Jasahan

I actually reverse one of the slices so the larger faces face each other

Great job! I use pallet wood for everything

For whoever's interested: After filling out some form on Felder's site, a sales rep called me. Nice enough guy, and definitely a good salesman. Anyway, I explained to him that it'd be tremendously helpful for me to see a slot mortiser in person. He said they had a customer not far from me who had one (FD 250) from 2002. So they contacted him and he said he was fine with having me stop by. So I did. I went out to his shop. Really nice guy, and an excellent woodworker. Nice shop set-up, too. He showed us the mortiser, that he still uses to this day, and then gave me some other shop tips. I asked him how it was dealing with Felder customer service or tech support, and he said he's never had to. 13 YEARS, and never had issues. That was comforting. Anyway, looked like a solid machine. They make them prettier now. Hopefully they're just as solid.

So, had a brilliant idea to collect some of the dust from my miter saw. A hood connected to my shop vac. However, I didn't have a hood. But I did have a bunch of 5 gallon buckets. So I cut a hole in the bottom, stuck the hose through the hole, slid the bucket over the slide on the saw, and tried it out. Didn't do a thing. Maybe kept about a third of the dust from flying all over the shop. But not because of the shop vac. So, don't do this. It doesn't work.

Well, I pretty much agree, and I definitely didn't think of that. But for now, I'm trying to minimize risk without putting us in the position have having to fork over thousands of dollars just to have guys work. So I'm wanting to use what I have the best I can. Like I said, when we move/upgrade our shop, I'll have professionals design a for real dust collection system. But knowing about things I can alter to improve that is great, too.

Well, too many good things to go back and quote. But thanks again to all. Correct, it is not a hobby shop. It is a "business", which is why I'm concerned. We have actual employees in there now. While I certainly don't want lung problems, I'm considerably less concerned about my lungs than theirs. Currently, my planer is the only tool with dust collection and the least problematic. It has 4" pvc running maybe 12' to the 2HP in a straight horizontal run. I just need a better bag. I might need to get a separator for the other planer, though. The only thing I can't really alter is the bandsaw. The dust port is part of the cast iron frame. And seems like it's purpose is to keep dust out of the machine, not my lungs. So here's my take-away: Most machines have crap DC design 4" is not good enough Wear a respirator Do the best I can Don't make dust in California

Hey thanks!!!

Yeah, was reading some of Bill Pentz' stuff, and that's the feeling I got. Seems like I need to manipulate physics so I don't get cancer. Hoping when I hire someone to do a real system, they have that power.

Same here. Hard to find reviews of these machines, but I've seen two stories now of laguna machines being shipped with parts that weren't fully machined. I don't care how awesome your customer support may be, the fact that a multi-thousand dollar machine left the factory unfinished worries me. Call me cheap or old-fashioned, but I believe by the time a price tage gets to $2000+, the item should be solid and backed by whomever's selling it.

Looking at either Felder FD250 (http://www.felderusa.com/us-us/products/horizontal-mortiser/horizontal-mortiser-fd-250.html) or Laguna LBM200 (http://m.lagunatools.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lagunatools.com%2Fmortisers%2Fmortiser-lbm200#2854). Thoughts? They're the same price. I will be making mostly chair parts. I've never used one. I'm not getting a Domino.

Thanks all. I'll check out all that. I am currently running: Grizzly 15" planer Grizzly bandsaw Delta unisaw table saw 6x48 belt sander Will potentially have: A second 15" planer 22" drum sander (or there abouts; donated and haven't gotten it set up yer) Slot mortiser (fd 250 or lbm 200) I bought the 4" clear tubing from grizzly. Our runs vary, but the longest would be 20+ ft, from machine, to ceiling, to dc. If that's absurdly long, I might be able to move some stuff. But I've heard change is dangerous and scary. Eventually, we will have a for reals dust collection system, but we're holding off on that until the shop move. So for now, I'm trying to make the best of what I got.

Just so you know, I did try to search the forum and google for some basics, but couldn't find what I'm looking for. Any good sites/sources that sum up how to effectively hook up dust collection? HP, hose size, hose length?, how many machines, etc? I have 4 things available to me currently, and will upgrade to a serious system eventually. But here's what I got now 3HP Woodtek 2HP drum top with baldor motor 1/2HP Drum top with baldor motor Shop vac (which I use for sanders) Not asking for you guys to do the work for me, but thiught I'd let you know what I have. Anyway, just lookin for some rough guidelines.

So if I need a metal detector, any recommendations

Maximum cutting depth 1/2"? WOW! Aren't you pretty much mulching at that point? Those two seemed similar. Maybe I need to double check. They are wider than what I need. The widest thing I would plane is 15". Not that I couldn't plane wider. And maybe that's part of my issue. I read on a review of some planer (don't remember what it was) that it worked great until you got to wider stock. So maybe I need 20" to plane 15". EDIT: k, well, that Northfield seems like a beast and a half. I like that it goes down to 1/16. Don't like that the oliver doesn't even go to 1/4". Not that I need that for any regular item. I just have a guitar floating in my far distant future. They both seem like tanks. My issue with the belsaw is the gear set-up is complicated and just seems poorly thought out. I'm not the most mechanically inclined, but I think simple is better, and that's what I like about the Grizzly. Plus, Belsaw doesn't really exist anymore.

It's so pretty! AND, it comes with "perfect technology". And all these years, I've been putting up with the imperfect sort. This seems more along where I think I'm headed. Might be overkill. I need to keep digging. Can't get distracted by fine German engineering. BTW, thanks all for the feedback and suggestions. I generally don't even know where to start with most things.