Great video. I owned a FS41 C and sold it a few years ago when I closed my shop. For the last couple years I've been using a friend's Hammer and every time I use it I miss my Minimax. His unit has the spiral cutter head and I think my old Tersa machine had a better finish hands down. I'm looking at getting the ES now and I'll be getting the Tersa again. Despite what the entire internet tries to tell me, I'm convinced that the Tersa is better than the spiral.
I have also heard that about the Tersa from a number of people but I have no frame of reference since I have never used a spiral on a jointer or planer. It is a piece of cake to change Tersa knives and to rotate the spiral cutters just seems like a time consuming effort. Steve
Hi Steve. Nice machine addition. That smaller flip down fence, which Felder calls a narrow stock fence, for me has been actually a pleasure to use when milling narrow stock. When I first bought my AD941, I thought yeah I’ll probably never use that. I was wrong. Anyways, have fun with it. Always appreciate your videos! Thank you!
Thank you, sir! I actually ordered this machine on Monday earlier this week. I can’t wait to receive it and try it out. For anyone wondering about the delivery time, mine is estimated to be around 3 months. However, that’s not an issue for me.
Good morning 🌅, very nice machine, I used to have something very similar but in the late 90s early 2000s I need my table bed with hand cranked, I started to get a lot more work, and I move into a bigger premises so I purchased two separates SCM 420 E Class, 520 E Class El, this one has a digital readout, I dial in the thickness, press button go, and it will go to the height or thickness. I want it to go to within a matter of a few seconds., the great thing about this machine is that I can save any settings are required, I think I can save 10, that allows me if I need to whilst I’m in the process of doing a job to go to a setting and it will automatically go back to wherever I had it before, I still have these machines from around about the same time you purchased yours 2007 2008, they have had a serious amount of use, I used to live in the UK, I’m now retired and living in France, the only issue I’ve ever had is that the electronic brake sensor had failed a few months ago?, I’ve ended up removing the break itself., as I’m the only one using it, and I normally switch off the machine and leave it and walk away from it before I start doing anything else with it, however it does take over a minute to stop, good luck with your adventure with your projects, from France.
Thank you. It sounds like you have some awesome equipment. My Felder AD741 had the digi-drive where you could enter the desired thickness and it would go to that setting. It was hard to part with it but I only had room for one. Steve
Yes I did in some respects, I have the Felder K7 series, saw/spindle -shaper 3Ph 8hp , Wadkin EKA, Resaw , bandsaw and a very small bandsaw, 2 Wood lathes , the sad thing is I had to sell a lot of equipment, Wadkin very large crosscut saw, 3-5 X 1-5 workbench/vac table, large dust collection system, I have only a 7x10 Mt basement and 6x6 Mt garage/workshop, with all my hand tools and router’s sanding exterior, not a lot of room to work properly, Phil
Steve, Great Video as usual - For my SCM L'invincible FS 7 as long as the bed is 20mm or lower it will open or close so most of the time I don't need to touch the bed. The time it takes is about 9 seconds for up and 8 seconds for down.
Team FS7 here! I believe they call it FS7 because you can change over in 7 seconds... I lower the bed to 30mm though 25mm appears to be enough to clear everything on my machine. I can understand that the incremental mode isn't very useful on a machine like the FS41 but on a numerical control system like the FS7 it's really nice if you can just tell it to raise 2mm instead of entering the entire number each time. I've got a helical head and I'd never go back to straight knives :)
Hi PK. I figured you would win the changeover time contest. I looked at the FS7 at the IWF and it looked like an awesome machine that came with an equally awesome price. If I were to get that, I would also have to upgrade my phase converter to be able to run dust collection simultaneously. Steve
I once had the mid 80's MM FS35 without the morticing attachment, sold it recently when I downsized my shop. It is a great straight blade jointer but the planer drive system with crank bed is ponderous. I bought a Powermatic Byrd head planer as I grew tired of the MM planer. I now have a Jet 12 inch combo with segmented head and don't worry as much about a hernia when I need to move it, I have most everything on wheels in my small shop.
