I'm giving SERIOUS thought to buying one of these.

I have a Delta JT360 jointer currently, and it's a dovetail style machine, not parallelogram which means adjusting and dialing it in for true accuracy is basically not an option. I recently rebuilt it with new bearings throughout (including motor), a thorough cleaning, and the best I could do getting the beds coplanar (near impossible with a Chinese made dovetail style jointer). It also has the three knife cutter head which no matter what one does, is a pain in the fucking ass to set the knives for.

I also have a DeWalt 734 portable planer. This machine has been more accurate and overall good to use over the years. I rebuilt this too with new bearings throughout, cleaning, and dialing it in.  

I have a garage shop so space is at a premium. For most things I do, the machines stay put and it's not an issue. However, I'm building new interior doors for my house and having to run 7 foot boards through the jointer is especially is a fucking pain. I need to move the jointer, run around the table saw to support the boards coming out of the planer, etc. I got these machines right around 20 years ago, and spent under $1,000 for both of them combined.

Enter the Hammer A3 31 jointer planer combination machine. I am REALLY thinking about getting one, and plan to stop by the local (sort of) showroom tomorrow to check it out and get a quote.

Does anyone have one of these? If so, any positive things to report other than the space savings, low noise helical cutter head, Austrian made, etc.? Perhaps more importantly, any negative things to report? Would running 7' boards on the jointer and through the planer be asking for trouble? Reliability issues?

Cost will be about $6k for for the machine at current pricing, including shipping, tax, and a couple of accessories. I spent $3K on my new Unisaw 11 years ago and have never regretted it. Would this be the same?

I have one.

A couple of caveats.
I don't do alot of long boards, most of my stuff is around 4ft and under. Tho I have done some 7ft stuff for a workbench I made.
I come from a precision metal working background so ALL woodworking stuff seems "crude" to me.

That being said I have a few issues.
1) the beds are not surface ground but just milled so they are not dead flat, mine are .003-.004 out of flat.
2) the machine came with the beds setup so that when you joint the edge of a board you would get a concave surface. I was told this is done for better glue up joints.
That also reflects in jointing the flat faces. I adjusted my beds and get a much better result now.
3) the fence is mounted rather flimsy. The fence is an aluminum extrusion. On mine if I set a precision steel square up against it it varies along its length. I'm talking maybe .001-.003 to right on. Variance in results comes in how you push against the fence and table as you run the board along it as the fence can flex. You can get boards pretty square after you get used to its idiosyncrasies.
4)When going from jointer to planer and back if your ham fisted you will have issues with the jointer table giving consistent results.
5) you get little to no info with your machine I would of thought they give you a book on how to adjust and tweek the machine.

The good
1) its relatively quick to change over, easily less than a minute.
2) I have the dial readout for the planer table height and its very accurate. I can go back and forth between planer and jointer and plan boards pretty much the same just using the dial gage. The boards are usually withing .005 on thickness from corner to corner.
3) I have put alot of stuff thru it. Other than a couple of nicks on 1 or 2 inserts it still gives me pretty good finishes.
4) I can get boards with no snipe, I have to lock the planer table. I regularly take .04 cuts on 10-12" wide hardwood (Oak) with no issues.
5) My results are consistent and satisfactory.
6) felder service is very good tho I wish that their literature and info was more clear.

I guess in the end I wish the machine was a little bit better, but again you have take what I'm used to working with. I have one Jet machine (14" bandsaw) in my shop and its junk, in fact today the bottom wheel cracked thru at the hub. The Hammer machine is in many respects much better than the likes of Jet. I have 3 hammer machine and have never had stuff break like I have with the jets constant issues.

I guess if you really want a top notch machine you might have to step up to the felder line. I guess its all in what you can afford vs what you want for results.

That was a hell of a reply, thank you!

It seems on nearly all European machines, the fences are aluminum extrusions. Not something I'm a fan of, but it is what it is in this case. These doors I'm building are the longest material I've milled to this point (~25 years of amateur woodworking). Most of the time it'll be under 6' so it sounds like it won't be much of an issue.

Good to know the beds are only milled and not ground, though my table saw table has a pretty bad dip in it in the center, and it's ground. The beds of my current jointer were ground, but again, Chinese workmanship being what it is, they're aren't dead flat either. I've come to terms with wood and how precise I can get a piece of wood milled or cut. While metal will move with heat and cold, or excessive machining in one plane or area and stresses being relieved, in most instances it isn't anywhere near as much as a piece of wood will move after it is milled and something is built out of it. I know this Hammer A3 will be more accurate than either of the machines it would replace, so there's that.

Certainly the Felder machines are the higher end, but not something I can afford or even fully utilize in the sense of ROI. I looked at SCM Minimax machines and while those included shipping they were more expensive though I'm not sure if they're any better.

I have no experience with Felder/Hammer except for drooling over their sliding table saw.

