Hammer vs MiniMax J/P

[Tom W Armstrong]

Hi All,

Yes, my first post! I'm getting back into the hobby and have been building my shop up over the last year or so. Right now I have the following:

1) Ridgid TS
2) Milwaukee 12" CMS
3) Rikon 18" Bandsaw - Recent Amazon purchase on sale

I just added 220v for the Rikon and am ready to add a jointer / planer so I can really get moving and building larger projects.

The Hammer 12" J/P is on sale for $3350 and I've also read good things about the MiniMax FS30. However, it seems to be more than $1K more. Does MM discount at all, typically, or should I just go for the Hammer?

Thanks,

Tom

[John Harden]

Tom, welcome to Sawmill Creek!!!

I've never used those two machines but have seen them and they are both high quality. I own a Felder J/P, which makes the Hammer. I also looked into the MM machines and was impressed with them as well.

Minimax would very likely offer a discount. I'd suggest contacting both Felder/Hammer and Minimax, talk to them and figure out what direction you want to head in.

Their salespeople are both pretty good and won't pressure you to make a purchase.

Good luck with whatever you choose.

Regards,

John

[Jeff Monson]

Tom, is the price for the a3-31 delivered? If so that is a great deal, I paid alot more for mine. I've been very happy with my hammer, it has a great amount of power and no snipe. I think if you do some searching there was a great shootout on the euro machines in an article in FWW mag. The mini max is a great looking machine also. I made my choice from reading on both websites and from good input from fellow creekers. Rod Sheridan will give you a good review on the hammer as well as a few other happy owners.

[Jeff Monson]

Here is a link to the test.

http://www.finewoodworking.com/ToolG....aspx?id=28173

[Tom W Armstrong]

Thanks all for the welcome. I've been talking with Felder salesman and I'll contact MM tomorrow as well.

Tom, is the price for the a3-31 delivered?

Yes, it says "free shipping" so I asked for a formal quote tonight. Anything in the accessories area that are "must haves" for the A3-31?

Both of my kids are off to college now and I finally have two bays of our three-car garage for my "shop". Wife still has to get her car in or I'd have all three.

I've been building my shop slowly and using "deals" to acquire good equipment and I've read lots of great reviews on the Hammer and the FS30/35.

[Jeff Monson]

The digital handwheel is a MUST have for this machine, it is extremely accurate for repeatable thicknessing. I also have the mobility kit, I wish I would have made a mobil base instead as it moves the machine along the length making it harder to manuever. I dont have any table extensions and have not had a need as of yet.

[John Harden]

I have the wide (12" or so), aluminum table as an outfeed on the planer and you may want to consider a cast iron extension and rail for the outfeed of the jointer in case you ever need it.

I'd also recommend the Euro comfort guard if they offer it for the Hammer. I really like mine over the old porkchop design.

By buying them now, you'll save a lot as they'll discount them for you at the time of purchase.

Oh, I also have the mobility kit, which I really like.

Regards,

John

[jason lambert]

I looked at the a3-31 a little while ago and well the deal didn't work out becuse of cost and there accessories are ungodly expensive and you really need some of them to make the machine sing. I was ready to go one day cash in hand and well there was a price misunderstanding and the price of the accessories blew up the deal. Glad you could work some sort of a deal they are a hard company to deal with.

One other thing go look at one before you buy one thing I noticed which the guy also noticed that owned it was the top fence had some flex so if you pushed a board agenst it like 2" maple you may not get a 90 deg. He worked around it and I haven't heard many complants about it but it was one thing that stood out to me and for the price machine is just silly. As I said I was ready to buy one and would also work around it or make a better brace. Let me know what you decide I am sort of still inthe market for one but about to pull the cord on a grizzly jointer.

[Ted Calver]

Tom,
I bought the A3/31 several montha ago but only recently started using it. The only must have add on I would recommend is the digital readout. I purchased the short extension tables and have yet to use them. The only disapointment I've had is that the aluminum extrusion fence is not absolutely flat and is bowed across the width of the fence in such a way that I can set it perpendicular to the jointer bed with my square touching the top and bottom of the fence and slip a couple of sheets of paper under the square in the middle. This means edge jointing a 6" board it's dead on but, because of the bow, a 3 inch board is .007 out of square. Felder says .007 is within acceptable tolerances. It's a small amount yet it bugs me because the fence on my old 6" Jet was dead flat. The mobility kit moved the machine in the wrong direction for me so I just finished putting these castors on it and they work great. Had to make two existing holes slightly larger and drill two new holes but they are great and highly recommended.
http://www.greatlakescaster.com/foot...0S.php?cat=262

[John Morrison60]

Tom

Last fall I went through this same evaluation.
I decided on the Minimax J/P mainly because I had two friends in my local woodworker's club
that had the FS30 (so I could test drive) and It appeared that a helix
head was available (aftermarket) for the Minimax, but was not available for the Hammer.

