# Review on combination machine



## Longknife (Oct 25, 2010)

I understand that european style combination machines are not commonly used in the US so I thougt I would give a review on mine if someone is interested.

The reason for me to get one was that when I sold my farm I had to leave a large shop and instead use the 13’ x 20’ garage at the new house for a new shop. At the old place I had some large old cast iron machines that would not go into the garage so I sold them. What I wanted was a table saw, a shaper, a jointer and a planer. My budget was limited to the money I had got for the old machines. I first looked into stand alone machines but I soon found that they would take up too much space (even if I had them on mobile stands) and that my budget would crack if I would have any reasonable quality on the machines. When I started to look for combination machines I found that I could just dream of the high end brands like Hammer or Felder and even a Robland would require twice my budget. Then at the swedish company DUAB I found their C5-260H. The machine is probably made in China, not high end but not “cheapo” either. And my budget almost allowed it. The company had a free delivery offer so I decided to go for it.










The machine came in a large box, the weight was 400 kg (880 lbs) so it took some job to get it into the garage. All the accessories were packed in boxes but the manual offered no guidance on how to assemble the machine. That was possible though with help from the pictures of the machine in the catalogue. The manual was more or less useless, e.g. there was no instructions on how to tune up and align all the functions. With a bit of common sense and general knowledge of woodworking machines that was however possible to do, adjustments are possible on all functions, all it takes is to figure out how they work.
The machine is equipped with three 400 V 3-phase motors. One 4 hp for the table saw, one 3 hp for the jointer/planer and one 4 hp for the shaper. There is a switch on the front so only one motor at a time can run. On/off buttons for saw and shaper are on the front side and for the jointer/planer on the opposite side. There are also two emergency stop buttons that will stop any function running.








The table saw has a sliding table, a 250 mm blade (30 mm arbor) and a scoring blade. The saw has a true riving knife on wich the blade guard is mounted. The saw height is 65 mm wich I think is a bit low for a 250 mm blade. Probably due to the scoring blade mechanism. The blade, as expected, is not very much to write home about so as soon as I can afford it I’ll replace it with a CMT blade. The scoring blade is raised with an allen key and can also be adjusted sideways to align it to the main blade. The blade (together with the scoring blade) can be tilted 45 deg to the right. The downside of the saw is the fence. It’s made with a good intention but consists of aluminum parts that are screwed together and that’s not exactly a rock solid solution. Only good thing with it is the adjustable auxiliary fence. The sliding table also have an outrigger with a cross cutting fence. The insert is not perfectly flush with the table. I will make a ZCI, but it’s a bit complicated due to the sliding table and scoring blade.

















To be continued.........


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## Longknife (Oct 25, 2010)

Part 2








Outrigger and crosscut fence attached


The shaper spindle sits in a “well” in the TS table and has three speeds available by stepped pulleys - 3500, 5500 and 7000 RPM. The spindle dia is 30 mm and I have installed a TB90 cutterhead wich accepts 40, 50 and 60mm shaperknifes. Multiple cutterheads can be stacked. A collet for 12 mm routerbits can also be installed but I belive 7000 RPM would be too slow for small bits. The shaper fences are individually microadjustable. The sliding table is used also for the shaper.

























To be continued....


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## Longknife (Oct 25, 2010)

Part 3

The combined jointer and planer has a 3-knife cutterhead with a jointing width of 250 mm. The fence is made of aluminium but it is surprisingly sturdy. The fence can be tilted 45 deg. Booth infeed and outfeed tables are adjustable. Overall length of tables is 1100 mm.









In planer mode the outfeed table is folded to the side and the dust collctor hood is flipped up. The planer width is 250 mm and max planing height is 180 mm. Planer table length is 600 mm.









The mortiser is attached on the jointer/planer side of the machine. The 16 mm chuck for mortising bits is mounted on the jointer cutterhead spindle. It has a cast iron table and the max mortise depth is 90 mm and max mortise width is 150 mm.









A combination machine always have drawbacks compared to machines designated to one function. The most common disadvantage is that different operations interfere with each other. On this machine the table saw fence interfere with the jointer fence so if I want to do a table saw cut wider than 160 mm I have to take the jointer fence off. This is not too complicated, it’s attached with two allen screws. To do a jointer operation I have to lift off the table saw fence, but that’s only to lift off. The shaper dust hood and fences interfere with the table saw. The hood is mounted with two bolts with handles, not too complicated. The mortiser is a bit in the way when jointing (not directly interfering though) but it can be removed by loosening three allen bolts.
Overall I’m satisfied with this machine. The quality and accuracy fill my needs and with careful planning of the workflow I can live with the drawbacks. Improvements I will make are: new TS blade, new TS fence, ZCI for the TS and an outfeed table.


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*Maybe not a CMT blade?*

QUOTE: The blade, as expected, is not very much to write home about so as soon as I can afford it I’ll replace it with a CMT blade.

I have not heard good things about the CMT blades....just remembering a few posts here.....FYI.
Otherwise it's a totally awesome machine. Cost in US Dollars ??  bill


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## Longknife (Oct 25, 2010)

woodnthings said:


> QUOTE: The blade, as expected, is not very much to write home about so as soon as I can afford it I’ll replace it with a CMT blade.
> 
> I have not heard good things about the CMT blades....just remembering a few posts here.....FYI.
> Otherwise it's a totally awesome machine. Cost in US Dollars ??  bill


I have heard good things about the CMT blades. Any specific blades you have heard negative things of? I have a CMT negative hook angle crosscut blade on my SCMS which is excellent.
The machine cost me 20000SEK (around $2880)


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*Can't search CMT here*

Not enough characters, it could have been a dado however. Hey, if you like 'em that all that matters! :thumbsup: 
That's a great price on a machine like that. Now we are gonna sit back and watch the work come flyin' off! :yes: bill


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## Kenbo (Sep 16, 2008)

Wow, that's quite the machine and a very well done review. I've never seen anything quite like this. Maybe I'm living in the dark ages, or maybe I'm just from Canada. Thanks for sharing this one. Love it.
Ken


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## 240sxguy (Sep 13, 2010)

Very neat machine! I have never seen anything like that before. Seems like a killer solution for guys with space limitations.


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## Peter Gee (Feb 9, 2012)

Yes, it is a machine that is made in China - as, indeed, are most of the machines around these days; including some very well-known and respected brands. In the USA it is sold under the "Laguna" brand (Platinum 10"), in the UK it is sold under the "Warco" brand name, a well as the "Chester" and Axminster brand names. In Austria it is know under the "Holzmann" brand name and in Italy it is sold as a "Kompacta" name. In China, you will find it coming out of the China Shoot factories (or Yantai Shoot) - you will probably spot one or two other 'branded' machines in their catalogue! Spare parts are very easy to find once one knows what names the machine is also sold as, but I have barely scratched the surface of the brands this particular machine is sold under around the world.

Other good combination machines can be found under the following brand names - not all of the are made in China, but the majority of them incorporate parts that were made in China (particularly the cast iron components).


http://www.griggio.com/
http://www.rmgroup.it/web/prodotti.asp
http://www.sicar.it/hobbies.html
http://www.veba.it/
http://www.dmitaliasrl.com/co.uk/
MiniMax
Felder & Hammer brand machines


If you look carefully, you may well spot some similarities with other machines sold in your own countries, so it is well worth while spending a little time researching before splashing out your hard earned cash on a new machine - it might save you several thousands - unless you particularly like the colour of your preferred machine!


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