the Format-4 end of what Felder offers.

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What I don’t like so much…

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My machine was probably damaged or dropped at some point as both cast iron beds have a very slight twist in them. Just enough to make me want to take them off and have them reground. I imagine a new machine would not have this problem?

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When I got my machine I didn’t realise the platen was worn down. Consequently, when the belt oscillated, the platen was not moving in a perfectly vertical path, compared to the table. This was corrected with a new, properly adjusted platen.

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And finally, my machine has some kind of hard plastic “formica-like” layer glued to the cast iron. This is worn and coming off in places. If and when I have the tables reground, I certainly won’t be retaining the layer. Again, this comment probably stems from the fact that my machine is old and probably not an issue if you’re buying new or near new.

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I would definitely consider buying this machine again, and I’m delighted to have it in my shop.

I hope this helps.

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Lucky

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