Felder or SCM planer thicknesser
- Thread starter towl5600
- Start date
stvrowe
Member
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2007
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- 834
I have a 15 year old Felder AD741 with Digidrive and a 13 year old FS41 Elite S (Minimax) which appears to be similar to the FS410 Nova but that is something you need to verify with SCM. Both of these models have 4 post planer beds which is a positive to me. I don't know if the current models have kept that design but you should check if that is important to you. Expect the rubber sleeves over the posts to degrade on the SCM where the Felder does not have this issue. Both machines are 3 phase and have straight knives with the Felder having their system cutterhead and the SCM having the Tersa knives. Both perform equally well and give good results in everything except highly figured woods. Both have minimal, if any, snipe. It is a little faster to replace Tersa knives than the Felder knives but not enough to make much difference over the life of the machine.
Service: Felder has outstanding service in the US and was for a machine that I had purchased used from a private seller. When I had issues converting from imperial to metric, the Felder tech called me on a Saturday to help resolve the issue. While we didn't get it resolved that day, following some input from Austria, I had the solution within 2 weeks. SCM service in the US is hit and miss IMO. I did have a problem with the SCM thermal overload switch in the first year of ownership which they did ship the part but did not really solve the problem. I ended up figuring out the overload setting was too low on my own and adjusting it. The SCM tech was just interested in sending a replacement part and not solving the real issue. Both have been reliable machines overall.
Jointer Function: The SCM has longer jointer tables than the Felder. The jointer fence is a center supported on the SCM and infeed supported on the Felder. SCM has a smaller fence you can fold down but I haven't found any use for it. Used it once early on and didn't see the point so it just sits in the up position. The fence on the SCM is IMO, slightly better since it is supported at the cutterhead. The porkchop guard on the SCM is a piece of junk and never worked correctly. The euroguard on the SCM is cheesy compared to the Felder guard. Felder has a comfort guard available while SCM does not.
Planer Function: Controls for unlatching the tables and lifting are IMO better on the SCM. Controls for selecting feed speed is IMO better on the SCM. Felder has built in F channel on the planer table for attaching outfeed support where SCM has no extension attachment method built in.
Dust Collection: The dust collection on the Felder is superior to the SCM. The SCM position of the dust collection point is on the same end of the machine regardless of being positioned for jointer or planer function (a good thing but dust collection efficiency suffers because of that design). The Felder dust collection hood has to flip from one end to the other which isn't as convenient and requires a longer hose.
Overall, I would call both machines on par with each other but if you could take the best features from both units and merge them into one machine, it would be near perfect. I purchased the Felder used to help out a friend financially thinking I would decide which machine I liked better and then sell the other one. That was over 10 years ago and I still haven't decided. Hope this helps.
Service: Felder has outstanding service in the US and was for a machine that I had purchased used from a private seller. When I had issues converting from imperial to metric, the Felder tech called me on a Saturday to help resolve the issue. While we didn't get it resolved that day, following some input from Austria, I had the solution within 2 weeks. SCM service in the US is hit and miss IMO. I did have a problem with the SCM thermal overload switch in the first year of ownership which they did ship the part but did not really solve the problem. I ended up figuring out the overload setting was too low on my own and adjusting it. The SCM tech was just interested in sending a replacement part and not solving the real issue. Both have been reliable machines overall.
Jointer Function: The SCM has longer jointer tables than the Felder. The jointer fence is a center supported on the SCM and infeed supported on the Felder. SCM has a smaller fence you can fold down but I haven't found any use for it. Used it once early on and didn't see the point so it just sits in the up position. The fence on the SCM is IMO, slightly better since it is supported at the cutterhead. The porkchop guard on the SCM is a piece of junk and never worked correctly. The euroguard on the SCM is cheesy compared to the Felder guard. Felder has a comfort guard available while SCM does not.
Planer Function: Controls for unlatching the tables and lifting are IMO better on the SCM. Controls for selecting feed speed is IMO better on the SCM. Felder has built in F channel on the planer table for attaching outfeed support where SCM has no extension attachment method built in.
Dust Collection: The dust collection on the Felder is superior to the SCM. The SCM position of the dust collection point is on the same end of the machine regardless of being positioned for jointer or planer function (a good thing but dust collection efficiency suffers because of that design). The Felder dust collection hood has to flip from one end to the other which isn't as convenient and requires a longer hose.
Overall, I would call both machines on par with each other but if you could take the best features from both units and merge them into one machine, it would be near perfect. I purchased the Felder used to help out a friend financially thinking I would decide which machine I liked better and then sell the other one. That was over 10 years ago and I still haven't decided. Hope this helps.
