New to me MiniMax FS 350 Jointer/Thicknesser.

[joel cervera]

I have been Using an older Ridgid 6 inch Jointer for probably 8 yrs. Along with a lunchbox planer (Dewalt 735). Picked up the jointer for about $50 bucks on Craigslist and the planer for ($250) from a guy I bought my router table from who really wanted to sell the planer too.

The jointer has been limiting my ability to build things for years now. But having a functioning jointer made it get pushed to the back of the line for years with respect to upgrading. Been doing lots of trim work and larger projects around the house for years and longer length pieces as well as wider pieces have really stretched my ability to use this small jointer.

I finally started to look at craigslist and auction sites for a vintage 8" jointer recentlt( or a nice vintage planer like powermatic or delta). Snipe from these lunchbox planers has also been a drag. But a bigger jointer has been the priority.

Well this combo came up on craigslist as simply jointer planer. ( i thought the listing was placed by someone who did not know the difference between a jointer/planer) It came up and the pictures looked very interesting. Really wide beds and did not look much longer than an standard 8 inch jointer. Knowing almost nothing about these Euro combo machines I searched brand and model found on the front of the machine in the picture . And then it starts to get real interesting. Its a 14" jointer??? with 62" long bed? And wait its a planer too.. and weights 700lbs?

I have a 2 car garage shop. and anything bigger than about 70" beds would have been stretching it. But I really wanted an 8 inch capacity ( because anything bigger would be too big of footprint, i thought). I have already restored a 50's Unisaw, 50's Delta crescent 20" bandsaw. Delta dp220 ( vintage). And a woodpeckers router table. with a 8" jointer and 12" planer my space would be full.

So here is this machine with an unheard of 14" capacity! Perfect length beds for my needs. Plus CONVERTS into 14" planer? All industrial quality with heavy cast iron base and 4 HP? And the guy is asking $1200.. I could sell my jointer and planer and end up only spending about $600 bucks on this machine .. Sounds killer..

So called the owner ( its 2 and a half hours away). Drive out the next morning. Its a cabinet shop and this thing is sitting in a corner dusty and ignored. Surrounded by lots of fancy Euro tools that look like space ships. The guy bought it 12 yrs ago new. hasent used it for years. It fires right up and looks in very good condition. Seems to be all there..

I asked if it had a Tersa cutter head after seeing straight knives. He says he doesn't know but shows me the knife setting jig and how to use it... Bummer no Tersa. but the Factory jig is easy to use and I'm used to making my own jigs and setting up the tools I restore so, no problem.. I can deal with changing knives. I am a hobbyist woodworker and don't need quick knife changes. ( It would be nice but I am already drooling over this thing's, quality, capacity, and all in a relatively small footprint..

Comes with the factory parts list but no manual. And two extra sets of knives that are still packaged from their last sharpening.

I paid the man and they loaded it on my truck with a forklift.

Here's pics of her.http://imgur.com/a/XupUP

The only issue I can find with the machine is the PO had his electrician remove the rotating switch from the starting scheme. Its just on/ off buttons to run it. Since I don't know what the rotating selector switch did I don't know what was removed from the circuit. Hopefully any motor protection was not disabled.

Other than that I ordered a Rockler all terrain mobile base for it that should arrive monday. I also used one on the 700 lb vintage delta bandsaw and its a pleasure to move around the shop.

Also I do have one question for any jointer planer combo owners out there.

Can I use this without dust collection till i get a dust collector? Its the final piece of my puzzle. I can throw on a mask and just open up the garage door and sweep up the shavings till I get a DC up and running in a few months..

[Matt Day]

Inquiring minds want to know: what did you pay for it?

Looks like a nice machine, congrats!

Chips are the main issue with jointers and planers, so not a lot of fine dust. a mask and a snow shovel should do it for the interim.

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi, very nice machine.

I also own a combination jointer/planer they are very nice machines.

No you cannot us it without dust collection, the Euro machines just plug solid as they're not designed for it.