Curious if you had any problems with the Felder jointer tables going out of plane vs the parallelogram mech in the Minimax? Any particular reason for you switching to Minimax? They do seem a lot more industrial. I am going through the decision process now. Have separates (20" planer, 12" jointer, both helical) in a small shop.
Hi Steven. I never had any issues with the Felder and it performed equally to the Minimax. In 2010, I was selling the Felder for the widow of a friend who passed away and three sales fell through in short order. She was stressed so I purchased the machine for the asking price. At that time, I already had the Minimax and I really liked the digidrive on the Felder so I thought I would use them both for a while, decide which I liked better and then sell the other. It took me 12 years to decide and I need the space for other equipment so that forced the decision. During the time of having both, I often thought if I could only take the best features from both and put them in one machine, it would be perfect. Steve
@@extremewoodworker Ok got it. I thought you had 'upgraded' from the Felder to the Minimax. Love your videos and shop. Shout out for the Nordfab, my best shop purchase ever.
Our Kind Sir Steve...always teaches us Great well. He KNOWS the mechanical items to the "nth" degree! Thanks for that friend, and do take care.❤(my Jointer-Planer Hammer A3 41 incl. Silent-Power cutterblock; is pretty great). Before, I had a Grizzly Jointer and Planer. Might sell them. I have never used them. They just sit there LOL.
Thanks for your videos, always helpful and informative! I’m looking to purchase a number of Felder machines for a new shop and I keep hearing and seeing SCM gear and wondering from your experience if you find meaningful differences in support between the two firms. It feels like Felder has a better and longer standing presence in the US but I’d welcome your perspective. Thanks!
I don't think there is any significant difference between the two from a support standpoint but I only have one datapoint with SCM so that does not make a trend. Felder has improved support significantly over the years and I have always gotten a resolution to a question or problem once you get in touch with the correct person. I recall one instance where I got a call from Felder on a Saturday morning with a problem solution. Steve
I would say SCM has a bigger presence in the US with pro shops since the 70's. I think Felder has a bigger presence with the Hobbiest and one man show WW. I own both companies and have had great service with both.
Hey Steve, great review. Hammer A341 owner here not happy so really would like to get this machine. Obviously it’s one hell of an upgrade.. Have you ever have any alignment issues keeping the tables coat planner? Also, unless I missed that you did not mention where you got your euro guard from. I’m assuming it’s from a company in England that seems to have a lock on these aftermarket euro guards. Like you I’m not a fan of the pork chop and really do like the euro guard on my hammer.
About a minute changeover with my FS350 circa 2005 but it's hand crank for the thicknesser bed. The changeover time is largely immaterial in operation because I plan my work, getting all flattening out of the way up front. So the only time there are ad hoc changes are when I make a mental mistake.
Hi there! I heard you mentioned Felder also, I am consider between a Felder AD951 and a SCM FS51 Jointer/Planer. I have a feeling that the SCM Ive seen in the past have been a bit more robust than the Felder machines but what would you choose between these to models?
That is a hard question to answer but it is obvious which one I kept. I had a 2005 model AD741 with digi-drive that I purchased used alongside the Minimax FS41ES for 12 years. I intended on deciding which I liked better and then selling the other within a year and it still took me 12 years to decide. Over that time I often felt that if I could take the best features from both machines, it would make the perfect J/P. I think you are correct and believe the SCM seemed more robust (not that the Felder was inadequate). Performance was equal between the two. I kept the FS41ES primarily because the planer feed controls and table lockdowns were more convenient than the Felder, the dust collection hood stayed on one side without needing to flip the hose to the opposite side, and the fence was center supported. Hope this helps. Steve
My suggestion would be to look at the SCM Nova FS 520 if you are looking for 20" machines. I have an SCM L'invincible FS 7 and the Nova FS520 is the closest brother to it. It has the better fence system (IMHO) than the FS52ES. I have a video on the FS 7 if you want to look at it.
Thanks for the video Steve. I’d say the switch time is about the same for my Felder AD741, EXCEPT - the dust collection. On the AD741 the entire hood flips, moving the pores from the left side of the machine to the right. I spend more time moving the hose around than switching the machine 😂. Maybe the 941 is different - I think that’s more on par with your SCM.
