sedgwick or felder

[ja2_k]

Hi
I am in the market for an upgrade on my spindle moulder, and was wandering if anyone has any oppinion about either the felder f700 or the sedgwick sm255/sm4 ll. Each wold have to be single phase... many thanks arfon

 

[tjwoodms]

sedgwick no shadow of doubt there

the felder may look pretty but its not very robust and there is a lot of cheep and nasty colourfull plastic covers that are easy to damage the spindle the spindle unit itself is really weedy. I have aslo seen problems with warped fences.

The sedgwick may seem a bit old looking but the guts of the machine are fairly decent for a budget machine of that size also parts are easy to get usualy next day from sedgwick and reasonably priced. Also the fences are cast iron and not the hoirble alloy extrussions that tend to warp because they havnt been skimed on both sides.

 

[Chrispy]

I've no experience of Sedgwick but won't be getting another Felder, totaly agree with Tim

 

[Sawyer]

Sedgwick: =P~

Regrettably, I couldn't afford one and have an Axminster WS1000TA.

 

[Mike.C]

sedgwick no shadow of doubt there

the felder may look pretty but its not very robust and there is a lot of cheep and nasty colourfull plastic covers that are easy to damage the spindle the spindle unit itself is really weedy. I have aslo seen problems with warped fences.

The sedgwick may seem a bit old looking but the guts of the machine are fairly decent for a budget machine of that size also parts are easy to get usualy next day from sedgwick and reasonably priced. Also the fences are cast iron and not the hoirble alloy extrussions that tend to warp because they havnt been skimed on both sides.

+1

Cheers

Mike

 

[ProShop]

Having owned both of these machines both now and in the past, I might be able to give you a reasonable and user based opinion.

These are two very different machines the sedgwick is a very robust machine made primarily of cast iron (cast iron isn't quite the panacea most seem to think it is) but it's a tough machine not much goes wrong after 20 odd years, it vibrates a bit on full chat. Setting the machine up is time consuming. The ring fence for curves is a very time consuming to assemble and imho it's not much use as a tennoner. The table is a decent size and flat as is the fences although most owners/users fit sacrificial ones.

The Felder isn't cast iron (only the top is). The one I have is more powerful than the Sedgwick and vibrates a tiny bit at full speed (the max speed is greater) It is very accurate and much easier to set up as it has micro adjustments. The spindle tilts (very useful) The sliding table is much closer to the cutterblock making it a very decent tennoner. It also has a quick change spindle which I use a lot. With all the controls at the front it is way quicker to setup as is the euro hood for curved work, it extracts the dust much better than the Sedgwick. The sliding table is accurate as is the alloy fences, the extension tables align accurately with the table.

The Sedgwick made hundreds of windows, doors, door frames, bow windows , arched windows, run thousands of metres of mouldings.
The Felder has made hundreds of windows, doors, door frames, bow windows , arched windows, run thousands of metres of mouldings.

The Sedgwick is a not many frills robust run all day workhorse. The Felder is an all singing dancing electronic run all day workhorse.

Choose which one you want really, if you want an opinion I suspect those reading this will already have sussed which one I'd go for :lol: .

IMHO a new Felder is way too expensive now, you can pick up a good Sedgwick for a fraction of Felder money and that would be my choice for someone starting out, for the simple reason the s/hand machines are cheapish but the real costs are in the cutterblocks & tooling, either way you won't be disappointed with either.

 

[ja2_k]

Thanks all for your replies.
Tenoning wont be an issue as i have a sedgwick three head tenoner.. so wouldnt need a sliding table.
Im not sure about the tilting spindle as sedgwick do have a tilting model,At the moment i have kity 1629 which has a 30 deg tilting spindle but find i rarely use it.
I think i will have to do some serching to see where to get the best deal.
Thanks arfon

 

[Goodwithwood]

Never tried the felder but i have got a Segwick SM4 II and have no complaints with it. Most of the operations i do only take a few minuts to set up. Shop around... the tool shops will be crawling over each other to sell you a machine in this climate!

 

[Guggs]

Sedgwick every time . Having used the over hyped 'Felder' it was very poor . Sedgwick machines are heavy,simple to use and reliable . The finish of the work piece is also streets ahead of Felder . I've a Sedgwick morticer and tenoner and all i can say is very good ,reliable,easy to use and easily maintained .

(hammer) happy new year !

 

[ProShop]

Sedgwick every time . Having used the over hyped 'Felder' it was very poor . The finish of the work piece is also streets ahead of Felder .

In the real world of everday usage of these machines there isn't hardly any difference in the finish on either of these machines, That's down to the user imho. Both machines setup properly give good results.

 

[ja2_k]

I'm just wondering wheather its worth spending the extra on a tilting version of the sedgwick or not.

 

[Modernist]

I'm just wondering wheather its worth spending the extra on a tilting version of the sedgwick or not.

Without knowing the price difference - yes

 

[ProShop]

I'm just wondering wheather its worth spending the extra on a tilting version of the sedgwick or not.

Oh yes.

 

[Bradshaw Joinery]

thread revival.....

just thought i would add that the felder is a very good machine as it seems to be being frowned upon...ok its no cast beast like the wadkin BEM i used to use, but it does nearly everything that spindle could do and a lot more. You shouldnt need a 1 ton machine for spindling, as cutters should be balanced these days..... you can reverse the drive to make the most use of profile knives as well as tilting for full versatility and safety of profiling, (can always machine underside) exact repeatable height seting of cutters (as long as noone presses reset) powerdrive. dust extraction is perfect, as said the spindle swapping is really usefull, as are the table extensions i leave on it. just make sure you go for 5.5kw motor or above, and a powerfeeder. never had any trouble with fences either?

hth

Olly

 

[tjwoodms]

olly what you have failed to take into account is a wadkin BEM that you used has likely 30yrs ish of heavy use and still going strong the felder will not last anywhere near that length of time.

for example most good old fassioned heavy cast machines will will run for 20/30 yrs before they require new spindle bearings i recently did a wadkin EQ built pre 1937 from the seriel and test numbers (thats as far back as wadkins records went) as far as i could tell i they were the original bearings (no tell tale marks anywhere). The only draw back was i had to get one of the the housings machined a few mm deeper as the original bearings were no longer produced. you wont get that kind of toruble free usage from any modern machine let alone a felder (or sedgwick for that matter)

 

[Chippyjoe]

Felder for me.

 

[Bradshaw Joinery]

olly what you have failed to take into account is a wadkin BEM that you used has likely 30yrs ish of heavy use and still going strong the felder will not last anywhere near that length of time.

for example most good old fassioned heavy cast machines will will run for 20/30 yrs before they require new spindle bearings i recently did a wadkin EQ built pre 1937 from the seriel and test numbers (thats as far back as wadkins records went) as far as i could tell i they were the original bearings (no tell tale marks anywhere). The only draw back was i had to get one of the the housings machined a few mm deeper as the original bearings were no longer produced. you wont get that kind of toruble free usage from any modern machine let alone a felder (or sedgwick for that matter)

agreed on the age thing, but modern machinescome with ease of use, ergonomics, saftey and repetitive use considderations. bearing quality is purely down to how much you spend, i was told the bem bearings were replaced 10 years ago, and were due to be done again when i left....and when i did the bearings in my felder (after 10 years) the bearing quality available as a replacement (not from felder, premier bearings) was a big difference...£25-75 a pop.....

dont get me wrong i love the older machines, but replacing or buying further kit from now on, i will look to newer items. Dont think i will find a suitable replacement for my wadkin cc though. what a beast.