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  1. #16
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Location
    Avoca Beach
    Posts
    28

    Default

    Hi PJT

    I get my machine on Tuesday and have a mountain of rough sawn NG Rosewood that I have to process so hopefully the powefeed will help.

    Are you using the powerfeed on the planer or spindle or both?

    I am not aware of any problems with the powerfeed heads so hopefully I am not going to learn the hard way!

    Will report back on my experiences.........jeff

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  3. #17
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Rockhampton
    Age
    62
    Posts
    2,236

    Default power feed

    Hi Jeff,
    I have mine set up on the one of my other planers atm but eventually it will be able to be set up on all my machines including bandsaw and moulder or I might just get another one.

    I don't think u will any problems with your feeder, from my experiences so far the only negative about using a feeder (any brand feeder) is it will tend to push out a slight bow in the face side of a board as it feeds and therefore the bow remains after a pass thru and I find the same happens with a twist, a bit of pre machining at the ends of the boards fixes the twist, apart from that they r a great bit of gear, specially when u have long boards and operating solo.

    The other thing is when doing an edge is I find I need to slope the feeder down a fair bit to keep long boards (3+m) down firm on the outfeed table, with the weight of board hanging over the end of the table they can tend to lift off the outfeed table otherwise, also with a bow in an edge keep the bow up (usual practice) if u feed it bow down the feeder will just tend to repeat the bow specially with the outfeed of the feeder pointed down.

    If u can find an outrigger for the saw grab it, they r really good for sheet mat'l and cross cutting long pieces.
    Peter.

  4. #18
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Location
    Avoca Beach
    Posts
    28

    Default

    Hi folks,

    Well the day arrived (last Tuesday that was) and the sparky came early and put in the 3 phase socket and also gave me a plug with 6m of cable on it to connect to the machine. (cost $670 with most of the cost the components).

    At about 12.30 pm Stefan (the technician) from Felder arrived with the machine and after about 20 mins it was off the trailer and in to the garage. The mobility kit was the fitted and the machine was commisioned. Stefan then spent the next 3hours going over the machine with me and we used all of the components.

    There are a few traps for young players and the main one is that when the aftermarket scoring unit is fitted it is no longer possible to fully wind down any blsade greater that 260mm. This means that the 300mm 5 mm slotting cutter that I bought sticks up 20mm which of course is useless. The other blades that came with the machine are all 315 mm but as they will be used for ripping and general sawing etc the wind down restriction was not a problem.

    The blade that comes with the scoring unit is an 80 tooth jobie of 250 mm so any fiddly cutting I can do with that.

    Felder have swapped my 300mm slotting cutter for a 230mm 4mm slotting cutter so I am happy with that.

    The tilting bracket for the power feed was not available so that excitment is still to come as the unit is still in its box.

    Can only say that the impression of power when you switch any one of the units on is awesome. I have not had any real experince with the thicknesser before and was most impressed with the accuracy with which it can be set using the winder with the inset digital/analogue dial guage. It was even more impressive when you feed a bit of timber in!

    Its' size belies its' mass as it doesnt look like 600 kgs, but that I suppose is the foundation of its accuracy/quality.

    Impressed with how easy it is to move around with the mobility kit despite its weight.

    I didnt go for the ourtrigger at the moment because of room but I will be cutting a bit of board in the future so it would have to be on the list.

    " BB: cool on the F-rails. You can make your own extension tables and accessories using 40 X 12mm steel bar, or the 40 X 40mm aluminium extrusions from Maytec or Item. They end up being so handy...I only have my outrigger on maybe half the time with these add-ons. You can even make a router table that hangs off the back (or front) if you so desire (for use with the slider)."

    Greg, I would be interested in learning a bit more about fabricating some extension tables and it will definitely save me from "reinventing the wheel"

    Pat ............I have put an image up for you.....

    My first real opportunity to use the saw will be next Monday so will report back after that... Jeff........

    ps.I must applaud the whole delivery, installation and commissioning effort put in by Felder. Nothing was forgotten and everything happened when they said it would and there was nothing that I could ask about the machine that Stefan couldn't answer ......... I thank them sincerely they have been great to deal with.

  5. #19
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Location
    Avoca Beach
    Posts
    28

    Default First Impressions

    Sunday dawned and it was a late start (Blame Wimbledon). I opened up the garage and moved "Mike",( I have named the machine "Mike" after Micky Spillane's character Mike Hammer) to the middle to start to play.

    As it has been some while since I have used these larger machines I thought I would start off slowly and play with some scrap to get a feel for the machine. The blade was a 315mm Felder Universal Rip Saw blade and I was using off cuts of NG Rosewood.

    The first crosscut was completed so smoothly that I had to look twice to be sure that I had actually cut something. I then did a series of cuts and ended up with a couple of dozen small pieces. A couple of them were 115 x 38mm that I re-sawed into 115 x 5mm pieces.

