Unloading Hammer K3 Winner from pallet

[Gabriel Marusic]

I'll be receiving my Hammer K3 Winner in the next couple of weeks and I have some questions about unloading it from the pallet and installing the mobility kit.

Does anyone have the exact spec of how narrow the pallet jack needs to be? I've seen people say 20" in the forums and the most narrow one I seem to be able to rent locally is 21".

I'm also struggling to find the instructions to install the mobility kit. I'm assuming I just do it while the machine is hoisted on the jack?

Hoping someone out there with experience can chime in. Thanks!

[ChrisA Edwards]

Congrats on the new toy, you'll love it.

I have a Hammer A3-31 and F3 Shaper.

I was fortunate enough to have the delivery guy drop it off the truck and wheel the pallet'd machine into my garage.

From there, my Son helped me get the A3-31 off the pallet and onto a Bora Portamate 3500 mobile base.

The F3, I got bored one day and slid it off myself. I got a few 3/8" steel rods from HD. I placed these under the machine and this allowed me to slide/roll the machine off the pallet onto the mobile base. I did use a couple of 2"x4"s as shallow ramps.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euye-nhP-2M

[ChrisA Edwards]

This was my A3-31 being delivered

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1psOo6Te98

[Steve Wurster]

I don't remember the actual width of the pallet jack I used, but the company I rented from lists their narrow one as 21" wide. It was over 2 years ago, so I don't remember how much wiggle room there was under the body of the saw. I can tell you that on my K3 there's about 22.5" of space between the "feet", so you should be fine with the 21" model.

The mobility kit instructions will most likely be in with the mobility kit itself. There's a bar that goes through holes on the back of the saw, and then you attach the wheels (w/ washers) onto the ends of that. On the front of the saw you'll attach the angle bracket that the Johnson bar pivots against. And I'm pretty sure I installed mine while the saw was up on the jack.

Congrats on getting the machine. I absolutely love mine!

[Bill Dufour]

What is it? How much does it weigh? A bandsaw is probably the easiest to rig for a vertical hoist.
Bill D

Never seen this method before:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_w5NU6f6ro8

[John Gornall]

Youtube video shows "Harry" from Hammer building a ramp and moving the K3 off the pallet with a pallet jack

[John Gornall]

https://youtu.be/LA_xwLXntb4

[Mike Konobeck]

Fortunately/unfortunately I have moved a few Felder/Hammer machines, including a full combo Felder. Definitely do it safely first and foremost but don't overcomplicate it. You can pry up each side of the machine using a long 2x4 and then just put something under the machine just high enough to install the mobility kit. Once you have the mobility kit on you can create a ramp or build steps. A 1/4-1/2" drop for each step isn't going to hurt anything but a long ramp with some scraps is just as easy and more gentle. The nice thing about the mobility kit is you can lower it to slow/stop the machine as you are going down the ramp. I know it is going down the wide way but just make sure the angle isn't too steep. There is another way I have done it but it requires a couple people and levers to step it down. These machines were loaded on a truck, came across the ocean, loaded on another truck and delivered to you. It is a miracle they arrive in one piece and you can be assured they were not gently handled along the way. You will be treating it better than it has been treated at every other step it has taken to get to you.

[Jim Becker]

What is it? How much does it weigh? A bandsaw is probably the easiest to rig for a vertical hoist.
Bill D

It's a short-stroke sliding table saw, not a band saw.

---

OP, when I took delivery of my slider, I more or less "wiggled" it off the pallet with help and a temporary ramp. Then I was able to use a rented pallet jack to move it into place.

[Andy D Jones]

I rented an engine lift to transfer my A3-41 from the shipping pallet onto a PM-3550 mobile base. I had to use the car's scissor jack to put the pallet up on blocks, so the engine lift's lower arms could roll underneath it. Worked like a champ!

The base of what you are lifting (and whatever base you are wanting to put it on, if applicable) needs to be narrower than the spread between the engine-lift's lower arms.

-- Andy - Arlington TX

[Gabriel Marusic]

https://youtu.be/LA_xwLXntb4

Thank you! Looks straightforward enough and the pallet jack I'm going to rent will work perfectly.

[Gabriel Marusic]

Fortunately/unfortunately I have moved a few Felder/Hammer machines, including a full combo Felder. Definitely do it safely first and foremost but don't overcomplicate it. You can pry up each side of the machine using a long 2x4 and then just put something under the machine just high enough to install the mobility kit. Once you have the mobility kit on you can create a ramp or build steps. A 1/4-1/2" drop for each step isn't going to hurt anything but a long ramp with some scraps is just as easy and more gentle. The nice thing about the mobility kit is you can lower it to slow/stop the machine as you are going down the ramp. I know it is going down the wide way but just make sure the angle isn't too steep. There is another way I have done it but it requires a couple people and levers to step it down. These machines were loaded on a truck, came across the ocean, loaded on another truck and delivered to you. It is a miracle they arrive in one piece and you can be assured they were not gently handled along the way. You will be treating it better than it has been treated at every other step it has taken to get to you.

Thanks for the feedback. Since I'm going to be renting a pallet jack it seems I should be able to install the mobility kit while the machine is hoisted.

[Matthew Hills]

Thanks for the feedback. Since I'm going to be renting a pallet jack it seems I should be able to install the mobility kit while the machine is hoisted.
How did the unloading go? (I saw in another thread that you've now received the K3?)

[Robert Mayer]

Hope you never, ever need parts from Felder. I ordered two parts from them and they took 5 months to deliver them. If they were parts critical to the operation of the machine I would have been furious.

[Gabriel Marusic]

How did the unloading go? (I saw in another thread that you've now received the K3?)

The unloading actually went really smoothly and was very straightforward with the instructions people here pointed me to. I made sure I had the smaller pallet jack with the right width, bought my lumber to spec to make the little ramp and it came down easily. While it was in the air on the pallet jack we put on the mobility kit and it all went surprisingly quickly. I still need to level the machine and figure out the best way to do that since I can really only adjust two of the feet since the other two are on wheels. I also want to lower the sliding table as the factory spec is way to high and actually feels unsafe on some cuts using the rip fence. The assembly is pretty easy but the instructions are abysmal, it's basically a parts diagram.

[Gabriel Marusic]

Hope you never, ever need parts from Felder. I ordered two parts from them and they took 5 months to deliver them. If they were parts critical to the operation of the machine I would have been furious.

5 month wait on a part is awful. I get the full machine taking a while but an individual part is nuts.

[Will Blick]

nuttin like building your own custom rigging contraption...
manufacturers should provide us better offloading information...
like a pix of how it will sit on the pallet.
My Grizz 17" Ultimate Bandsaw was on TWO pallets!
that was a curve ball I had never seen before, as it was standing TALL on the two pallets, not as easy to walk off...
then, the hardware was not installed for top lifting eyebolts, which I planned to use...rain was coming ;)
anyway, seems its always an adventure,
prepare as best u can as you are...then...
expect the unexpected - that's my words of wisdom.

[Rod Sheridan]

Youtube video shows "Harry" from Hammer building a ramp and moving the K3 off the pallet with a pallet jack

That actually is his name, he's a really nice guy...........Rod.