Hammer Time

[Erich Larson]

Well I've just taken delivery of a Hammer A3-31 planer/jointer with the spiral cutter and an N4400 bandsaw and am undergoing initial setup.

So far I haven't seen anything that makes me feel that there are any problems with the machines but I'm wondering if folks might have any hints of what to do before I apply power so that I don't have an oops when I push the red buttons.

I've owned a bandsaw (14" Grizz) before but not a planer/jointer.

[Mark Carlson]

I made sure the cutter head rotated freely without striking anything and then went for it. Congrats on the new machine.

~mark

[Rod Sheridan]

Congratulations Eric, the most common problems I've heard of are not waxing the jointer and planer beds and not holding the start button in until the cutterhead is up to speed if you have the single phase machine.

Enjoy..............Regards, Rod.

[Frank Martin]

I made sure the cutter head rotated freely without striking anything and then went for it. Congrats on the new machine.

~mark

^^This….

Once I had a Grizzly J/P and started it without checking this. It was quite a scene when I pushed the start button. Apparently, the dust hood was not installed correctly and ended up with tons of shattered carbide inserts and damaged hood. No such problems with the Minimax combo.

[Thomas L. Miller]

Eric,
I followed the set up instructions included with the machine and watched the videos that Hammer provides about set up. They are very complete. I had no issues. You are so going to enjoy this machine. As Rod suggested, be sure to wax the jointer and planer beds. Have a blast!
Tom

[Erich Larson]

Thanks for the suggestions. I feel more confident about the initial push of the green button now.