I was ready to pull the trigger on a new one,
when I stumbled on a two year old one that was in great shape.
I am very happy with the Minimax, and have used it extensively since I got it.

The ability to face joint a 8+ board is very nice.
So far, I have only done a few boards that were greater than 6 inches.
But these tools are so well made and operate flawlessly,
that they are a pleasure to use.

The Tersa head on the Minimax is great.
I think that was an upgrade on the hammer. (if I remember right).
I would highly reccommend that change.

I do not find it an onerous task to do the Jointer to Planer changeover.
The connection to a dust control system was a bit of a pain in the
beginning, since the J/P had Metric sized dust ports,
which required an adapter to connect.

Good luck with your decision.
I do not think you can go wrong with either.

John

[Roger Jensen]

Hi Tom,

I also have the A3-31 and have been happy with it. There was a similar special last year and I bought mine then. The price difference when I looked was about $1000 more for the MM, so I couldn't justify it. However, folks on this site with the MM seem to really like it.

A few things for you to be prepared for:

1. They aren't exactly a hobbiest-focused company, so your buying experience is more like a commercial sale with purchase contracts and such. You put down a deposit to order the machine (with a credit card), but 6-8 weeks later when the unit comes from Europe you can't pay the remainder on the credit card. You have to use a check or money order (or pay an extra fee for use of a credit card).
2. The digital scale is needlessly sold in two separate units - the scale unit and the aluminum ring to hold it. Expensive, but critical. Don't buy your system without it. I think the unit to support inches is about $50 more than the metric one for some reason.
3. The mobility kit is also sold in two different pieces - the "jack" and the wheels that go on the unit. Total price is $122 and it only roles forward and backward, not side to side. I would seriously consider building or buying another cart.
4. The cobalt blades are much better than the standard steel. Get a set of them.
5. I have the aluminum outfeed table that I use for planing. It is narrower than the planer bed but works OK.

As I said, I have been very happy with the performance of the system. but the manual is weak. The schematics are in German and there are sparse instructions on how to align/tune the machine. Fortunately, it comes well adjusted. Also, the manual refers to "thicknessing" for what I call planing, and "planing" for what I call jointing. You just have to keep that in mind.

I feel like all of the accessories are too expensive, but I'm sure they don't sell that many and have to recoup their development and production costs so that's the way it goes. If you want cheap stuff you can always go with Jet.

I was going to order some additional things this week but my rep said they are having an anniversary sale (at least in Sacramento) on March 18-20 so I'll order mine then. Sounds like you are already getting a discount so perhaps your accessories will be discounted as well. If not, see if they are going to go on sale in March and get them then. Your unit won't be here for a couple of months anyway so you can wait for the sale.

Good luck,

Roger

[Rod Sheridan]

I've owned an A3-31 for two years now and really like it.

I made my own mobile base for it, semi live skid design.

I ordered the digital handwheel in mm's, I decided to get with rest of the world and go metric with my wood working.

It was a good decision, no fractions and who cares whether the wood is 3/4" or 20mm?

A pair of table extensions and 3 mounting brackets give you the ability to extend both jointer tables and the planer outfeed.

Regards, Rod.

P.S. Here's a link to my mobile base thread.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...31+mobile+base

[Michael Koch]

Tom, I was in the same boat as you last year. I decided on the MiniMax FS 35 Smart. I was ready to buy new and found a sweet deal on a used one. MiniMax has a chat board that owners talk regularly, and you might find one there. It is one excellent machine...MK

[Scot Ferraro]

Hi Tom,

I own an A331 and it is an awesome machine. I received a link from Felder with some good online information about the A331 that you might find useful. I am posting the link to this reply. The Hammer machines gives good options for extending the length of the beds if you want and you can easily add a digital clock for accurate height adjustment. Not sure if the MM offers these or not.

http://www.felderusaonline.com/ultimate_guide/A331/A331%20Ultimate%20Guide%20Master.swf

I think that you will be happy with either machine and having 12 inch jointing is a joy, no matter what brand. I have found the sales folks at Felder to be consultative and not pushy at all.

Good luck,

Scot

[Roger Jensen]

I know this will sound like a line from a movie, but those setup instructions would have been very helpful when I setup my unit! I asked them for any documentation for setting up the fence or aligning the table and was told they didn't exist. I've just been hoping I never have to adjust anything on the system.

As I said earlier, great system and weak manual.

Thank you so much for the link.

Roger