I agree on the dust collection switch for sure. On the AD741 I had, it took a bit longer even with the digi-drive because the bed had to be lowered much more. Steve
@ yeah. Waiting for the digi-drive to wind up/down “seems” like forever:) then there’s the planer drive belt engagement… that handle switch on your MM is definitely nicer
Really thorough review. Nice stuff. I have the same exact machine, though a few years younger. Have you had any issues with calibrating the infeed table? Any pointers for getting it perfect? I recently received mine used and its just so slightly off and haven't had the time to sit down and play with the adjustment screws. I've also noticed its somewhat sensitive to the pressure to which you lock the tables down with the locking handle.
Thank you. I never messed with the table screws as mine was right on from day one. If I had to make this adjustment, I would use feeler gages to measure any gaps with the locking handle secured to determine which screws needed to be adjusted and by how much. I would also contact SCM to see if they had instructions on how they do it. Steve
I am ready to purchase this model new and the debate of the cutterhead was still one-sided leaning towards the tersa, as evidenced by the price, the spiral was almost 2k cheaper probably from over availability. While other jointers seem to favor helical minimax seems to favor tersa for better finish.
Importante è pianificare il lavoro: tagli le assi, le identifichi, pialli due facce a squadro con la filo, ti porti alla spessore e regoli ad un'altezza pialli, regili l'altra altezza e pialli.
Great video. I owned a FS41 C and sold it a few years ago when I closed my shop. For the last couple years I've been using a friend's Hammer and every time I use it I miss my Minimax. His unit has the spiral cutter head and I think my old Tersa machine had a better finish hands down. I'm looking at getting the ES now and I'll be getting the Tersa again. Despite what the entire internet tries to tell me, I'm convinced that the Tersa is better than the spiral.
I have also heard that about the Tersa from a number of people but I have no frame of reference since I have never used a spiral on a jointer or planer. It is a piece of cake to change Tersa knives and to rotate the spiral cutters just seems like a time consuming effort. Steve
Hi Steve. Nice machine addition. That smaller flip down fence, which Felder calls a narrow stock fence, for me has been actually a pleasure to use when milling narrow stock. When I first bought my AD941, I thought yeah I’ll probably never use that. I was wrong. Anyways, have fun with it. Always appreciate your videos! Thank you!
I may have to try it again. Steve
Thank you, sir!
I actually ordered this machine on Monday earlier this week. I can’t wait to receive it and try it out.
For anyone wondering about the delivery time, mine is estimated to be around 3 months. However, that’s not an issue for me.
One of the factors when I purchased mine was that it was available for immediate delivery. My how times have changed. Steve
Good morning 🌅, very nice machine, I used to have something very similar but in the late 90s early 2000s I need my table bed with hand cranked, I started to get a lot more work, and I move into a bigger premises so I purchased two separates SCM 420 E Class, 520 E Class El, this one has a digital readout, I dial in the thickness, press button go, and it will go to the height or thickness. I want it to go to within a matter of a few seconds., the great thing about this machine is that I can save any settings are required, I think I can save 10, that allows me if I need to whilst I’m in the process of doing a job to go to a setting and it will automatically go back to wherever I had it before, I still have these machines from around about the same time you purchased yours 2007 2008, they have had a serious amount of use, I used to live in the UK, I’m now retired and living in France, the only issue I’ve ever had is that the electronic brake sensor had failed a few months ago?, I’ve ended up removing the break itself., as I’m the only one using it, and I normally switch off the machine and leave it and walk away from it before I start doing anything else with it, however it does take over a minute to stop, good luck with your adventure with your projects, from France.
Thank you. It sounds like you have some awesome equipment. My Felder AD741 had the digi-drive where you could enter the desired thickness and it would go to that setting. It was hard to part with it but I only had room for one. Steve
Yes I did in some respects, I have the Felder K7 series, saw/spindle -shaper 3Ph 8hp , Wadkin EKA, Resaw , bandsaw and a very small bandsaw, 2 Wood lathes , the sad thing is I had to sell a lot of equipment, Wadkin very large crosscut saw, 3-5 X 1-5 workbench/vac table, large dust collection system, I have only a 7x10 Mt basement and 6x6 Mt garage/workshop, with all my hand tools and router’s sanding exterior, not a lot of room to work properly, Phil
Steve, Great Video as usual - For my SCM L'invincible FS 7 as long as the bed is 20mm or lower it will open or close so most of the time I don't need to touch the bed. The time it takes is about 9 seconds for up and 8 seconds for down.
