Space needed for full size slider...

[Max Neu]

Peter, you are exactly right ,I built my house and shop out in the country surrounded by fields. I don't hAve access to direct 3 phase, so I have to run converters. Running converters isn't a always a bad thing,I avoid paying commercial electric rates by hiding under the radar.

[ian maybury]

It could be imagined that a high end saw with very expensive electronics ought to have over voltage and whatever other protection is advisable built in. What with lightning, the big factory down the road and the service provider skimping on upgrading transformers etc and other stuff there's always the potential for supply funnies...

[Erik Loza]

It could be imagined that a high end saw with very expensive electronics ought to have over voltage and whatever other protection is advisable built in. What with lightning, the big factory down the road and the service provider skimping on upgrading transformers etc and other stuff there's always the potential for supply funnies...

The issue I hear about more commonly is under-voltage or fluctuations in voltage, messing with the electronics. When you have electronic position control, rather than just a servo for up and down movement and a DRO. When I worked for the "other company", I recall a number of instances where our tech would tell me about a brown-out (which was common in the summertime in California) giving customers with digital drive, problems. Yes, you have overload protection but for whatever reason, and bear in mind that I am not an electrician, the boards had much more problems with undervoltage. Which can be an issue here in the States due to our dated power grid. Again, it's not for me to say but based on my user feedback experience, I can come up with about 10X the compelling arguments for a hobbyist or 1-person shop to NOT have programmable functions on any traditional machine but also, I realize folks will buy what they want. When I worked for the other company during the dot-com boom, there was one customer who bought a loaded 16" combo machine for his shop. His shop had windows from the house and would invite friends over and make them watch how the shaper spindle would go up and down while he programmed it as they all had wine together. I never heard about a single project he made with that machine. I suppose everybody's money is all the same shade of green but really, what do you actually need to get the job done? Erik

[Martin Wasner]

Peter, you are exactly right ,I built my house and shop out in the country surrounded by fields. I don't hAve access to direct 3 phase, so I have to run converters. Running converters isn't a always a bad thing,I avoid paying commercial electric rates by hiding under the radar.

Ah, that's a bummer. I'm not sure I could get away with it is why I asked. Too much amperage to make it work in my case I'd think. I'm pulling a 170 amps on 208V with just the widebelt and the dust collector running. One more reason to bring 480V in, in the new shop, that load drops to 77 amps on 480V.

[Christopher Fallago]

Pat, I was in a similar position as you. I wanted a larger 10' slider, didn't really have the space in my basement and was hesitant to commit a lot of money to something I will want to upgrade (when space allows) in the near future. I was lucky enough to have a walkout basement with double doors. I actually wound up arriving at the Felder KF700 as well. I found one used, like new for $2,500 it has the short slider but for that price I will probably just keep it for the shaper when I upgrade. The guy I bought it from had a fairly new F45 that he bought used, it's a big machine. I also found an AD 751 with digidrive, the euroguard and extension tables for a great price, I can't ever see needing to upgrade the J/P. I will say that the rip fence on my KF700 sucks, but I deal with it for now. I would say that the Felder is great, especially if you're not in a production envt. It's really a solid saw. I would think that once it's tuned properly it would be just as accurate as a martin or altendorf, which are way overkill (still really nice) if you're not planning on running it everyday for a few hours. The best thing is that I bought a high lift pallet jack and use that to move the machines, they have the mobility kit but I still use the pallet jack, it's just easier for me. It would be much more difficult to move a martin or altendorf which weigh 3,000-4000#. I also use it to lift the 150# power feed and could use it to load the sliding table. I would go with a well optioned felder not because it's better but because it's the best compromise between performance and price, and it has the convenience factor (it doesn't weigh more than my car)...also maybe take a look at minimax.

[Jim Becker]

The issue I hear about more commonly is under-voltage or fluctuations in voltage, messing with the electronics. When you have electronic position control, rather than just a servo for up and down movement and a DRO. When I worked for the "other company", I recall a number of instances where our tech would tell me about a brown-out (which was common in the summertime in California) giving customers with digital drive, problems. Yes, you have overload protection but for whatever reason, and bear in mind that I am not an electrician, the boards had much more problems with undervoltage. Which can be an issue here in the States due to our dated power grid.

Erik, you may or may not recall that I had an undervoltage issue with my S315WS a few years back due to supply from the street and even without fancy programability, it was causing my saw to not operate consistently. With Sam's input, I installed a transformed designed to fix that issue and I haven't had a problem since. I can only imagine how much fun things might be with computer technology involved!

[Erik Loza]

Jim, no, I don't remember that but it's a not-uncommon issue. I have had issues at trade shows in the past where the we ordered 220V and ended up only with 208V and an unsteady 208V at that. Bandsaws where the switches would hum loudly, that type of thing. In my experience, you have around 10% leeway from the motor's native voltage of 230V, either direction, before the mag protection switches start having issues. "Under" being a lot more common than "over".

If a customer calls me with complaints about their motor unexpectedly shutting down under load, the first question I ask them is what their voltage is at the motor. Typically, they respond, "Oh, it's 220V". Then I ask, "Have you measured that or is that just what the power company is telling you?". Sometimes there is a surprising answer once they actually do measure it.

Erik