Delivered: Hammer A3-41!

[Scott Bernstein]

As a follow-up to some previous threads...I ordered a Hammer A3-41 back in February to replace a Grizzly 6" jointer + DeWalt 735 planer. It was delivered today! I hired a specialist equipment moving company (aka: a rigging company) and they were an excellent investment. I have a very, very steep driveway plus it happened to be raining today. They brought two guys, a roll-back truck, all-terrain forklift, some blocking, and a pallet jack. I supplied some sand on the driveway when the forklift wheels started slipping. They managed to get it most of the way up on the forklift but then could not make it up the rest of the way due to loss of forklift wheel traction. So the three of us managed to muscle it up the remainder and into the garage on the pallet jack. They assisted in dismantling the crate and removing the machine from the pallet. The kept it a few inches above the floor of the pallet jack while I installed the wheels on the machine. Well worth the money for the rigging crew and the machine looks fantastic - looking forward to making a few passes on the Hammer tonight.

Scott

[Edwin Santos]

Hi,
That's a great story, and congrats on your new machine. I have the A3-31 and as is often the case, I wish I had stepped up to the A3-41, partly for the additional width capacity, but mostly for the longer bed.

Would you mind sharing what a rigging service like that cost you? Did they have to meet the delivery, or did you have the delivery drop the machine at your curb and then have the riggers show up later?

Edwin

[ChrisA Edwards]

Congrats, I did similar last year, went from a DeWalt 735 and a Jet 6" jointer. I love the A3-31.

For the fence mount, I made this simple jig to help mount the rail.

[John TenEyck]

Congrats; that's a huge step up. Delivery sure took long enough - I would have worn the carpet out in impatience.

John

[Bob Hinden]

Good to hear it all went well. I have an A3-41 on order, delivery date several months away :-(

I am not expecting any problems having the Felder delivery service get it into my garage (driveway isn't too steep), but not sure they will want to wait to uncrate it to get it on the wheels.

I don't know where you are, so it may not be relevant, but which rigging company did you use?

Thanks,
Bob

[Mike Wilkins]

You will love that machine. I have been enjoying my A3-41 since June 2018 which I got to replace a straight knife Asian made 12" jointer/planer machine. I got the Silent Power version and it leaves a super smooth finished surface; I no longer have to run boards through my double drum sander and go straight to finish sanding. You will love the extra width also.

[Scott Bernstein]

Great idea to make the jig for mounting of the rails - wish I had thought of it. I used a metric WoodPeckers Paolini rule - worked out OK. The rigging company I used was Mariano Brothers Rigging and Moving Co based in Bethel, CT. I am in Westchester County, NY. They charged me $1200. Once I received the call from the Felder HQ in Delaware, that my machine had arrived from Austria, I had them deliver the machine directly to Mariano Brothers' warehouse in Connecticut. It stayed there for a couple weeks till I could arrange to take a day off work. Then they came promptly at 0800 on the appointed day. As I said, expensive, but I felt like it was well worth it. I had one quote as high as $3500 from another company. I got mine with the silent cutter head. Made my first few passes with some 7 foot long 12/4 Ash (for a dining room table); the width and length (with the table extensions) made the job trivial - a pleasure! Will try the planer function tomorrow.

[Mick Simon]

I love my A3-41. I came close to ordering the A3-31 because of the faster delivery at the time. Glad i held out. I've used the full width a few times since I've had it.
IMG_0469.jpg

[Jim Becker]

Going 16"/410mm is a good thing...I've had a time recently when I had to , um...beg assistance...from another 'Creeker to run something through his FS-41 Elite because my J/P is limited to 350mm/13.65". Some things I'm doing now would benefit from the extra capacity in my shop since driving to the bigger machine costs both gas money and "wood acquisition money" when my vehicle veers from there to one of the local wood purveyors. LOL If that keeps up, it may be the difference in cost to the larger machine.

[Mick Simon]

16" is more than enough - until you watch this - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0335X42KRs

[Scott Bernstein]

Well, last night I used the new A3-41 to finish jointing and planing some 12/4 Ash for my dining room table project. These pieces were 7-8’ long and 8-10” wide. The Hammer did an amazing job - the jointed/planed faces and jointed edge are spot-on 90deg and the finish is mirror-smooth. Filled up a whole 30gallon drum with the shavings in the process. I’m thinking 16” will be plenty for me - I don’t know if I could physically handle any bigger pieces than these! Love the aluminum table extensions. Conversion from jointer to planer mode is a snap.

[Frederick Skelly]

Sounds like money well spent for you. Congratulations on your new machine!
I always wondered about Riggers - can you give us a ballpark figure for what they charged you?
Fred

[Scott Bernstein]

Fred - you can see one of earlier replies above...They charged $1200. For them it was a 90min drive from their warehouse each way to my place. They had the rollback truck, forklift, pallet jack, and two guys. They spent about an hour at the house, most of which was helping take apart the crate, and helping to install the rolling chasis. I could have rented the pallet jack and forklift myself, but I could not have driven the forklift up the wet 25% grade like they did. Money well spent as far as I'm concerned.

Scott

[Yonak Hawkins]

They managed to get it most of the way up on the forklift but then could not make it up the rest of the way due to loss of forklift wheel traction.

Did they dry to take it up the driveway forward or backward ? I usually don't have a problem with the weight at the bottom when going up our steep gravel driveway, although I certainly don't know the particulars of your situation.

[Scott Bernstein]

They backed the rollback truck as far up as they could, which meant they were already about 1/4 of the way up. Then they went up forwards with the forklift (machine out front). It was raining and when they hit the steepest part (30% grade), the wheels slipped and could not make progress. I cannot see how they could have made it up that grade with the forklift backwards (machine facing down hill) - the forklift would have tumbled forwards down the hill for sure.

Scott