I bought a Jet JJ-12 with the helical head and have been very impressed with it. It was setup from the factory was very close to dead on. I only had to make a very slight adjustment to the planer table. I came from a DeWalt 735 and it's light years ahead of that. The DeWalt consistently had snipe regardless of what I tried. The Jet has none of that - ZERO. Converting it from jointer to planer is very quick. The fence is extruded aluminum but is very sturdy and I've never had any issues with it. The guard is still in place and used which I can't say for any of my other equipment. The downside is the price has doubled since I purchased mine in about 2016. With the helical head it's now in the same price range as Felder.

My 2 cents worth.

Put down a deposit on one today, will pay the balance tomorrow. Quite a few in stock at their Sacramento warehouse so if no hiccups I should have it by next Friday. Will report back.

Well?

I would love to get the same one.

I ended up ordering a few days after my OP. They had several in stock at the Sacramento CA warehouse and I received it June 30. Crate was VERY well constructed and no damage occurred.

Getting it off was a bit of a challenge but I built a ramp and used the mobility kit to roll it down and off with the help of my dad and neighbor.

Not much to set up so I got it working pretty quick. Note the dust port is 4.75" so I got a plumbing adapter at Home Depot and an HVAC duct adapter from Amazon and made it work with my 4" system.

Tables were/are flat to within .004" with a couple spots at .006" (Felder considers this within spec) and frankly that's fine for me as wood moves that much in a day. Tables were coplaner almost exactly, but one spot toward the back will need adjustment. This will be a pain. Fence needed very slight tweeking. I had a 24" precision straightedge but needed a longer one, and paid fucking $250 for a 36" one (Veritas steel was half as much with same/better specs but backordered for who knows how long). You'll need at least 36".

Cuts are very smooth and clean even in figured wood or in reversing/interlocked grain. Not 100% tearout free. Brand new or freshly sharpened straight knives do leave a better finish (on straight unfigured grain) but of course they have many drawbacks. The segmented helical cutterhead is the way to go no question.

Noise is lower for sure. Compared to induction motor straight knife jointer it is noticeably quieter and compared to universal motor lunchbox planer there is no contest. There is a strange squeal and at first I thought it was a bad bearing or belt but apparently this is normal as all the videos I've watched have this same sound.

Machine says made in Austria but I suspect it is largely made in China (all iron is cast there without a doubt) and assembled and dialed in at the Austria plant. The tech guy at the showroom said as much without saying it. When I asked if they are actually made in Austria he said final assembly and calibration is in Austria.

With my door project and general excitement I didn't do as much research as I should have. Even at $6,000 for the machine, accessories (mobility kit, aluminum hand wheel, and dial indicator), shipping, and tax, Hammer is Felder's entry level, hobbiest, home shop line of machines. They are built to a price. I didn't even think to ask about warranty (see why above) but apparently the tables being coplaner or not is only a 30 day warranty. Mine was built in 12/22 so it had six months for the iron to warp and things to come out of whack, which they didn't really so that's good.

I think I'd still buy this machine again but should have researched more. They run sales around summer and end of year, and the AWFS show that just ended had the best pricing but that's once a year. I'd definitely recommend going to a showroom if you can and look at them, talk to then, and do lots of research first. I'd only buy during a sale, but note not all machines are offered on sale pricing.

If you don't mind hauling the crusty old junk over here to MO, I'll dispose of them in an environmentally safe manner for you.  

Old, but not crusty or junk. I had just rebuilt and tuned them (jointer and planer) in anticipation of this door project. The DeWalt 734 is still like new after the rebuild and 20 years, and the Delta JT360 is about as good as it ever was when new.

I'll probably keep the planer due to its compact size and portability but do want to sell the jointer.

I have the Felder KF700S sliding table saw with shaper and as a separate unit, the 16" AD741 jointer/planer.  Had them about 15 years now in my home shop.

Love the jointer/planer combo. Even without the spiral cutter head which they now offer, this beast joints and planes even highly figured wood with minimal tear out.

Whichever you decide, definitely get the electric drive and digital readout.  Super fast to do change overs and makes repeatability a snap. Does Hammer offer the segmented guard?  If so, get that too as it's the tits.  

Like the other guy said, the fence is an aluminum extrusion, but is beefy as hell with no twist at all to it.

The Austrian's definitely over engineered these things, but I like that in my tools.

well OP we are dying to know now that you've had your planer/jointer what are your thoughts good bad and indifferent?

I did post a follow up a few posts up that details pretty well my thoughts and feelings on it.


I unfortunately haven't really been able to use it much in the past roughly two months due to other things coming up and needing to get done. To be completely truthful I sometimes feel like my old Delta jointer and DeWalt planer gave better results. The 12" jointing width can't be beat, of course, but this machine has some quirks that still irk me, given the six fucking thousand dollars it cost (yes some of that is tax and shipping but it's not like I didn't pay it).

If you can afford it, get the Felder 941 but it's about $15K. I don't know about the SCM or other offerings so I can't comment on them.