creekers,
i'm looking for user feedback/advice. i'm about to buy a jointer/planer combo and a bandsaw. I have priced two options and they are incredibly close in total cost and both are high quality brands. The two options are:
- Hammer A3 31 w/ spiral cutter head + N4400 bandsaw
- Minimax FS30 w/ tersa head + MM16 (now called S400P) bandsaw
This is for high volume hobby/small side business use. I tend to use highly figure woods about 25% of the time (curly and quilted maple most often), so the Hammer spiral J/P seems attractive. I won't be doing a ton of resawing. Given my workflow right now, the JP is slightly more important to me than the BS (I know, that's blasphemy).
To break up the order and get one machine from each (e.g., Hammer J/P + MM16 Bandsaw) would result in meaningful additional costs for shipping and forgone discounts (total cost of machines + shipping goes up about 15%). I know there are no perfect solutions and almost everything we do is a trade-off of pro's and con's. I just want to make sure I'm thinking of as many pro's and con's as I can so I can make a decision that best fits my situation.
Am I putting too much importance on the 15% total cost impact of getting both machines from one vendor? Is the spiral head JP massively better than great straight blades and the MM16 so much better than the N4400 such that the 15% additional cost is worth it?
I'm not looking to make it a brand debate of minimax vs hammer, I think both are super high quality machines. Rather, I'd like to know specifially about these machines and the various other factors that go with ownership and operation of the machines. If I start putting in other options (.e.g., MM20, A3 41, I start going too far over my budget).
Anyone gone through decisions like this recently or years ago and can give some feedback/advice as to what pushed them one direction or the other back then....and what do they think now after living with their decision?
Any feedback appreciated.