Loading Hammer A3-41

[Curtis Horswill]

I am considering purchasing a used Hammer A3-41 jointer/planer. Looks like the spec on it is 780 lbs. I would be traveling quite a distance to pick this up. Question is, how can I lift it up onto my enclosed trailer? The owners manual says not to lift by the jointer tables with lifting straps. I need to pick it up about 24" to get it into the trailer. I had originally thought about using my engine crane to lift it with straps, but since that is out, how would you lift it assuming no forklift or tractor is available onsite?

[David Hawxhurst]

build a ramp, engine host w/straps under the bottom, long 2x4's and cantilever action to lift it up, jack and material to build step as you lift it up, make shift hoist made form 2x4's.

[Mike Wilkins]

I still think you can use the engine hoist to lift the machine. Most J/P machines have attachment points that permit lifting. If these instructions are not in the instruction manual, you could search the Felder on-line site or call Felder and talk to one of the reps. They should be willing to assist. Good luck and congrats on the new iron.

[Erik Loza]

Engine hoist and then run the straps under the little "feet" on the bottom of the chassis. Have another person steady the machine and keep it level (J/P's are top-heavy) as you do the lifting and lowering. Not sure on your machine; all of ours have knock-outs in the chassis specifically for lifting hooks in addition to an illustration in the owner's manual about the procedure. Many Euro machines do. As Mike pointed out, maybe a rep of theirs can assist you with that.

Best of luck with it.

Erik Loza
Minimax USA

[Brian Tax]

You can run the straps under the machine, between the legs, I have done it many times.

[Mark Carlson]

The AS-41 manual says there are attachment points on the base for lifting.

~mark

[Jim Neeley]

My $0.02.. Hammer has a video on getting it off of the shipping crate and they use a pallet jack (lifting between the legs, on the main body) and a ramp. If this is not feasible for you, Mark seems on the right track. I don't have their manual so cannot go into detail.

Jim

[Erik Loza]

I have moved many, many jointer/planers and pretty much seen/done it all. These are my suggestions for "best practices" as far as moving one of the these guys. The 12" machines are usually do-able by one person. You might want some help if it's a 16" machine.

1.) Lifting from one elevation to another: Engine hoist, with straps, like many have suggested in this thread.
2.) If the machine is on a pallet and needs to get on a floor: Walk it off by lifting (gently!) from the infeed and outfeed tables. Yes, the manual will tell you not do this but in my experience, as long as you are not being a gorilla during the process, it will not change the alignment of those tables. A pallet jack is fine for moving the machine around if it's already on a pallet but only the "Euro"-style skinny pallet jacks will actually fit between the feet of a jointer/planer, not the "standard"-style pallet jacks you see more commonly.
3.) Down stairs/into basement: Dismount infeed and outfeed tables and lower the chassis down with block and tackle. Re-assemble once it's where it needs to be.

I do not reccommend using a ramp to move a jointer/planer unless you have lots of bodies to help steady the machine. They are too top-heavy and prone to tipping over. Even pro delivery drivers (rarely) will dump a brand new jointer/planer off their liftgate. This happened recently to a member here on SMC with an FS41. Not fun! The more level you can keep the machine during all stages of the process and the lower you can keep it to the ground the smoother everything will go. Hope this helps,

Erik Loza
Minimax USA

[Stephen Cherry]

I vote for bolting the machine down to 48 inch long 4x4's running front to back on each of the feet. This effectively makes a 4 foot deep machine. Then maybe put this on top of two 8' long 4x4's bolted to the shorter 4x4's. THis way you have 800 lb, 4' wide by 8' long load. Super stable. A floor jack or high lift jack to lift the front onto the trailer.

[Chris Fournier]

The simplest and cheapest method would be to buy a 4' X 8' sheet of plywood and a few 8' 2 X 4s. Taper one end of the 2 X4s to allow the plywood to sit right on the ground when the plywood is set up as a ramp to your trailer. Screw the 2 X 4s to the plywood in three places. Now set up your ramp. Put a dolly under the JP and roll it up. This is a straight forward one man job. The engine hoist will work okay but is more precarious than the ramp.

I've used a ramp like this for years, cheap and effective and you can break it down for storage.

[Curtis Horswill]

I like the ramp idea, but I am not sure I could muscle an 800 lbs. machine on a dolly myself. I think the engine hoist is the way to go since I already have one.