HAMMER A3 31 Jointer Planer Combo Machine
- Thread starter TomGadwa1
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WarnerConstCo.
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They aren't heavy. One of my 24" planers weighs 3500 pounds, the other weighs 2600.
My 16" jointer weighs in at 2500.
My 16" jointer weighs in at 2500.
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WarnerConstCo. said:
Darcy,
Ever thought about putting your tools on a diet? Just kidding of course. You have some monsters. Glad to see them being used again.
Peter
WarnerConstCo.
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Peter Halle said:
Once I get a forklift of my own, I am thinking about stepping my game up to another weight class. [big grin]
Mass is they key to smooth operation and 100+ years of service life.
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Darcy, When you start to need to dig and pour footings for your machines please take and post images of the process. [popcorn]
Peter
Peter
PeterK said:
The digital handwheel is a must in my opinion -- either metric or imperial. Extremely accurate for setting repeat depth -- I can get to within .001- .002 tolerance using it. I opted for Zambus casters, but Great Lakes would work fine for mobility -- raises the machine, but easier than using a Johnson Bar set-up that Hammer sells. Extra blades if getting the straight knife set and a section of 120mm hose to fit to the dust port on the machine to your dust collection. I use Oneida metric to imperial connectors to fit into my 6 inch trunk line. I have considered the extension tables, but have not needed them in the 6-7 years I have owned my machine and I have no issue with snipe, even on longer work pieces so you might hold off on adding them initially or buy one and a rail that you can clamp to the planer outfeed -- in my opinion this is where they would be most useful as they would raise and lower with the bed of the machine when adjusting depth whereas the jointer table can easily be extended with roller stands or Ridgid stands.
Scot
Compared to what Darcy likes I guess my unit is svelte but at some 600 pounds it is heavier than a breadbox! ;D My first cursory checks on the alignment indicate that the unit seems to be adjusted quite accurately. My unit was on the late April ship. Thank God it was not one of the "Pleasure Cruise" ships which dave recently been plagued with troubles! So from port arrival to garage was about a week. The fun will begin when I and a lucky helper make the attempt to move her from the pallet to the garage floor. HAMMER suggests a pallet jack and a ramp. Luckily I have access to a pallet jack and a large dock plate which should suffice for the function of a ramp. So as soon as my lifting bar and wheels arrive I will then perform the transfer to the floor. Regarding accessories then mobility whether FELDERS or your own is a good idea. Also at least the small table extension and attaching bar for the thicknessing table to stabilize the stock when it is exiting. For repeatable results when using the thicknessing function the mechanical digital height indicator is a real winner. This gauge is a pendulum movement which uses the gravitational pull of the earth for referencing itself. Therefore no batteries or dual core CPU chip are needed for operation of the gauge. Another benefit of this analog technology is that the gauge will always remember where it is set to even when the unit is powered off. No booting up or recalibrating this baby! And by nature of the dial indication AND the digits readout (ODOMETER STYLE) it is easy to read at a glance. This is great for those of us with 50 plus year old eyes.
[attachimg=#1]
Photo of the inches style height indicator. The gauge is displaying 3/4 inch or .750 inch or 19.05 mm or for the scientifically inclined 190,500,000 Angstrom!
[attachimg=#1]
Photo of the inches style height indicator. The gauge is displaying 3/4 inch or .750 inch or 19.05 mm or for the scientifically inclined 190,500,000 Angstrom!
I was informed on Apr 26th that my machines had a target delivery date of May 6-8th and when shipped, I would receive shipper information to arrange specific a delivery time.
by the way, I let my salesperson know that I needed to schedule an electrician and rent a pallet jack for delivery, so accuracy was important. (Electricians up here are booked 10-15 days out).
Tue May 7th: I called Felder as there was potential I needed to know what time to be at home for a potential delivery that day or the next. I still had no shipping info yet, but who knows, it may have already been shipped. My sales rep was unavailable, so another rep got on the phone and had totally incorrect information. I was told the machines weren't even in yet. After 10 minutes of hold time I was informed they were there and would ship the next day.
Wed May 8th: I received an email from my sales rep stating machines would be shipped today and I would receive an email with the shipping info. Didn't get it.
Thur May 9th: I received an email saying the machines didn't get picked up Wednesday and they would get picked up Thursday and I'd receive an email with shipping info.
