Minimax FS 41 E Changeover with Porkchop Guard/120mm Dust Port

[Charles P. Wright]

Hello. I've just gotten a new FS41 E combination jointer/planer machine. I was a bit worried about taking delivery of such a large machine and getting it in my walk-out basement; but with the help of a drop deck trailer, pallet jack, and 4 other guys for about 30 minutes, I was able to get it into my basement with everyone and the machine in one piece.

I've not yet run any wood through it yet, as I'm still cleaning it up from shipment and figuring the machine out.

For the changeover from jointer to thicknesser; the first step is to move the fence all the way towards the front of the machine, which pushes the guard out of the way, so that the outfeed table comes up. At that point, the outfeed table and fence are vertical; and you can lift the infeed table and everything clears well.

When flipping over the dust shroud, I do have a little bit of interference between the guard and the shroud; but the guard can be easily moved away.

When going back to a jointer from a planer, the infeed table needs to be set down first. When setting the outfeed back down however, the pork chop guard is in the way, so you have to move that over; then hold it with your body while disengaging the lock and setting down the outfeed table.

Is this sequence of events correct? Is there a better way to juggle the guard when converting back to face jointing from thicknessing?

My next question relates to the 120mm port. On my MM16 my 4" flex hose fits over, but these ports are too big for that. After doing some searches, it looks like Felder would have the right converter:
http://us.feldershop.com/en-US/en-US...connector.html

Does anyone have a better/different suggestion? [Particularly, as the website says out of stock for 4-8 weeks.]

Thanks,
Charles

[Dan Friedrichs]

Recent thread with 120mm dust port ideas:
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...quot-flex-duct

[Mike Heidrick]

Fernco 4" adapter from Lowes. Try those. I used a hard plastic end on the hose to adapt that to the fernco as well.

[Mike King]

Oneida makes metric to imperial converters.

[Jim Becker]

I use the rubber Fernco cast iron soil pipe adapter for the MM J/P connections. It slips over the 120mm port and the 5" hose drop clamps over it.

You might want to consider replacing the "porkchop" with a Euro bridge guard. Mine came with the "pork chop" and it drove me nuts. I like wide boards and the deflection just got in the way of material handling. Further, I broke two of them. I much, much prefer the bridge guard since I primarily face joint. But even for that very rare day that an edge gets done, I'm still more comfortable with the bridge guard.

[John TenEyck]

I have a FS 35 with a very heavy cast iron fence. I remove it before lifting the tables. Takes 15 seconds and keeps a lot of stress off the hinges. Then it's front table followed by the rear table and the opposite to close. This way the pork chop guard is never a problem and I prefer it over the Euro guard (and I've had both.) I use a home built adapter from the dust chute to my 5" DC hose which has plentybof suck so a little loss doesn't matter. Love the machine.

John