New machinery purchasing advice

[Mart]

Hi All,

I’m looking for some help and advice. I am looking at purchasing a straight line rip saw and currently I am comparing a couple of saws.The first is the weinig flexi rip. The second is MZ project LC600 and the third option is centauto goldline slg 6000.

As it stands I am familiar with weinig and have some their machinery and seen the saw. It’s brilliant but the most expensive of the 3 saws.
The second brand, (MZ projects) I have never heard of. They are an Italian brand about 40years old and owned by Pade (an American company). The plus side to this saw is I can view it at JJ smith’s showroom. (Not done this yet)

Finally, the saw I’m most interested in is the Centauro. It is supplied by Scott+Sergeant, but they don’t have an option to view it. I have heard of Centauro but never owned one of their machines. I would like to know what the brand is like and what the build quality and longevity of their machines is like

I was hoping someone on hear has had some experience with any of these brands and can offer me some insight into the pros and cons of each. Also experience with the other machines made by these brands would also be helpful.

I would appreciate any help and advice form anyone. It’s a big investment any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

 

[MARK.B.]

You don't say what sort of things you plan to make or cut or give a great deal of info that would make giving any advice easier to give. I was not familiar with any of the 3 choices you gave but did a quick search on your preferred option and its a Industrial machine with a price tag to make your eyes water . Just a hobbyist myself as are a lot of people on here so have no hands on experience of machines that big. There are some on here that do it it for a living and might be able to give you a few thoughts . Good luck with your search

 

[Mart]

Hi Mark.
Sorry, these are used to to rip timber (mostly converting through and through logs into square edge timber ready for PAR) As it stands we rip our boards on an old wadkin straight line edger. Every board has to be individually passed over the saw and some of our boards are as long as 6 meters. The reason for upgrading in mainly to reduce the manual handling element of the job and make the conversation process less labour intensive.
I hope this gives a little more insight.

 

[Kimbo]

Scott and Sargeant, you say. In all honesty I would get on the 'phone, explain the situation and see what they can do about it to help and advise your decision. They're a reputable company with a track record I'm sure, as a starting point, they will have a shiny piece of film for you to download.

Kimbo.

 

[deema]

Those are some serious saws and I suspect few people on here know what they are used for / seen or used one. Unless your desperate, I think I’d wait and visit the WT show and have a good natter to each before making a decision. They should have Mean Time Between failure data for each (MTBF), guarantees, average response time for an engineer from service call, how much inventory / range of spares held within the UK to allow a proper comparison. I’d also compare the power rating of each machine, with that kind of saw I’m assuming your running it constantly, and work out the KW (I know it’s KVA, but most none sparky won’t recognise the term)/ linear meter along with depreciation / linear meter to find out my cost of ownership (plus the usually accountants analysis.
Without looking up the specs I’m assuming each has the option for multiple slitting saw extensions.

It might be worth considering power factor correction depending on both how much your using it, and also how much juice you have left in your supply.

 

[Spectric]

Have you tried asking other companies that use large saws to rip trees down, they could be an invaluable source of info in your decision. They will beable to tell you what they think and of any issues plus what is the customer service like.

 

[pgrbff]

From what I understand Centauro are an excellent established brand, I believe they are best known for there bandsaws. They have been around since 1946. Have a look at their website.