    None of the pieces were over 450mm long so the push sticks got a work out and a bit of damage on one occasion

    Felt happy with the saw but will need to go back and check that everything is perfectly square and that the rules in the fences have been set accurately.

    I was anxious to try the thicknesser so I set it up which took less than 2 minutes to remove the fence and lift the panels, swing over the dust collector and transfer the dust extraction hose. The handle that is used to adjust the table has the built in digital gauge and I was keen to check its calibration so I picked up an off-cut that was 38mm thick, set up the thicknesser to 36mm using the manual gauge at the base of the machine, fired it up and fed the off cut in with some trepidation. Shouldn’t have worried as the in-feed roller picked it up and I popped around the machine to have it delivered to me smoothly on all counts. On checking the thickness and looking at the digital gauge it needed to be adjusted and as it works by gravity it was necessary to remove it and wiggle it around to wind it down to match the thickness of the test piece. I put it back and to cut a long story short ended up doing this another couple of times until I was confident that it was accurate to .02 mm which I couldn’t detect.

    The next thing was to wind it up to its minimum of 4mm to see what it was like and the result was awesome and as my longer term ambition is to make boxes I was keen to see how it would perform. I was able to produce 4mm, 5mm 6mm 7mm thick pieces quicker than I could type this. Having no experience with other machines I just can’t comment on whether the Hammer is better than Jet, Carbatec etc. all I can say is that the ease with which I was able to produce dimensioned timber with a great finish was terrific and the feeling of independence from the big “B”s of this world for the supply of DAR timber.

    This post is really a big catch-up because a week passes with more playing around but this time with larger pieces of timber and the results were good.

    This last Sunday dawns and I have it in my mind to have a play with the spindle and having read all of the warnings of this dangerous machine I had invested in a couple of books on the “Shaper” and had read them during the week so it was with a great deal of caution that I approached this device.

    I needed to create some raised panels 608mm x 256mm to go in the bottom of the French doors that I have built. I had a universal cutter block that I had got from Henry Bros and a set of cutters for the raised panel profile so I fitted it all together, set up the guards etc and using some of the offcuts of the HMR 16mm MDF took what was a light cut. It became apparent very quickly that to use the sliding table effectively with the spindle it was very important to set up the spindle’s fence exactly parallel with the sliding table or it runs in or out which precludes you from clamping the work to the table. So after some fiddling I used a larger piece of MDF to set everything square and adjusted the fence to get a full cut on the board.

    I would be interested in any ones experiences and techniques in using the sliding table and getting it parallel as it does seem to help from the safety aspect. I do have a power feeder but am waiting on the foldaway bracket to fit it so when that arrives then maybe the sliding table will become less of an issue with the long sections but still needed for coping etc.
    After about three hours of fiddling around it then took about 10 minutes to machine the 12 panels for my doors. Again the finish was terrific and the array of cutters available at quite reasonable prices opens up all sorts of opportunities. I cant see it replacing my routers as having invested in a large number cutters over time and particularly for small work they still offer a level of safety and convenience.

    Well I am both impressed and happy with “Mike” and SWMBO has been pleasantly accepting of him but did comment that there seems to be a lot of sawdust around now!

  6. #20
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    Singleton
    Posts
    95

    Default

    BB.
    Great machines.
    I've had one for four years now without an ounce of trouble.
    You couldn't have got a better hand to set it up in Stefan.Loves his product and i have always found him a pleasure to deal with.
    One thing he did put me onto that is great, is a Felder sanding drum that mounts onto the spindle moulder shaft. A simple cam lock on the drum hold the sandpaper in place and with all that horsepower behind it, an absolute pleasure to use.
    Highly recommend you save your pennies and get one down the track.
    Best of luck with the machine in the future and enjoy the sawdust.

  7. #21
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Location
    Avoca Beach
    Posts
    28

    Default

    Hi Rosewood,

    Thanks for the tip, I had seen the sanding drums in the catalogue and will defintely put them on the Xmas list. I agee with the horsepower comment as everytime I switch the machine on the power is awesome.

    jeff.........

  8. #22
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    Perth
    Posts
    7

    Default Hammer C3 31

    Hi Big Bubba,

    You have to be happy with your lucky purchase of the Hammer. I am going through the process of selecting a combination machine at the moment and the Hammer C3 31 with the Comfort package is at the top of my list.

    Unfortunately there will be no change out of $13.2K for mine if I go ahead with it. The only competition is the Mini Max CU 300 smart (apart from the Felder which is out of my price range) which at this stage is a little more expensive but seems to be similar quality.

    I had a Sica(?) combination in the 1980's which was a great machine but lacked the accuracy of a more modern sliding table and scorer.

    I am really pleased to hear how accurate and well your machine is running.

