I've had my Hammer A3-41 for a few years. I rarely use it because a bulk of my projects lately have been ply based.
I've always had an issue with the planer function where boards would slip to the side as they went through. I finally resolved this after watching a recent calibration video on YouTube. The outfeed roller was high on one side by about .010-.015. Quite a lot. Easy fix but surprised it left the factory like this.
The other issue that I cant figure out is snipe. Most of the reviews and youtubers using this say the machine doesn't cause snipe. Well mine does, and almost on every board regardless of size. I do tighten the planer bed lever but that doesn't seem to help. Any idea how to solve this? I am guessing this has to do with the rollers also, or maybe the planer bed lever is not doing its job.
Finally, has anyone improved or upgraded the jointer fence? It is flimsy, doesn't hold square, and has to recalibrated every time I move it. For a $7k machine, this fence is junk. I noticed that if I dont press down the right side fence rail guide when I tight it down, the fence will move. The linear bearing has too much slop. THe mechanism behind the fence that controls the tilt angle is also very flimsy. Would one of the Felder fences work on this machine with some new attach points drilled? I am thinking of making my own modification using 80/20 extrusion and linear bearings. Curious if anyone else has tackled this. The SCM fences also look much more robust.
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