Hammer A3-31 Jointer tables not planer

[Steve Pippins]

I bought a Hammer A3-31 jointer/planer used off of Craig's list. The infeed and outfeed
tables of the jointer are not planer. The owners manual does not address how to adjust.

Anybody have similar experience and how did you solve? No luck so far trying to contact
the Felder group.

Thanks for any advice.

Steve

[Cliff Polubinsky]

Steve, contact Hammer tech support and they can send you the procedure for adjusting the beds. Be forewarned, their documentation isn't the best.

Cliff

[Frank Drackman]

I just went through this with a Grizzly J/P. My outfeed table was sagging on the end. The Grizzly seems to be a copy of the MiniMax and other Euro J/P, so I assume yours will be similar. If not, disregard this post.

The solution was to shim under the bolts that connect the the infeed/outfeed tables to the frame. I had to put 2 shims under the far bolt on outfeed table.

[Jamie Buxton]

Steve, contact Hammer tech support and they can send you the procedure for adjusting the beds. Be forewarned, their documentation isn't the best.

Cliff

Hammer's documentation has gotten a lot better. I have a pdf version of the Hammer setup guide, and it is 154 pages long. Granted, it covers the complete Hammer five-function machine, not just the jointer/planer.
I don't remember where I downloaded the guide -- probably from the Hammer web site, or maybe from the Felder Owners Group web site.

[Ben Rivel]

Try contacting Liz Rogers at (e.rogers@felderusa.com), she has always done her best to help me out with Hammer/Felder questions.

[Steve Pippins]

Thanks Jamie. I was able to find the A3 set up guide from the Hammer site.

Ben, thanks for the contact information.

Steve

[Jamie Buxton]

Thanks Jamie. I was able to find the A3 set up guide from the Hammer site.

Ben, thanks for the contact information.

Steve

Steve, would you post a link to that setup guide? Other folks may want it too.

[Glenn de Souza]

Hi,
I second the suggestion to give Hammer's tech support in Delaware a call. The two times I have done so, I've always gotten a tech on the phone very quickly, and while one was better than the other, they were both able to help. The tables are highly adjustable. There are two adjustment bolts on the operator side for each the infeed and outfeed table (I think they call them Temple bolts or Castle bolts, or something like that), and these are pretty straightforward. There are also two each on the back side, but these are kind of unique and more difficult to access, require removing the fence and the sheet metal cover on the back. Basically each table sits on four points which allow you to adjust in any plane.

Don't make the mistake I did and start adjusting them all, or you can wind up running around in a circle because each adjustment has some effect on the other points. Instead adjust in a sequence one side at a time. Again, call Hammer's techs and they will walk you through this, and probably email you documentation and diagrams to help also.

At a minimum, a long straightedge and a set of feeler gauges would be a big help. The good news, once you get it tuned and everything tightened down well, it will stay that way. It's a very good machine.

[Steve Pippins]

Jamie, I missed your post. Here is where I found the set up guide.

http://www.hammerusa.com/us-us/products/true/jointer-planer-a3-31--310-mm.html