Fri May 10th: no shipping info email. no nothing. I waited until 3:00pm to call Felder. I'm told my machines weren't shipped because "someone" at Felder didn't inform the shipper that there were 2 machines getting shipped so the shipper arrived yesterday afternoon, they "didn't have room" for the machines and they weren't shipped. The Felder rep (not my salesperson) said my salesperson was out and the sales manager was "out sick" and that's why there were such problems and I wasn't informed.
Mind you. I don't mind delays, I know they happen. What is extremely weak on Felder's part is a complete lack of pro-active engagement to inform when things go wrong.
I've heard Felder has amazing after-delivery service, but a major part of my personal before-delivery experience so far has been pretty weak.
There you have it. My experience, so far, trying to get hammer and felder products.
by the way, I let my salesperson know that I needed to schedule an electrician and rent a pallet jack for delivery, so accuracy was important. (Electricians up here are booked 10-15 days out).
Tue May 7th: I called Felder as there was potential I needed to know what time to be at home for a potential delivery that day or the next. I still had no shipping info yet, but who knows, it may have already been shipped. My sales rep was unavailable, so another rep got on the phone and had totally incorrect information. I was told the machines weren't even in yet. After 10 minutes of hold time I was informed they were there and would ship the next day.
Wed May 8th: I received an email from my sales rep stating machines would be shipped today and I would receive an email with the shipping info. Didn't get it.
Thur May 9th: I received an email saying the machines didn't get picked up Wednesday and they would get picked up Thursday and I'd receive an email with shipping info.
Fri May 10th: no shipping info email. no nothing. I waited until 3:00pm to call Felder. I'm told my machines weren't shipped because "someone" at Felder didn't inform the shipper that there were 2 machines getting shipped so the shipper arrived yesterday afternoon, they "didn't have room" for the machines and they weren't shipped. The Felder rep (not my salesperson) said my salesperson was out and the sales manager was "out sick" and that's why there were such problems and I wasn't informed.
Mind you. I don't mind delays, I know they happen. What is extremely weak on Felder's part is a complete lack of pro-active engagement to inform when things go wrong.
I've heard Felder has amazing after-delivery service, but a major part of my personal before-delivery experience so far has been pretty weak.
There you have it. My experience, so far, trying to get hammer and felder products.
Sorry to hear about your less than ideal service. Per my sales agreement with FELDER USA I sent them a cashiers check and paid off the unit before it was to be delivered. I then called FELDER to insure that the check was in their hot little hands ahich it was. Thus they had my money and my end of the bargain was upheld. I kept in contact with FELDER and they DID actually send me an E-Mail with a tracing number for R+L Carriers. My unit arrived MAY 1 which was about two weeks earlier than initially quoted. One thing that was not correct was I did not receive my mobility kit, this responsibility falls to the sales rep who although gave me a good deal on the A3 31 unit has been out of the loop after closing the sale. I am not sure if this is FELDER corporate culture or an overtaxed or inexperienced salesperson. I feel that part of the service is following up on the customers experience and making certain that all is handled well. I called FELDER directly and ordered the mobility kit and a table extension. I asked if they could at least give me a break on the shipping due to the salesmen's oversight. They gave me 50% off on the shipping and my order arrived less than a week later. Decent! Sooooo my question is do they also have your money? If they do I would ask them what the double hockey sticks is going on with your order. I assume that they do have your money. So even though you should not have to chase down your item that may be your best option. It is like loaning someone some money. How many times I have done that (over 100) and out of that many only ONE person was proactive and paid me back without me having to chase them down! I love people but at times they frustrate me. Good luck and don't give up, give them many calls!cbehnke said:
Tom,
Yes, Felder is paid in full, the check was cashed on Monday May 6th.
I can understand delays, all I ask is a courtesy call me to let me know.
I understand an emergency that can crop up with a salesman, but you need a system to have another salesman cover your clients and give them the heads up call.
I can understand a slip up, but multiple mistakes compounding upon one another need a pro active call with a plausible explanation, not weak soup excuses, or I lose confidence in the company.
I'm not slagging them off, but my particular purchase experience has gone quite poorly this week.
Yes, Felder is paid in full, the check was cashed on Monday May 6th.
I can understand delays, all I ask is a courtesy call me to let me know.
I understand an emergency that can crop up with a salesman, but you need a system to have another salesman cover your clients and give them the heads up call.
I can understand a slip up, but multiple mistakes compounding upon one another need a pro active call with a plausible explanation, not weak soup excuses, or I lose confidence in the company.
