Anyone have any recommendation to kit they think is really good? I am spoilt by SOTA gear at father in law but way out of even my 'generous' budgets, he does all sort from massive replacement Church doors downwards..space is my concern really rather than budget. I am after flexibility but primarily bee related.
Hmmmm. State of the art is a many headed beast.
I too would love a proper workshop, with a big panel saw, a super heavy Wadkin table saw, a spindle moulder, loads of big tables and a big built in extractor. One day I will win the lottery (unlikely as I don't play it) and buy a massive workshop to house it all in. Space is the problem.
Given the space constraint, look at Festool. A plunge (say TS55) does everything a table saw can do, and with a 3m guide can do everything a panel saw can do. Add a set of parallel guides (FS-PA), and you can make the saw do whatever you want - small parts, big parts, angled parts, the lot. It all fits in a carryable box (OK the guide rail doesn't, but you pin that to the roof of your garage).
That is pretty much "SOTA" for sheet goods, and comprises a grands worth of kit.
You'd need a router as well for bee stuff. If you go down the Festool route, an OF1400 router + CMS side table + router lift + an MFT would be the killer combo - at about £2K all in. Again, all of that lot would fold into the space taken up by a large suitcase. It is designed to be taken on site by carpenters, so collapses to fit in the back of a van really quickly.
Massive over expenditure for a few hives, but if the requirement is "fits into a small space" and "will last forever" it is the right answer.
