Felder Color Change

[Patrick Kane]

Anyone have an idea of when felder went from orange to green? Somehow googling that answer didnt get me anywhere.

[Jeff Monson]

I think they used orange on some midline machines mid 2000's to maybe 2014? If you are talking the orange and grey that should be pretty close.

[Rick Fisher]

I think Orange was the 500 series and Green was the 700 series.. but they went charcoal grey since.. I dunno ..

[Darcy Forman]

I have a KF 500 from 2009 that is orange. Not exactly sure when they switched from orange to green, but I thought it was a couple years ago.

[johnny means]

Felder doesn't have a specific color. They're colors denote a specific product line. Last I saw the 900 series was blue, 700s were green, and the 500s were orange.

[Patrick Kane]

Well, ya learn something new every day. The color per product line makes complete sense; however, looking at their site the kf500 is green. Looks like green replaced orange and charcoal replaced green.

Did anything significant change on the saw/spindle machines over the last 10-20 years? From what ive read, the machines from the 70s/80s are to be avoided. Curious if everything 2000 on is good, or if redesigned occurred.

[David Kumm]

For Euro machinery, 70s-80s were a transition period from cast iron to steel bases and aluminum extrusions. You don't see many of those except a few Martin. 90s machines were very good IMO as " value engineering " was in an early stage. Bases were thick welded steel, heavy enough to support the internals, cast iron was still pretty thick and heavily ribbed, and extrusions were good. Downside with sliders is that you have to really check the slider bearings and ways for wear and motors are iffy. Euro motors tend to pack a lot of wire in a small frame so they fail after 20+ years compared to old large frame motors. The Felder 7 series from the 90s were great. The redesign in 2000 to the 700 series introduced folded steel bases which eventually led a few years later to hanging the internals off the cast iron top. Pretty common now but I'm not sure that is an improvement. Many machines are constructed that way to reduce cost and fine if the cast iron is heavy enough. Every manufacturer I know of has lightened and in some way cheapened their models over the years. In fairness there have also been improvements, particularly in how user friendly machines and controls have come. Avoid electronics on older machines unless spare boards are included or available.

Take this advice for what you are paying for it. My impressions only. I have machines from the 1930s to current and there are pluses and minuses to all. Buy the best quality you can afford. A heavy old machine with a good motor is not like a car. It will outlast a new inferior build but there is a learning curve as with anything worth while. You will be on your own if repairs are needed although there are user groups for much of the older stuff who are a great resource. Dave