Felder rebuild/repaint

[Alistair Hosie]

Several months ago I bought A Felder Austrian wood combination saw spindle moulder. The guy who sold it to me assured me it could be broken down into reasonable size chunks.
What he and I did not know was that the base for the saw alone was complete overkill it is in it's thinnest part two inches plus of solid cast iron. This expands in areas to five or six inches just for good measure.
I had to completely dismantle it into absolute minute pieces and even then the base was alone so heavy it took five men with almost broken backs to move it and finally I got it after two days solid graft into my workshop.
This was exacerbated by the infamous position of my shop at the top of a steep drive, round the back of my house, and up a flight of concrete steps and then up a small hill in very wet mud, you get the picture.
The machine itself was in very good condition although when it came apart it looked really scruffy so I decided on a complete overhaul and repaint this is now almost complete. The machine weighs in well at over half a ton (660plus kilos).Here are pictures of my work to date I am about to order new decals to finish it off I hope you like it.
I feel it has been worthwhile and I do enjoy rebuilding and making old machines come back to life regards Alistair
http://www.photobucket.com/albums/09...er%20rebuild/?

[Forrest Addy]

WOW! I can see why they get $20K for those machines. I've seen heavy roughing lathes with lighter construction.

Good score Alistair

[torker]

Alistair...you lucky dog!!! I'd love to have that machine. I worked in a shop for awhile that had a similar machine (older and heavier) but I can't remember the name of it. I think it started with "H". After that I wanted one to replace my sprawling equipment in my shop. A fellow here (BC,Canada) moved here from Germany and brought a brand new Felder with him. He couldn't make a go of it here so was going to move back to Germany but wanted to sell the Felder. Just couldn't come up with the $25,000 at the time. Have fun with it! Wish it was me! Russ

[Michael Az]

Nice work Alistair! Pretty nice machine too. Have you ever thought about bringing in a bulldozer and have at that hill?
Michael

[Guero]

That's a beautiful machine, Alistair. I'm overcome with lust and envy, even though I don't work very often with wood.

[Andrew]

Alistair, congrats on your new "toy". looks like you're going to have a lot of fun with it. Are you sure that the base is solid cast iron though.
In my experience, I have seen very few european machines with solid cast iron bases. Almost all of them are fabricated from steel sheet. I know that Martin woodworking machines are fabricated from heavy gauge sheet metal, and then concrete is poured between the inside and outside walls. The result is an extremely heavy base that is more economical to produce. As a woodworker as well as a metalworker, I can't understand the need for a 2" + thick casting on a tablesaw.
The 20" bauerle tablesaw i used to work on had castings that were about 1/2" thick in most places.
That is one great find
Andew

[torker]

Andrew...if you ever saw some of the stuff these guys do on these "little" machines you'd see why they need to be so heavy. I finally remembered.. it was a Knapp(sp?) machine that I used to work with. It weighed around 2000# and the accuracy of this machine really surprised me. The German craftsmen I worked with were very talented "timber framers". They machined a lot of really heavy timbers on the Knapp that would probably blow the sides out of a Unisaw. At first it was odd to see a 10ft timber hanging off the side of the sliding table but the machine handled it with ease. The main reason I like these machines is the amount of walking you save in a day. In my shop I was constantly moving material from one machine to another... with these machines you don't have to move around nearly as much.
Russ

[Alistair Hosie]

Andrew definitely cast iron no doubt about it very very heavy.
Even the base took five men moving it with two wooden long posts bolted to it like a rickshaw moving it a few inches at a time several hours to get it from the back of my house to my shop a distance of less than fifty feet. Alistair

[gizmo2]

Alistair, old chum. Next time someone offers you tins of free paint, pop a lid first and have a look before you say yes! Seriously, me 'ats off to you; looks like big fun and it looks like you're doin her proud.

[Evan]

That is a beautiful old machine. Extremely green

Reminds my of the time me and a friend moved a 600lb Kohler generator into my summer cabin at Puntzi Lake. The road only went to within about 400' of the cabin so we moved it down the trail on planks and rollers. It took all day and a lot of beer. Completely theft proof.

[This message has been edited by Evan (edited 01-27-2004).]

[Alistair Hosie]

Completely theft proof.
what was completely theft proof the beer the cabin or the Kohler?
Not Koahker Kohler was it? Alistair sorry couldn't resist that one ah the old ones are the best

[Evan]

The Kohler was theft proof and nobody wants used beer I sure wish I still had it, that was a really neat old unit. Four cylinder gas with dual magnetos, about 3KW output. It ran at 1200 rpm and you could barely hear it 50' away. Hand crank start and it started on the first crank. Got it at an auction for about $50. But, I sold it with the cabin.

[BillH]

If a crook wants something bad enough, he will get it. Crooks don't steal what they don't see.

I've heard stories where some one had a giant 1,000lb gun safe bolted to his floor in his house, and came home one day to find the safe gone.

[Evan]

It wouldn't have been easy. After putting it in place I built a shed around it, just enough room to get at it for service.

[Alistair Hosie]

There was a scam here a few years back workmen working in remote areas refurbishing roads i e new tarmac etc would leave large earthmoving machines J C B'S over the weekend so they could go home to visit their wives and kids.
When they started back on monday morning they would find this large equipment some of it thirty ton's and more was missing.
It seems some sneaky theives came in on friday after they left and pulled the machines up onto trailers and took them of to be sold.
Eventually they were found to be a team of theives from Ireland, who took them onto the ferry and across the water to their native land.
That's why it took the police so long to catch them they only ever recovered a small prprotion of them in the end.
It went on for a few years back in the seventies.
Alistair