You're really going to love that machine.

Don't worry about the switch change, the spring loaded rotary one probably failed and was replaced by push button switches, there's no difference in protection.

Regards, Rod.

[Jim Becker]

Congratulations! That's a slightly older version of the FS350 that is in my shop and is an integral part of my woodworking work flow.

No...you cannot use it without dust collection. It will clog up almost immediately!

The original electrical switch setup would have had lockout capability which is a requirement in certain parts of the world. (The rotating switch) There may also have been the on and off buttons plus an emergency stop button, although that requirement may have come later.

[joel cervera]

Inquiring minds want to know: what did you pay for it?

Looks like a nice machine, congrats!

Chips are the main issue with jointers and planers, so not a lot of fine dust. a mask and a snow shovel should do it for the interim.

The PO was asking $1200. And stayed firm on his price. So $1200.

[John TenEyck]

You stole that machine. Congratulations on getting a great machine at such an amazing price. I paid $2K for a much older yellow one, and have zero regrets. For your shop space I don't think you could have made a better decision.

John

[Sam Beagle]

This was a great great deal

[joel cervera]

Thanks guys for the positive feedback. It was kind of a whirlwind affair from seeing the listing doing a little bit of research in the evening and driving out the next day. I wasn't 100% sure it was gonna work out for me.. but i'm feeling really good about the purchase at this point.. the machine just feels very right in the shop already..

Even tho the footprint is perfect for a 2 car shop ( perfect if you want huge jointing capacity and a like very heavy machines) It still caught me a bit off guard when I first saw its size, its a big beefy machine. I was trying to compare its size to a dewalt 735 on a dewalt mobile stand plus the 6 inch jointer. I was hoping I was not bringing home something too big. But not till I got it home was I able to confirm it takes up the same amount of shop/floor space as the 2 machines its replacing.. I now feel its a perfect machine for me. And its nice to now that I won't be upgrading from this for a long time.. ( famous last words, I know)


Can I ask what current minimax j/p model compares to this machine? And what does a new one run? I know they are expensive but still not sure how expensive. sounds like 4-5K?

Also any one have any pointers on work flow with these? do you guys keep a mobile cart around and move it from one side the other as you go from jointing to planing?

And has anyone ever had the tables go out of alignment on these? or do they have any common weakness that I need to look out for? Seems like the weak spot on these is the table hinges.. everything else looks pretty bulletproof ( Well except for the Aluminum fence.. still scratching my head with why they didn't go cast iron for that... maybe weight on the hinge...

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi, what could you possibly gain from a cast iron fence?

I went from a cast iron fence machine (General) to an aluminum fence machine ( Hammer), the fence on the Hammer works every bit as well as the General fence did.

I keep the work stored on the same side of the machine regardless of which function I'm using.

The one thing that's very useful is a planer table extension, short pieces go through the machine pretty fast, the extension keeps them from falling on the floor.........You're really going to like that machine.......Regards, Rod.

[John TenEyck]

The FS350 is no longer made, only the FS30 and FS41. I don't know what the cost of either is, but even the FS30 is multiples of what you paid, a truly gloat worthy purchase. I have a cast iron fence on my 1980 something FS35, but let me tell you that thing is heavy, so heavy that I remove it before lifting the indeed table for fear of stressing the hinges too much. The owner's manual, such as it is, is mute on whether or not that's necessary. As long as your fence is straight and doesn't flex I wouldn't worry about the fact that it's aluminum.

The factory knife setting jig works great. Just be sure to rotate the head a couple times after you install the knives to make sure they all clear the table lips. I had one knife go in out of alignment, somehow, and it hit the outfeed table lip when I rotated the head. That would have been bad had I not checked.

Everything wears with enough use, but my machine is now over 30 years old and the tables are in as perfect alignment as I can measure. Keep yours clean and lubricate it occasionally and it will last a lifetime, or two or three.

