Does anyone have any experience with the Felder ForKa Edgebander and if so is it comparable to the Festool Conturo?

Thank you!

https://www.felder-group.com/en-us/shop/mobile-sc649236/edgebander-forka-2
00-eco-plus-sp123603

https://www.toolpros.com/festool-576577-conturo-ka-65-han
d-held-edge-bander-w-systainer3.html

I think fetool is pretty expensive but very good quality tool, those portable bander prices are all over the place. The felder one looks just like the chinese stuff you see on ebay 300 to 2k. that my 2 cents.

I think you're right Rodney. There are a lot of portable edge banders on the market that look exactly like the Felder. I'm going to go with the Festool as soon as I do more homework on it.

Thanks for checking in!

I ended up with the Conturo about a year ago. After using it quite a lot in a one man shop i have thoughts and suggestions; I did not find it a great tool out of the box, and its only passable now. I really wish i could have found someone to actually answer real questions about them, both before and after using it. The complete lack of instructions/guide was frustrating. If i had space i would be looking a small floor units. Used mostly for solid wood edgeband, both prefinish and raw. If you have questions feel free to ask.

jamien, thank you for your repl they.

I have not purchased the Festool edgebander as of yet and I'm still searching for reviews. I've only found one review outside of Festool and the other 99% of the reviews are from Festool which makes me think they're biased.

Thanks for freshening my thoughts about purchasing a small used floor edgebander.
I would be interested in one that just hot melts the edgebanding on and I'll take care of the trimming and easing myself. Monday I'm going to make some calls and see if I can track one down because I think that's probably the best way to go.

Thanks again for your input!

If you don't need the ability to do curves or take it to the site i'd definitely go with a stationary unit. I have made many modifications to the conturo table to try and get it to be sort of that. i tried many different combos of clamping the part and using the bander by hand, but find the (subpar, heavily modified) table option to better for most applications. but then again, next week i have to take it to a site to band big panels. i'm not sure how doing big doors would be with a small stationary unit. for door/panels above the size of easily handled solo i use the conturo out of the table. the current project has several 3'x9' doors and some even larger fixed panels. banding those on a stationary unit seems like it would be hard.

if you get one that just bands (no trimming) take a cordless trim router and make your own dedicated edgband trim unit. i always use the 1/16" radius bit in mine for real wood, but it would work just as well with larger radius bits. all i had to do was add a piece of whatever acrylic i had laying around to half the base to get the stock base above the untrimmed banding. it works surprisingly well, and i'm glad i did not buy the $$ corded festool unit that does the same thing with the tangle factor. i expected to get bearing binding/burning since everyone says that happens, but we've run 1000s of feet in the last month with one bit and no trouble.

Yes, I think a stationary unit is best for me because I rarely do curve and when I do I just use a heat gun. I'm hoping I can find something used that is in good working order. I was looking on Hermance Machinery's website yesterday but I didn't see anything in my price range so I guess I'll give them a call on Monday along with some other machinery companies and see what happens.

By the way, I also took a piece of 1/16'' thick tape and placed it on half router base to get the stock base above the untrimmed banding. Nice trick and very effective.

I did post a thread on the Festool forum group for reviews on the edge bander. I got a few replies but I'll keep my eye out for bias.
Quite frankly I think I'm sold on a floor model since my main business is straight work bookcases.

I'll let you know what happens. It might take a while but I'm in no hurry.

I had the ne of the portables similar to the Felder. Most I have seen are the same except color. The one I had was a total pile of junk.
I have had the Conturo now for about 10 years. By far a much more high quality unit and works great. We use it mostly for curved parts and occasionally take on job that we might need it on. Well worth the money. Issues I’ve had with it. Optical eye got dirty and threw code. Cleaned with alcohol and qtip. Fan got shavings in it and wouldn’t turn. Threw a code opened it not and cleaned. Long cord twisted funny and pulled cover from my unit. Opened and removed and replaced. The flu puck works great and doesn’t spill like the glue pot does on a portable if not kept horizontal

Bought a Virutex PEB 250TA portable system last month. Decided over Festool and any other on the market. Built like a tank.Steel and Teflon surface Construction. Came with the stationary base for narrow parts and panels. No plastic or unnecessary electronics that can give headache.Uses Pellet glue and very very easy to swap different color or type glue( one thing i hate on the Festool, glue changing really messy)

What I am stuck on the Festool is the trim router they have.
I know any portable trim router can do the trick when you modify the base but the problem is on the left over PVC shavings.None of them works better like Festool when it comes to dust collection. That plastic shavings are not easy to clean when is all over.The edge banding trim base (1.5 degree) and the attached plastic dust collection accessory is the only one you will ever need if you are doing volume work.
yeah for 1 or 2 pieces just use any router.no need Festool.