开云体育

I am new to the group, at the suggestion of a couple of friends. A little about me -- I am in southeast Michigan and have been a hobbyist for about 15 years, but not continuously. I am in a position now to get back into it and set up shop for good, so the expertise here would be appreciated.

Particularly relevant is that I am moving from individual machines to a 5-in-1 to save space and modernize. I am looking to buy second-hand and have narrowed down to a couple of options: a 1999 Felder BF6-31 or a 2015 Minimax CU 300 Classic. ?The Felder is a local machine being sold by our own Brian M., who has been very helpful through the process. The Minimax is a distant machine that I'd fly to check out and then arrange shipping. I have yet to put my hands on the Minimax (or any Minimax combo) for comparison, so that's where I'd love some observations from people here that have (as objective as possible!). Specifically, I am interested in build quality and fit/finish. Functionally, here's where I'm at:

Felder advantages: Heavy construction, solid machining, very well cared for, donor machine available with lots of accessories (extension tables, blades, spindles, hold-downs, etc.), includes power feeder on flip bracket
Minimax advantages:?Substantial outrigger & swing arm for wide crosscuts, Tersa J/P head (my preference over helical or the Felder's straight knives), scoring blade

The Minimax is slightly more expensive, but not enough to affect the decision. The modern advantages the Minimax offers would probably push me that way but not if the build quality isn't there. I can always add a Tersa head to the Felder or work around the absence of a scoring blade. The narrow Felder sliding table is an aggravation, especially after using my friend's slider with an enormous outrigger... but I can get over that also.

So my overriding question is this: does the Minimax build quality compare to the Felder or is it inferior? I'm thinking of things like rigidity of the chassis, sturdiness of the fence and rail, the fit of the components, etc.

I appreciate the guidance you could offer!

Zayd

If the Minimax has a scoring blade system and the Felder does not, that might be enough for me to tilt the choice towards the Minimax unless you do not plan to work with any sheet goods (such as plywood, melamine, etc.).

-Aaron Inami

Hi Zayd. ?I own a 2016 CU300 Classic. ?The design and build quality are very good. ?Heavy duty components. The settings stay in place. Stable table, massive outrigger, excellent beef stops, plenty of power. ?The only problem I've ever had was shredding the belt that turns the scoring blade. That was my fault, the scoring blade needs to be fully retracted before you tilt the main saw blade. You can't use the scoring blade on my saw if the main blade is tilted. ?The Felder's do look a lot nicer, the Minimax looks like a big industrial refrigerator from the 1960s. ?The peer support group (forum) on groups.io seems much more active for the Felder compared to the Minimax so I would say the Felder has better peer support. ?I do love the Tersa knife system. ?A few seconds to slide a knife to relocate a knick, and ~2 minutes for a perfectly registered 3 knife changeout.

Aaron, I do use sheet goods regularly, so that's where my concern is. When I had my cabinet saw and I needed to make a plywood cut that had to be perfect, I'd run a shallow cut backwards first, then make the cut. That's a workaround here also, but that means two passes for each cut and that doesn't excite me.

I forgot to mention also that the Minimax is dado-capable, and I dado regularly. On the Felder, I can likely use the router spindle and shaper fence to make those dados, but that might not be an efficient workaround... never tried it.

@Brian, don't recuse yourself from the conversation just because your machine is a contender! :) Your input is valuable here, especially since you've had the hands-on experience with the Felder here.

Zayd

Thank you, Mark. I did watch your setup video on Youtube as part of my research and it was thorough and very helpful. I agree on the Felder -- they look more refined, at least the BF6-31 does. Seeing Brian's in person reinforces that notion. My concern was whether or not this also translated to better build overall. I'm glad to hear that the Minimax is a solid machine. I don't doubt that the Felder may still be a notch above.