    All the best.

  9. #23
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Location
    Avoca Beach
    Posts
    28

    Default

    Hi FalconDriver

    I am very happy with the machine and it cuts very accurately. The planer thicknesser is also very capable and is accurate to less than half a mm. I have also had a go with the spindle and have a universal cutter head and produced a number of raised panels for some doors that I am making. I haven't a lot of experience with the spindle but with care it was great.

    I am giving it a work out as I have 50 x 200 x 2700 rough sawn NG Rosewood that I am making a housefull of doors and windows out of . so accuracy is paramount. I tend to rip the wood down to +5-8mm and then use the thicknesser to accurately dimension the timber.

    I was also looking at the mimimax but it was more expensive than the C3 31 when I was looking at buying a new one and I got the impression that the quality was much the same.

    My machine is 3 phase so I dont know if that makes a difference but it seems to have more power than I would ever need.

    In terms of absolute accuracy there is infinte adjustment so there is no excuse for not cutting square or accurately.

    I did retro fit a scriber as I personally dont think there is \any point in having a sliding table without one so that I can do panel work. I also retrofitted a power feeder fot the spindle which will come into its own when I start doing more work with the spindle.

    Bottom line is that the cost is forgotten but the quality is there everytime you use it

    Good luck you wont regret it.......jeff......

  10. #24
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    Bowral
    Posts
    837

    Default

    I pick up my C3-31 this weekend. I've bought a second hand one from a fellow forumite, and I can't wait to get it into my garage. I still need to get 3 phase power connected, for which I have a quote already, so it may be a little while before I'm ready to actually use it, but when I do it will get quite a workout. I've been looking at the new machines with much interest but without a matching budget. I looked at the machine you ended up buying BB, but didn't have my 3 phase problem sorted out so didn't seriously consider it. I'm sure I'm going to be very happy with my new toy once I get it safely installed.
    Bob C.

    Never give up.

  11. #25
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Location
    Avoca Beach
    Posts
    28

    Default

    Hi Poppa,

    Thats good news I hope that you will be happy with it. Not sure what you have been quoted but so you can do a bit of a comparison it cost me all up $670 and that was for the wall socket the circuit breaker the plug and 6 metres of lead to connect to the machine and the sparky to fit it all together.

    Did you get any tooling for the spindle? Feeling my way a bit and have now read a couple of books on it and will explore it further in the future.

    The one thing that I dont have is an outrigger but can retrofit one if I want to.................

    Let me know how you go....jeff

  12. #26
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Rockhampton
    Age
    62
    Posts
    2,236

    Default 3phase

    Hi Poppa,
    It cost me from memory about 600 for my 3 phase, I did have the outlet tho and I already had the 3ph onto the house, I also got a couple of 15 amp points put in as well, The cost will rise somewhat if u dont have 3 phase onto your house already, new mains and additions to the board, it may also require your enregy provider to change/add to the existing supply to your house as it will most likely only be single phase and u may have to push the issue as they usually don't like to change the supply to the house (that's been my experience anyway)
    Hope this helps and let us know how u go!
    Peter

  13. #27
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    Bowral
    Posts
    837

    Default

    We don't have 3 phase to the house. But it is supplied to the pole on our land - just not taken from there to the house. Don't ask why, it just makes me mad...

    So I've had one electrician come around and have a look and he said he'd send me a quote which he hasn't yet. I have spoken to him on the phone a couple of times and still no quote, so I think it is time to see another electrician... He has told me that the quote will be about $2650, which doesn't include any cables to the machine or any more power sockets in the garage (we have one double power point in the garage - useful eh??? ).

    There is quite a bit of work to do though, and that includes a board and switch box in the garage so that I will be able to plug whatever I like in. I've asked him to also look at installing another 6 double points and 4 15 Amp points as well, so that I can get more machines hooked up as I acquire them.

    Anyway, since I can't get this bloke to quote for it I'll see if I can find another one.
    Bob C.

    Never give up.

  14. #28
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    Bowral
    Posts
    837

    Default

    Got the machine home safely yesterday. Now just need to hook up the power and get the dustie connected and located and I'm ready to go, apart from making sure blades are sharp, etc. Can't wait...
    Bob C.

    Never give up.

  15. #29
    Join Date
    Sep 2012
    Location
    Coffs Harbour
    Posts
    1,791

    Default

    Hey poppa. You still own the hammer? How you find it?

    Sent from my GT-I9305 using Tapatalk

  16. #30
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Location
    Avoca Beach
    Posts
    28

    Default The Hammer is still going strong

    I use the Hammer C3/31 in the course of my maintenance work for one of the major Real Estate agencies. It is an accurate, reliable, robust machine and for the money I don't think there are many other options. Hopefully one day soon I will get some time to use it to make something for myself!

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