![\"Hammer](\"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/IMG_2670_edited-2.jpg\")
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Let’s take a detailed look at the Hammer A3-31.<\/strong><\/p>\n When considering a new machine or any tool, I first assess the quality of the key parts that cannot be altered<\/strong> by the user but are accessible to direct evaluation. Here’s how the A3-31 stacks up in this regard.<\/p>\n 1. Bed flatness is excellent.<\/strong> Against a Starrett straightedge, the jointer infeed table is within .001″ along its length and .002″-.003″ on the diagonals. The outfeed table is just a hair concave along its length, .003″-.004″, and the diagonals are off by only .002″-.005″. The planer table is within .002″ along its length and .003″ on the diagonals.<\/p>\n This all is excellent, well within Hammer’s spec of .006″, and is an important factor in how accurately the machine can be tuned.<\/strong> Furthermore, the beds are heavy and constructed with thick ribbing, as seen above.<\/p>\n 2. The planer feed mechanism<\/strong> does not balk with 12″ wide boards. The steel drive rollers<\/strong> control the board unyieldingly, yet the indentations made by the infeed roller are shallow enough to disappear when the final pass is very light. With good technique, snipe<\/strong> is about as minimal as it gets.<\/p>\n The feed speed<\/strong> is 6.5 meters\/minute (21.3 feet\/minute), which makes the three-knife cutterhead at 6000RPM produce 70 cuts per inch<\/strong>, typical for jointer-planers in this class. Compared to the DeWalt 735 (with a stock cutterhead) at 96 cpi in “dimensioning” mode and a phenomenal 179 cpi at the slower “finishing” feed speed, the A3-31’s 70 cpi may seem a bit rough but in fact it seems to strike a good balance<\/strong> between producing an excellent surface and working at a good pace.<\/p>\n 3. I like the Euro-style safety guard<\/strong> better than the spring-loaded “pork chop” style. I always use paddles for face jointing and it is easy to pass the board under the narrow guard, which is height-adjustable<\/strong> using the knob at the far left in the photo below.<\/strong><\/p>\n For edge jointing <\/strong>the guard can be adjusted laterally to expose the minimum width of cutterhead.<\/strong> It would be better if the guard was hinged<\/strong> so half of it would hang down when it is adjusted very far toward the user side of the machine – but it’s not in that position too often so it hasn’t been a problem. The hinge feature is present on the company’s higher priced models.<\/p>\n 4. Dust collection<\/strong>, as I mentioned earlier, is just wonderful, for jointing and planing. This helps a lot in my small shop.<\/p>\n 5. The construction of the aluminum fence<\/strong> makes it very stiff. It is flat<\/strong> within .001″ in all directions and I cannot detect any twist. It is adjusted back and forth by using the knob (to the right in the photo below) and sliding the bracket on the extrusion track.<\/p>\n A slight complaint<\/strong> is that the squareness of the fence to the table cannot be made exactly consistent<\/strong> throughout its full adjustment range and most of its length, probably due to minute errors stacking up. However,<\/strong> the discrepancies are quite small, and by finding favorite locations for the fence, I have had no problem getting nice square edges on long boards.<\/p>\n From the back view,<\/strong> you can see that not much sticks out – only the rear cutterblock cover. For most fence positions, the net depth of the unit is about the same with the jointer beds down or raised.<\/p>\n Other key components<\/strong> that I cannot directly assess seem very good based on indirect observations and working with the machine. Machining<\/strong> and part formation looks neat throughout, with no ill-fitting components. The motor<\/strong> has excellent power and does not get overheated. Hand adjusted parts, such as the planer bed adjustment are very smooth<\/strong>, and the machine runs with that nice low hum<\/strong> suggestive of quality.<\/p>\n![\"Hammer](\"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/IMG_2668_edited-2.jpg\")
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