Team FS7 here! I believe they call it FS7 because you can change over in 7 seconds... I lower the bed to 30mm though 25mm appears to be enough to clear everything on my machine.
I can understand that the incremental mode isn't very useful on a machine like the FS41 but on a numerical control system like the FS7 it's really nice if you can just tell it to raise 2mm instead of entering the entire number each time. I've got a helical head and I'd never go back to straight knives :)
Hi PK. I figured you would win the changeover time contest. I looked at the FS7 at the IWF and it looked like an awesome machine that came with an equally awesome price. If I were to get that, I would also have to upgrade my phase converter to be able to run dust collection simultaneously. Steve
I once had the mid 80's MM FS35 without the morticing attachment, sold it recently when I downsized my shop. It is a great straight blade jointer but the planer drive system with crank bed is ponderous. I bought a Powermatic Byrd head planer as I grew tired of the MM planer. I now have a Jet 12 inch combo with segmented head and don't worry as much about a hernia when I need to move it, I have most everything on wheels in my small shop.
Nice! I considered upgrading the cutterhead to an aftermarket but decided to not risk snipe. Steve
Curious if you had any problems with the Felder jointer tables going out of plane vs the parallelogram mech in the Minimax? Any particular reason for you switching to Minimax? They do seem a lot more industrial. I am going through the decision process now. Have separates (20" planer, 12" jointer, both helical) in a small shop.
Hi Steven. I never had any issues with the Felder and it performed equally to the Minimax. In 2010, I was selling the Felder for the widow of a friend who passed away and three sales fell through in short order. She was stressed so I purchased the machine for the asking price. At that time, I already had the Minimax and I really liked the digidrive on the Felder so I thought I would use them both for a while, decide which I liked better and then sell the other. It took me 12 years to decide and I need the space for other equipment so that forced the decision. During the time of having both, I often thought if I could only take the best features from both and put them in one machine, it would be perfect. Steve
@@extremewoodworker Ok got it. I thought you had 'upgraded' from the Felder to the Minimax. Love your videos and shop. Shout out for the Nordfab, my best shop purchase ever.
Our Kind Sir Steve...always teaches us Great well. He KNOWS the mechanical items to the "nth" degree! Thanks for that friend, and do take care.❤(my Jointer-Planer Hammer A3 41 incl. Silent-Power cutterblock; is pretty great). Before, I had a Grizzly Jointer and Planer. Might sell them. I have never used them. They just sit there LOL.
Hi Pat. So the Grizzlies make good dust collectors? I sell stuff that I no longer need. Steve
Thanks for your videos, always helpful and informative! I’m looking to purchase a number of Felder machines for a new shop and I keep hearing and seeing SCM gear and wondering from your experience if you find meaningful differences in support between the two firms. It feels like Felder has a better and longer standing presence in the US but I’d welcome your perspective. Thanks!
I don't think there is any significant difference between the two from a support standpoint but I only have one datapoint with SCM so that does not make a trend. Felder has improved support significantly over the years and I have always gotten a resolution to a question or problem once you get in touch with the correct person. I recall one instance where I got a call from Felder on a Saturday morning with a problem solution. Steve
I would say SCM has a bigger presence in the US with pro shops since the 70's. I think Felder has a bigger presence with the Hobbiest and one man show WW. I own both companies and have had great service with both.
Nice machine Steve.
Thanks Graham. Steve
Hey Steve, great review. Hammer A341 owner here not happy so really would like to get this machine. Obviously it’s one hell of an upgrade.. Have you ever have any alignment issues keeping the tables coat planner? Also, unless I missed that you did not mention where you got your euro guard from. I’m assuming it’s from a company in England that seems to have a lock on these aftermarket euro guards. Like you I’m not a fan of the pork chop and really do like the euro guard on my hammer.