I try to group as much work as possible on a project into face jointing, then switch over to planing function and run everything thru, then back to jointing and edge joint one edge. I just lay the boards on a nearby bench in two piles as I go, the to-do pile and the done pile. The machine isn't that large and it doesn't take a lot of effort to stay organized. As Glenn said, however, the planer speed on mine is pretty fast and you have to be ready to catch those boards or put some kind of outfeed table there to catch the boards as they come out.

John

[Brian W Evans]

Joel,

Congratulations on your find, I think you got one heck of a deal. I recently bought a FS41 Classic for $5k (new). The aluminum fence is quite heavy and I have no complaints about it. Mine is end mounted (not sure about yours) and comes with a rod that can keep the fence from flexing. So far I haven't felt the need to use the ant-flex rod - the fence is rigid enough.

I used to have the same jointer / planer setup you had and would get pretty lazy about planning my milling operations. With the combo I try to be more organized about it, but switching over is not really a big deal - 45 seconds or so, I think. Like you, I work with mobile machines in a 2 car garage so I bought a big Harbor Freight hydraulic lift cart that comes in handy for putting stock on during milling - the quality is quite good given the source and the price. It's also good for moving plywood.

I was looking around my lumber stacks today for a 8" wide piece of maple but kind of knew I wouldn't find one since I have never had the ability to work with stock that wide. I look forward to having wide stock around to go with my big J/P!

Best of luck with your new machine,
Brian

[Jim Becker]

John is correct, they stopped making the 350mm version not long after I bought mine. Although this size is nice, I can appreciate standardizing on the 300mm and 410mm (12" & 16") machines since that's essentially what the competitors offer, too, for the most part. That said, when I bought mine...and it was a "show special demo off the floor, albeit unused" machine...it was still close to $4000 new. Prices have gone up over the years, so yes, that $1200 was a "steal" and even if you put some money into it for refurbishing, etc., you have an awesome machine for an outstanding price!

The one change I absolutely will suggest is to acquire a Euro guard to replace the "pork chop", although that's clearly a personal preference of mine and may not be the same for others.

[Chris Fournier]

You could use the machine without dust collection if you modified it by removing the plastic piece that collects chips from the knife length and moves them to a round duct port. But I would not recommend this for a moment. It will make a huge mess and be very tough on your health. A good DC is an investment in your workspace and health. Awesome machine at a great price to you! Congrats!

[Erik Loza]

....Can I ask what current minimax j/p model compares to this machine?..

Believe it or not, the old FS350 has the most in common in with the current Minimax Elite-S series, which is their top-of-the-line: Identical jointer table and chassis design.

As others have said, you're not missing anything by not having a cast iron fence and you really will need some sort of DC system. These things are like a jet thruster of wood chips when you're planing boards. Best of luck with it.

Erik

[joel cervera]

So I spent today getting this thing dialed in for use. Checked and adjusting table parallelism, table alignment to the cutterhead, knife height, and fence.

I must say I still don't like the aluminum fence as much as I prefer old cast iron ones. The face of my fence is not perfectly straight in its vertical. Meaning when I set my square on the outfield table to set it ( fence ) to 90 degrees the face of the fence is slightly convex ( I know its a nit pick but even my Chaiwan made rigid 6 incher had a dead flat fence.) . I like being able to set tolerances to thous' of an inch. The table are very very close but I like the idea of getting it dead nuts flat and parallel.. Maybe I'll tweak it bit more down the road. (Maybe not). I ran 2 ft test board thru the jointer and planer and its plenty Flat and square. So It'll do what I need it to as is.

A few more questions for users..

1. I believe the infeed roller is the source of a clicking sound in use. Sounds like bad bearing noise. when disengaged the cutterhead spins nice and quiet. So I know its not that. Does anyone else notice a similar sound when the rollers are engaged. It sounds like it could possibly be normal.. but I wanted be sure.


2. Do you guys disengage the rollers when you use it in jointer mode? or simply lower the planer bed and joint away. I have ben disengaging them for my test cuts.

Thanks for all the feedback and continued help.

Joel