Since taking delivery of the Jointer-planer combo, I’ve had a few people ask about the change over between jointing and planing. The process is quick and easy. In practice, it takes under a minute. If I had the Euro guard it would be even quicker. So far, I’m loving this machine. It’s very well made and I haven’t made any adjustments to get it working properly. Let me know if you have any questions about the Minimax FS30 change over.
Last night, I powered up the Minimax FS30 Jointer/Planer for the first time.
The Minimax FS30 initial setup is straight forward. Minimax secures everything to a wooden pallet. They even nail down the fence and accessories. The real trick is getting her off the pallet. This thing is heavy.
I stacked 2 x 8 scraps next to the pallet and carefully walking her off. Once on the scraps, I employed the help of my lovely wife. Check out her blog at sewsassycreations.com. We lowered the Minimax FS30 to the ground by lifting one side and removing a board until she was all the way down.
Removing cosmoline is the most tedious part of the process. Anyone who has ever received large machinery knows what I’m talking about. I removed most of the goop with a plastic putty knife. I removed the rest with lots of rags and a liberal amount of mineral spirits. With the goop removed, I gave the beds a light coat of Boeshield T-9 and a coat of paste wax. Don’t forget to get into all the nooks and crannies. The cutter head and in-feed rollers hide lots of the stuff.
The Minimax FS30 doesn’t come with a power cord, so you will have to make your own. I used a 10-2 rubber coated cable and 30a twist lock connector. Everything hooks up to a junction box on the side of the machine. There are two hot junctions and a ground. It doesn’t matter which hot wire goes to which hot terminal. Just make sure you connect your ground wire to the green ground terminal.
From there, it was just a matter of installing the knives and accessories. These Tersa knives are great. They install in a matter of seconds.
This thing purrs like an angry kitten. I’m really impressed with the build quality. The castings are beefy. The base is constructed of heavy-duty sheet metal. The fit and finish are excellent. I haven’t been able to put her through the paces yet, but the initial cuts impressed me. The only issues I’ve discovered is that the fence has a very small concavity along its width. It’s very subtle and I don’t believe it will affect edge jointing in practice.
Stay tuned for a full review.
I love my hand tools. They’re soothing and cathartic. But, the one thing I love more than using hand tools is designing furniture. Eventually, I want to do this full-time. If I want to take this passion full-time, I need to embrace electron power. I need to focus more time on design and less on milling lumber. My hand tools will always have a place in my work flow.
I start this migration with the purchase of a Minimax FS30 Jointer/Planer combo. My single most tedious task is milling lumber by hand. Milling by hand teaches you a lot about wood, but it consumes too much time to focus on design. I purchased a combo machine, due to limited shop space. This will be a solid investment. Minimax has a proven track record and their corporate offices are very close to me. I also considered Hammer, but ultimately decided to go with the FS30.
The new circuit has been run. All I need to do is get her off of the pallet. Free beer for any helpers!
Next, I will buy a table saw. I love flexible European-style, sliding table saws. However, most are out of my budget. Sawstop is my second choice. They build a solid saw with a proven safety record. Following that, I will likely invest in a hollow-chisel mortiser. I plan to build a lot of furniture with mortise and tenon joinery, so this will also come in handy.
It won’t all happen right away, but I will embrace the change and move on to bigger things. Wish me luck!
Blood, Sweat, and Sawdust 