Felder Band saws

[David Kumm]

You are correct Craig. Add the larger table to the weight difference as well. The MM16 is a small footprint resaw and the 510 is meant as an all round machine that will give you more table more flexibility but not meant to be a dedicated or everyday resaw. The felder vs MM is really an in the eye of the beholder comparison. Dave

[Charlie Watson]

My 510 is in transit and I hope to have it within the next week or so!

[Kieran Kammerer]

Curious as to if anybody who owns the 510 has any updates after using it for awhile?

Thanks,

Kieran

[Keith Outten]

I just purchased an Felder FB 610 band saw about ten days ago. It was the largest band saw I could get in my shop that is 220 volt single phase, it barely made it under the garage door standing up at 80" tall and 800 pounds.

I need to order a new blade for this saw, the one inch stock OEM blade is not much to brag about but it does outperform any band saw I have ever owned even with the lesser quality blade.

[Kieran Kammerer]

Thanks Keith. Nice looking saw. That one is probably a tad bigger than what I need!

[Joel Wesseling]

I just went through the Felder FB510 or MM16 decision. I went with a FB510. The FB510 listed weight is 550 lbs, the MM16 is listed at 530 lbs. The FB510 has a 19.5 inch flywheel, the MM16 is 16 inch (i believe, correct me if wrong). The proper comparison is probably the FB510 vs the MM20, and the MM20 weighs 670 lbs and has 20 inch of resaw. That seems more apples to apples. But the MM20 is list price of $3,995 and the FB510 is list of $3,195, a meaningful difference.

My decision on the Felder was a mix of some larger specs vs the MM16 (flywheel, table, accessories) and some other qualitative issues that were not related to performance at all. The MM16 is a known commodity and gets superb ratings. I've used one just once and it was spectacular. I knew I was taking some risk with the FB510 as it's a new model that Felder is now making in-house, but I saw those risks as not great enough to not buy it. Time will tell.

I was in the market for a 12 inch jointer planer and a 16-20 inch bandsaw. I focused on Minimax, Felder, Hammer. I wanted to achieve multiple goals...get machines that would fit my needs, spend within a fixed budget, buy both from same vendor if possible (but not necessary), get good aftermarket support if needed.

I went with a package deal, a Hammer JP and the Felder FB510 Bandsaw.Attachment 263009

I just got the JP and BS wired and running a few days ago, so I can't give a detailed review yet.

I will try to post a review after meaningful use.

How are the machines working out for you? Does your JP have the spiral cutter?

I was at Felder today looking at the Hammer Bandsaw and JP.
Interesting company - Machines are made in Austria and the sales people work for Felder.

Hammer Bandsaw looks real nice but I think would order the 510 for the extra cutting height.
They had a slightly used Hammer JP combo machine, it was 50% of new price but without the spiral cutter.

Just started my search for a Bandsaw. Felder is high on the list so far.

[Craig Behnke]

Joel, I really liked the FB510 and the Hammer A3-31, I don't have them anymore, but not for any negative reasons regarding the machines. They performed great and I had very few complaints. I wound up moving and my new place has a small garage versus my old place where I had a dedicated 800 sq ft workshop. I'd be more than happy to give you more detail about my experience with the machines if you ever wanted, feel free to call me.

[Van Huskey]

I was at Felder today looking at the Hammer Bandsaw and JP.
Interesting company - Machines are made in Austria and the sales people work for Felder.

Just be aware that "Made in Austria" may not mean exactly what you think it means at least in regard to the Hammer bandsaws.

[Joel Wesseling]

I purchased an A331 and I'm picking it up next week. I Went looking for a bandsaw and got a JP.

I was told by the sales rep that all of the machines are Austrian built, except that the cast tables are made in Switzerland due to the enviromental regs in Austria.

I'm thinking about getting a Felder bandsaw in the near future.

[Joel Wesseling]

Craig, thanks for the offer to call you. Well appreciated but I will find out soon enough.

[Andy Giddings]

Do you know where they are made, Van Huskey?

[Van Huskey]

I purchased an A331 and I'm picking it up next week. I Went looking for a bandsaw and got a JP.

I was told by the sales rep that all of the machines are Austrian built, except that the cast tables are made in Switzerland due to the enviromental regs in Austria.

I'm thinking about getting a Felder bandsaw in the near future.

If he told you all the bandsaw parts were made in Austria (or Europe) then either things have changed VERY recently or their was a possible miscommunication of what the definition of "built" means. I am not 100% sure of the laws for "Made in Austria" but suprisingly to many the US has some of the most stringent laws in that regard. For example for a Swiss watch to be "Swiss made" it has to have a Swiss movement, it has to be cased and the final inspection must be in Switzerland. For a movement to be Swiss it must be assembled and inspected in Switzerland and 50% of the total value of the parts must be from Swiss origin. The issue is due to high cost of Swiss parts just the case or bracelet can be made in Switzerland and offset all the other parts in the watch so from a lay persons point of view it could be a 99% Chinese watch. Fret not you owners of Patek, Vacheron, Breguet, AP and the like those are indeed very nearly 100% Swiss, most actually all in-house.

[Van Huskey]

Do you know where they are made, Van Huskey?

They are assembled in Austria from a global network of parts.

[Andy Giddings]

Thanks, so about the same as "Made in xxxx" means in any sales blurb then

[David Kumm]

In Europe, final assembly can be as little as putting in the switch. Many Euro machines have Chinese parts, motors and some bases and cast iron. Doesn't make them necessarily bad. You do need to check the thickness of the extrusions and cast iron and in the case of bandsaws, how high they can tension if planning to resaw. Few ( or no ) saws come with any specs on frame strength. If planning on using carbide blades like Lenox you need to verify from owners how high a saw will tension. You likely won't find out from the manufacturer.

When in doubt about origin or build, price is often a decent indicator. Two machines within a 5-10% in price may not follow the " you get what you paid for " rule but a $2000 machine is unlikely to be better built than a $3000 machine. Woodworking machines are too competitively priced for much of that to occur. Dave