@@dublinf4477 Thank you. I have not had any coplaner issues with the tables. The eurogaurd came from SCM with the machine. Steve
About a minute changeover with my FS350 circa 2005 but it's hand crank for the thicknesser bed. The changeover time is largely immaterial in operation because I plan my work, getting all flattening out of the way up front. So the only time there are ad hoc changes are when I make a mental mistake.
Thanks Jim. And here I thought I was the only one who made mental mistakes. Steve
@@extremewoodworker ROFLOL! Sadly, there is no immunity from that for any of us.
Hi there! I heard you mentioned Felder also, I am consider between a Felder AD951 and a SCM FS51 Jointer/Planer. I have a feeling that the SCM Ive seen in the past have been a bit more robust than the Felder machines but what would you choose between these to models?
That is a hard question to answer but it is obvious which one I kept. I had a 2005 model AD741 with digi-drive that I purchased used alongside the Minimax FS41ES for 12 years. I intended on deciding which I liked better and then selling the other within a year and it still took me 12 years to decide. Over that time I often felt that if I could take the best features from both machines, it would make the perfect J/P. I think you are correct and believe the SCM seemed more robust (not that the Felder was inadequate). Performance was equal between the two. I kept the FS41ES primarily because the planer feed controls and table lockdowns were more convenient than the Felder, the dust collection hood stayed on one side without needing to flip the hose to the opposite side, and the fence was center supported. Hope this helps. Steve
@@extremewoodworker Thank you for the explanation.
My suggestion would be to look at the SCM Nova FS 520 if you are looking for 20" machines. I have an SCM L'invincible FS 7 and the Nova FS520 is the closest brother to it. It has the better fence system (IMHO) than the FS52ES. I have a video on the FS 7 if you want to look at it.
Thanks for the time and info.
You are welcome. Steve
Thanks for the video Steve. I’d say the switch time is about the same for my Felder AD741, EXCEPT - the dust collection. On the AD741 the entire hood flips, moving the pores from the left side of the machine to the right. I spend more time moving the hose around than switching the machine 😂. Maybe the 941 is different - I think that’s more on par with your SCM.
I agree on the dust collection switch for sure. On the AD741 I had, it took a bit longer even with the digi-drive because the bed had to be lowered much more. Steve
@ yeah. Waiting for the digi-drive to wind up/down “seems” like forever:) then there’s the planer drive belt engagement… that handle switch on your MM is definitely nicer
Really thorough review. Nice stuff. I have the same exact machine, though a few years younger. Have you had any issues with calibrating the infeed table? Any pointers for getting it perfect? I recently received mine used and its just so slightly off and haven't had the time to sit down and play with the adjustment screws. I've also noticed its somewhat sensitive to the pressure to which you lock the tables down with the locking handle.
Thank you. I never messed with the table screws as mine was right on from day one. If I had to make this adjustment, I would use feeler gages to measure any gaps with the locking handle secured to determine which screws needed to be adjusted and by how much. I would also contact SCM to see if they had instructions on how they do it. Steve
Great machine, I have the FS41 ELITE version
Nice! Steve
I am ready to purchase this model new and the debate of the cutterhead was still one-sided leaning towards the tersa, as evidenced by the price, the spiral was almost 2k cheaper probably from over availability. While other jointers seem to favor helical minimax seems to favor tersa for better finish.
That's interesting. The helical heads are usually about 2K more expensive. Steve
Thanks for sharing.
You are welcome.
I’d there not an upgrade available for a spiral cutter head for the MiniMax ?
I don't know about Minimax but I had asked this question of Felder on the AD741 and they said no. There are aftermarket versions available. Steve
Importante è pianificare il lavoro: tagli le assi, le identifichi, pialli due facce a squadro con la filo, ti porti alla spessore e regoli ad un'altezza pialli, regili l'altra altezza e pialli.
You have to wind up tension when mounting my porkchop to work correctly
I fiddled with it quite a bit when I first got the machine trying to do just that but to no avail. Steve