MiniMax sliding table saw

[Doug Jones from Oregon]

Well,there must always be an oddman out, and here I am.

IF I was setting up a cabinet shop today, I would be doing it with a cnc router.

Not only can you process your panel cuts smoothly and accurately, but you also get the advantage of machining your dadoes, you hinge mounts, your drawer glide pilot holes, and you shelf pin holes if you need them.

We used to process the side panels for a number of smaller cabinet shops on our cnc's and it was poetry in motion.

Yes, the initial investment is more than a slider, but you can do oh so much more.

Doug

[tod evans]

excellent suggestion doug! in this area even the small cabinet shops are investing in a router and quite a few are outsourcing their door and drawer fronts....if a fellow has the business but not the labor this really makes sense.

chris, this is something for you to weigh while you`ve still got money in your pocket....a cnc in todays world can cut,dado-n- line drill plus dovetail your drawer boxes with very little waste....if i built kitchen cabinets this is very likely the way i`d go.....02 tod

[Chris McDowell]

John,
I am looking into the Shopcart or something similar right now. I am also going to ask about the longer slider. Might not need it much but if I did I would always regret not having it.
Most of the worse opinions on the MM were not posted in the public forum, but came from some private E-mails. I should have made that clear.
Appreciate the comments.
Chris

[Chris McDowell]

Just had a thought,although my wife would not believe it, does the tape on the sliding table come in metric or inches. I keep forgetting to ask MM and the only pics I have seen always show the metric.
Thanks, Chris

[Brian Buckley]

Chris,
The tapes on my mm 410 are in inches.

Brian

[Chris McDowell]

I have been looking into doing some outsourcing and think I will on the next kitchen I have lined up. I'm on another monster entertainment center and there is not enough doors on it to justify it.
Tod, I looked into cnc and even talked to some other shops on it and decided it wasn't for me. It looks great at first but then you have a lot of hidden costs and some down time to get everything up to speed. I will keep it in mind for later down the road. I belong to a cooperative that gives me access to cnc owners who would process sheetgoods for me, but shipping would be prohibitive from what little I've seen and it kind of puts me at the mercy of someone else's time schedule.
Thanks for the comments.

[tod evans]

chris, the tapes on my saw are in both silly-meters and inches...tod

[Paul B. Cresti]

John,
I am looking into the Shopcart or something similar right now. I am also going to ask about the longer slider. Might not need it much but if I did I would always regret not having it.
Most of the worse opinions on the MM were not posted in the public forum, but came from some private E-mails. I should have made that clear.
Appreciate the comments.
Chris

Chris,
Let me know what you find out on the ShopCart thing. The Shop Cart USA one is at over 1k and the one on Hafele is at 400....big difference and surley am wondering what the difference is. Oh and all my stuff is in inches....

[Chris McDowell]

I'll be glad to let everybody know what I find out on the carts. I just found another supplier for carts that I am checking into and I will let you know how that turns out.
Talked to Felder today and I have a question for you 315 owners out there. Does your saw have concrete in it for dampening and weight purposes? Never heard that before but I would sure like to know.
As always appreciate the input,
Chris

[Paul B. Cresti]

Chris,
I actually have a Shop Cart on order....they are not in yet, maybe at the end of the month. I am waiting for this job to come and if it is a yes so will the Shop Cart. I was told by them that the Hafele one is a cheap knock-off. I did have some people check the Shop Cart one while they were at IWF and they said they were very impressed by it.

As far as your other statement......well now there is a big chunk of marketing crap! Yes all of my MM machines have chunks and I mean big chunks of concrete in them....so what if it adds additional dampening to it who the blueberries cares! Did you know (at least I think so) that the Martin cabinet are a composite concrete & steel layered system? They have nothing else to pick on, deny the need of a real trunion so they always always fall back on that concrete stuff. I have a question for you to ask your "salesman" ask him if he even knows what a piece of wood is? or if he even knows how to cut a piece of wood! Oh but wait a second they probably have an acessory for that!

[Chris McDowell]

Paul, didn't mean to ruffle any feathers. Just checking everything out to see what I was told was the truth. I'll call MM to get more specifics on this.
How about you Felder owners out there, what do your saws use to dampen the vibration and add weight to them? I would like to hear both sides so I can compare apples to apples. Thanks as always,
Chris.

[Ed Kowaski]

My Altendorf F-45 had plenty of concrete in the base too

[tod evans]

Talked to Felder today and I have a question for you 315 owners out there. Does your saw have concrete in it for dampening and weight purposes? Never heard that before but I would sure like to know.
As always appreciate the input,
Chris

yup, my saw has a great big chunk of concrete in the bottom of it. never bothered me in the least......tod

[Jay Brewer]

[quote=Chris McDowell]Paul, didn't mean to ruffle any feathers. Just checking everything out to see what I was told was the truth. I'll call MM to get more specifics on this.
How about you Felder owners out there, what do your saws use to dampen the vibration and add weight to them? I would like to hear both sides so I can compare apples to apples. Thanks as always,
Chris.[/quote


Hey Chris, I have a Felder K700 w/10' slider for almost a year now and I absolutly love it. I installed the Tiger Rip fencewhen i got the saw. I hear alot about trunnions, all I know is my saw has zero runout and zero vibration. I dont want to get into a Mini Max Felder debate, im sure MiniMax makes a great saw, I choose Felder and am very happy with the decision. Paul commented on Felder accessorys, maybe because Mini Max dosent offer any. I can tell you 3 that are very nice

Outrigger cart is nice if you are cramped for space
Miter Index system is very acurate
Switches in the slider, very nice

[Steve Rowe]

Paul, didn't mean to ruffle any feathers. Just checking everything out to see what I was told was the truth. I'll call MM to get more specifics on this.
How about you Felder owners out there, what do your saws use to dampen the vibration and add weight to them? I would like to hear both sides so I can compare apples to apples. Thanks as always,
Chris.

Chris, I have a Felder CF741SP combo. No concrete, no vibration, no problems and works great. In Navy terms, it works fine, lasts a long time and drains to the bilge - life is good.

All this trunnion discussion sounds like a bunch of hooey (sp?) to me and is reminicent of the "my truck is better than your truck" argument. The bottom line is that both the MM and Felder designs have both proven to be solid and reliable. Which one is "better" is soley a matter of personal opinion and preference. If you feel more comfortable with or prefer one over the other, then base your decision on that.

Good luck with your decision.
Steve