Hammer C3 31 -Must tell Someone!
Had to tell someone - tried to tell SHMBO but the eyes glazed over and the conversation moved on.
Just picked up a C3 31 unused and still in the packing for $7k it has a 2 metre table but no outrigger the only thing is that it was bought in 2002 and put in a shed and not even plugged in until the other day.
This wasn't a total impulse buy, actually part of a bigger plan to set up my workshop.
It all started with the house we are just about to build and as it is a traditional design any suggestion of using aluminium windows would have ended in divorce so I popped a provisional window and door schedule into one of the window manufacturers to get a feeling for the costs etc--the feeling not good with the quote in the region of $60k and that was using Meranti!
So to cut a long story short I said that I would build a door and if that passed through the QA dept (managed by SWMBO) I would take on the job. Well having overcome the first hurdle I purchased the wood (NG Rosewood) DAR to size and have made all of the external doors (5 sets of french windows, laundry door ,a 5 panel bifold + 3 panel one, all 2400mm high).
Designed and did the quantities for the windows and started to cost the timber using the doors as an example and converting back to a cubic metre rate and it was at this point I found out how much it was costing for the DAR timber. The timber for the windows was to cost $9400 using an average cost ($5700 cu m, calculated from my invoice) or approximately $3500 if I buy rough sawn.
Well there was the justifcation I will let you know how I go.
If there any of you wise folks out there that have this model of machine and there are any "watch out fors" then I would love to hear them.
Great forum for me its now taken over from ebay!
jeff............
Fingers crossed for Lotto!
Hi Mr Brush,
I was concerned about corrosion but I went out and crawled over the machine for a couple of hours before I made my final decision and the machine actually looked new.
The tables are coated with grease and a sort of greaseproof brown paper is applied to them at the factory and I was told that this paper had been absorbed into the grease and it took them three days to clean it off. The tables are as good as new which I was obviously happy with.
I have little experience with the spindle and of course hear all of the stories of horrific injuries that this device has inflicted on people so I will be doing a bit of research before using it.
I have used routers both hand held and table mounted for yearsI will use the spindle because it will allow me to do jobs that would defeat the average router. For example it will allow me to mill my own floor boards (Grey iron gum) for my decks. To that end I have invested in a power feeder to firstly make sure that my hands cant get near the cutters and secondly get that continuous feed that eliminates the start and stop marks that are so hard to avoid when routing 2500mm styles on a router table.
Any advice on this machine will be gratefully received. I thought the advice that I got from Stefan at Felder was good and that was to only use the spindle in the mornings and not use the rest of the machine after 5pm. He was talking about safety/alertness etc. though I am sure that my neighbours would agree with him from a noise perspective.
The machine also came with three Felder professional blades and two spare sets of planner blades.
I have added a mobility kit and a scriber + more blades as I do a bit of panel work. So Felder did alright out of me in the end.
jeff.............