I'm not slagging them off, but my particular purchase experience has gone quite poorly this week.
rnt80
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- Mar 30, 2008
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cbehnke said:
My machine arrived today and while I'm relieved I'm not that excited because I have no idea when I'll actually get around to getting it unpacked and set up. The service I have received from Felder has been nothing short of pathetic. The machine arrived a month after what I was initially told would be the delivery date and I lost count of the number of emails/calls that didn't get returned. I'm hoping the performance of the machine will make me forget all of this.
rnt80 said:
Russ: A word of caution be careful when unloading the machine off of the pallet. It weighs every bit of 600 pounds. Make darn certain that you have at least one or more helpers to do this. Mine wanted to find the floor at about MACH 3! It listed while coming down the ramp and wound up trading paint with the pallet jack and kissed a table in the process. Fortunately my neighbor and I did the adrenaline thing and stopped it from totally going over! I checked the unit out and I think it hurt the table and pallet jack more than it hurt itself. A testament to the rugged build quality of the machine. So a little orange pallet jack paint later I began to install the mobility kit. Lifting this unit to do that task is also no joke. Long levers and careful movements and again the beat up pallet jack helped to do this. I would like to thank my neighbor John for his help with doing this task which proved to be a bit more emotional than I would have preferred. The wheels that are included with the mobility kit are high quality delrin and sport needle bearings for ease of rolling this beast about. Any slight grade in the workshop floor will be felt while rolling the unit. I also installed two extension bar holders which are kind of a pain to level but are stoutly built. The extrusion of the extension bar is very solid as well. Next will be the highly touted mechanical digital height indicator. Stay tuned for further updates!
TomGadwa1 said:
I didn't find mine too bad, unloaded it and set it up myself, without a pallet trolley or jack. I just pul the rolling carriage bar/axel on, then lifted each corner by hand and put a block of wood under and put the wheels on. then lifting/dragging each corner I moved the unit so it was sitting across two pallets, the two back wheels on one, the jockey wheel on the other. I then tilted the unit little so I could drag the pallet from under the jockey wheel so it was tilted forward, then held it and kick the pallet from the back. Its heavy, about 200kg (450lbs) but you only really need to tilt it. I can see why if you followed their instructions and built a ramp, it could come shooting down!
I went for the spiral cutter head which is great and quite, plus the dial thicknesser readout. The dial is really easy to install and calibrate
I unloaded the K3 sliding table saw the same way, hardest bit on the set-up for that was getting the plastic wedges from the sliding table out.. they had whacked them in pretty hard for transport.
Hello Matt:mattfc said:
It most certainly did come shooting down the ramp at possibly warp speed! As i said before I may have damaged a two ton pallet jack and a work table and mostly my pride whilst trying to carefully deliver my new baby! After some preliminary tests it appears to have sustained no damage through its transfer (albeit rather quickly) to the shop floor. While thicknessing make certain that the table is locked firmly and there will be little if any snipe to contend with. Also the unit is blessedly quiet. I could run this next to a sleeping human baby and not wake it up! I installed the height gauge too and it appears to be reasonably accurate and easy to read.
HowardH
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- Jan 23, 2007
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I have the A3-31 and the K3 Winner and have nothing but good things about Felder CS. They have been very helpful anytime a problem had come up. That being said, you have to be super precise in setting up the bar that the fence attaches to. If it's not perfect, the fence had get out of square the further back it's pushed (meaning the more blade available). I asked Felder about it and I was told it was a known issue. I rarely face plane anything wider than 6-8" so I am careful not to push it back too far and then I check with a square to make sure I have a 90 deg angle. I thought the change overs would be a hassle but they really haven't been that much of a problem.
I received an email that my A3-31 is in New Castle and ready to ship, I wasn't expecting it until June. I need to clear a space for it but can't find the actual footprint dimensions. How much clearance do I need if it was against a wall, and how far from the wall would the front of the machine be?
Thank you,
Lee
Thank you,
Lee
i received my A3 31 and FB510 bandsaw yesterday. my machines were on the late april ship and i am located in Vermont. glad they are finally here. the experience was less than smooth and not without its ups and downs and twists and turns. it is what it is.
between the purchase and the delivery, too much happened to detail it all in this post, but if anyone is about to go through the hammer/felder purchase process and wants more color, email me and i'll let you know about my experience.
no performance info yet, the electrician will be here later today to install the 220v outlets and attach the plugs.
between the purchase and the delivery, too much happened to detail it all in this post, but if anyone is about to go through the hammer/felder purchase process and wants more color, email me and i'll let you know about my experience.
no performance info yet, the electrician will be here later today to install the 220v outlets and attach the plugs.
