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First Look
Wow, I really like this machine. Period. This is 750 lbs. of quality woodworking equipment that is well designed for the functions it is meant to perform. The welded steel base provides a stable platform for the heavy cast iron tables and the 36" table height is comfortable to use. Although the tables don’t have the polished finish that many traditional machines have, I actually find them to be more slippery , which is a benefit when you are moving a wide board across the cutter head. The jointer infeed height adjustment lever is easy to use and surprisingly, I actually find it faster and preferable to the hand wheels that my previous jointer had. The height is locked with a simple twist of a bolt with a ratchet-handle...a one-hand operation.
Power is supplied via a user-provided #10-2 cord and 30 amp 240v circuit. Installation of the cord is easy. The controls are located up front and are a bit different than the simple switch that most jointers and planers have on-board. There is a master on/off twist switch (lockable), a protected on-switch (also lockable) and a large, red knob that serves to quickly turn off the machine and as an additional electrical lock-out. Unless you pull that red knob out, you cannot start the machine by pressing the start switch. While this might seem like a lot of effort, it’s really quite a good safety procedure since you actually have to think about the process to turn the machine on. You really can’t turn it on accidentally and neither could a child without quite a bit of effort. The 4.8hp motor runs with a reasonable sound level and only when you engage the knives with your material does the sound level kick up. But even there, it’s much, much quieter than the portable planers that many of us are familiar with!
One
of the great features of the FS-350 is the Swiss Tersa knife system.
Unlike the standard cutters on many traditional jointers and planers,
the Tersa system provides for double-sided, disposable knives that never
need height adjustment. Installation is simple...just lightly strike
down on each of the three gibs that hold a knife, slide the knife out
through the hole conveniently provided in the front of the machine and
replace with either the reverse side or a new cutter as appropriate.
Turning on the machine after this process automatically resets the gibs
via centrifugal force. This also means it’s easy to slightly offset
a knife that gets a minor nick...it only takes a minute.