mprzybylski
Member
- Joined
- Mar 16, 2012
- Messages
- 99
Hey everyone,
I’ve been contemplating upgrading my setup to the Hammer A3-31 for what seems like 6 months now. I have read and re-read everything I can find about it, watched every YouTube video I saw, and gotten quotes from the reps twice now. Recently there was a “review” of the A3-31 that was posted on LumberJocks, taken down, and re-posted in a total different light which didn’t help any of this. Basically the owner there was complaining about Hammer as a company and trashing them because his tables weren't flat, then after some exchanges that were very public between the owner and Felder (and a third party) and talks with the Felder CEO, a rep finally came out to his house and corrected the issue. He went on to delete that review and posted a new one that painted the company as if he had now been a part of it and was paid to write it. As this would be the biggest tool purchase I’ve ever made (for obvious reasons), I have some questions I wanted to see if I can get answered before making a decision. Here they are and I’d REALLY appreciate it if someone could shed some light on any and/or all of these:
1) If you have this machine, would you buy it again? Is there anything with it that you regret or would like to change?
2) I’m looking at buying the spiral head rather than the straight knives. The Felder rep told me that you can only purchase replacement cutters directly from Felder. Is this really the case? Can I not purchase the Byrd cutters as I’ve read that this is possibly a Byrd head?
3) If you’ve purchased this or other machines from Felder/Hammer, how has your support post-sale been? Did the machine arrive with any issues? If so, how did Felder handle it? I’ve read extremely conflicting reports on their service and I’m at a loss here.
4) Does the Felder Owners Group (the “other” FOG) still exist? I’ve read that it is a Yahoo group but I can’t find it ANYWHERE. I found a “Felder Users Group” but it only had 113 members and the last post was in May. If this FOG exists, how/where do I sign up?
5) I’ve also put the digital hand wheel in the order as well as two extension tables. I figured one on each side as I regularly work with long stock between 6’-8’ long and as I understand it the stock beds are rather short. Is this a good move? Have you possibly made your own infeed/outfeed for it and would not recommend these? Are there other accessories you’d suggest?
6) Is there another machine along the lines of the A3-31 that I should be looking at? I looked at the Jet (not as favorable as this machine in terms of reviews on performance whereas this machine performance wise usually gets very high marks), the Grizzly (not interested due to having to take off the fence), and the MiniMax FS30 (more expensive, can’t find that much info on it, I spoke with a customer once and he was all over the place so I worry that an actual MM rep couldn’t call me to talk it through and they had a customer call me instead, or as he termed it an owner that is now a local rep, whatever that means). My main criteria are a spiral cutterhead, ease of changing over from jointer to planer and vice versa, not having to take the fence off for the changeover, and 12” capacity.
7) How did you make this machine mobile? I have read mixed reviews about the Hammer mobile base and was going to make my own base with machine leveling casters (http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/149511/WoodRiver-Machine-Leveling-Caster-Plate-Mounted-4-Pack.aspx). There is a stem variant of this (although not sold by Woodcraft) as well which I understand may also be possible and the machine is already pre-drilled for them. Is this true? If so, how easy is it to install them?
I know I’m asking a LOADED set of questions but considering that I may be spending a down payment for a nice car on this tool I’d really like to make the right choice and not feel bad about it. Again, if you could help me in the decision making process by answering some of these questions I’d be forever grateful.
Lastly, I apologize if you saw this post on another forum but I cross-posted to the forums I frequent most often in hopes of getting the most answers possible from users that may not visit this forum so that I may get more insight and finally make this decision once and for all.
I’ve been contemplating upgrading my setup to the Hammer A3-31 for what seems like 6 months now. I have read and re-read everything I can find about it, watched every YouTube video I saw, and gotten quotes from the reps twice now. Recently there was a “review” of the A3-31 that was posted on LumberJocks, taken down, and re-posted in a total different light which didn’t help any of this. Basically the owner there was complaining about Hammer as a company and trashing them because his tables weren't flat, then after some exchanges that were very public between the owner and Felder (and a third party) and talks with the Felder CEO, a rep finally came out to his house and corrected the issue. He went on to delete that review and posted a new one that painted the company as if he had now been a part of it and was paid to write it. As this would be the biggest tool purchase I’ve ever made (for obvious reasons), I have some questions I wanted to see if I can get answered before making a decision. Here they are and I’d REALLY appreciate it if someone could shed some light on any and/or all of these:
1) If you have this machine, would you buy it again? Is there anything with it that you regret or would like to change?
2) I’m looking at buying the spiral head rather than the straight knives. The Felder rep told me that you can only purchase replacement cutters directly from Felder. Is this really the case? Can I not purchase the Byrd cutters as I’ve read that this is possibly a Byrd head?
3) If you’ve purchased this or other machines from Felder/Hammer, how has your support post-sale been? Did the machine arrive with any issues? If so, how did Felder handle it? I’ve read extremely conflicting reports on their service and I’m at a loss here.
4) Does the Felder Owners Group (the “other” FOG) still exist? I’ve read that it is a Yahoo group but I can’t find it ANYWHERE. I found a “Felder Users Group” but it only had 113 members and the last post was in May. If this FOG exists, how/where do I sign up?
5) I’ve also put the digital hand wheel in the order as well as two extension tables. I figured one on each side as I regularly work with long stock between 6’-8’ long and as I understand it the stock beds are rather short. Is this a good move? Have you possibly made your own infeed/outfeed for it and would not recommend these? Are there other accessories you’d suggest?
6) Is there another machine along the lines of the A3-31 that I should be looking at? I looked at the Jet (not as favorable as this machine in terms of reviews on performance whereas this machine performance wise usually gets very high marks), the Grizzly (not interested due to having to take off the fence), and the MiniMax FS30 (more expensive, can’t find that much info on it, I spoke with a customer once and he was all over the place so I worry that an actual MM rep couldn’t call me to talk it through and they had a customer call me instead, or as he termed it an owner that is now a local rep, whatever that means). My main criteria are a spiral cutterhead, ease of changing over from jointer to planer and vice versa, not having to take the fence off for the changeover, and 12” capacity.
7) How did you make this machine mobile? I have read mixed reviews about the Hammer mobile base and was going to make my own base with machine leveling casters (http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/149511/WoodRiver-Machine-Leveling-Caster-Plate-Mounted-4-Pack.aspx). There is a stem variant of this (although not sold by Woodcraft) as well which I understand may also be possible and the machine is already pre-drilled for them. Is this true? If so, how easy is it to install them?
I know I’m asking a LOADED set of questions but considering that I may be spending a down payment for a nice car on this tool I’d really like to make the right choice and not feel bad about it. Again, if you could help me in the decision making process by answering some of these questions I’d be forever grateful.
Lastly, I apologize if you saw this post on another forum but I cross-posted to the forums I frequent most often in hopes of getting the most answers possible from users that may not visit this forum so that I may get more insight and finally make this decision once and for all.
