Hammer A3-31 Mobile Base

[Steve Perez]

Rod,

The Stickmate 235 AC/DC (which i think is what you are running) as well as the HH 187 mig are ones I was considering. Same price bracket. How does your setup perform with this type of work? Happy?

Everyone,
Please pardon me if anyone thinks I am changing the subject matter of this thread. I am not as I am asking on a tool used to make this mobile base.

My frame of thought is, I need a few mobile bases if decent ones cost $100 then the cost of four would equate to a decent welder. The cost of the Hammer mobility kit alone would be about $225. I think its a viable option.

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi Steve, I've owned my present welder for 15 years, and am very happy with the performance of it.

It is similar to the Stickmate you mentioned, you should be happy with it unless you want to weld auto body material, and then should purchase a MIG unit.

Regards, Rod.

[Lewis Cobb]

Hi Rod - just came across your thread here and wanted to pass along my thumbs up from New Brunswick.

I'm in the same boat as Steve, and have about 8 projects that are stacked up and waiting for me to learn how to weld I've got a small inverter unit from Miller - Maxstar 150 - it's DC only but uses either 120 or 240V. I have only tried it once or twice to run a few beads and after about an hour of swearing I did manage to get something that looked half decent. A buddy of mine GAVE me this welder as he went out west to work for a few years and so I have the free use of it for a while. I'm planning to search out a course in the fall before I start to do some serious building.

Cheers,
Lewis

[Etienne Ringuet]

Let's revive this old thread!

Rod, where would one find wheels like yours?

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi Etienne, you can buy these from any industrial supplier..........Rod.

[ian maybury]

Nice job Rod. I haven't had a welder for a few years, and miss it big time.

It came as a surprise to find when setting up my A3 410 on aftermarket levelling feet that the cabinet flexes quite a lot with minor adjustments to foot heights - as seen when measuring relative height changes between the tables using a Oneway and dial guage resting on one and bridging over the cutter to register on the other. No problem by making small adjustments at one corner/foot to induce enough twist to get relative movements at the diagonally opposite table corner large enough (several thou and lots more) to make a mockery of all that time spent setting the outfeed table height accurately relative to the cutter knives.

Which suggests that minor differences in floor flatness may cause issues if a machine on wheels is moved.

My fix was to locate it exactly where required (my shop is very small too), and to mark around the feet with a felt pen so that if moved it always returns to exactly the same spot.

Here's a low tech take on a wheel kit using parts from the local hardware - this time on an F3 shaper. (the socket is a cast iron bracket for a light gate hinge, the pin a trailer tailgate hinge) I'd rather not move it, but needs must. The cabinet is much stiffer than the A3 410 (structurally stiffer layout), but the plan once a clear location is established is to mark the floor for it too:

f3 diy mobility kit 5-7-14.jpg

PS sorry - missed that it was an old thread….

[David Nelson1]

Nice job Rod. I haven't had a welder for a few years, and miss it big time.

It came as a surprise to find when setting up my A3 410 on aftermarket levelling feet that the cabinet flexes quite a lot with minor adjustments to foot heights - as seen when measuring relative height changes between the tables using a Oneway and dial guage resting on one and bridging over the cutter to register on the other. No problem by making small adjustments at one corner/foot to induce enough twist to get relative movements at the diagonally opposite table corner large enough (several thou and lots more) to make a mockery of all that time spent setting the outfeed table height accurately relative to the cutter knives.

Which suggests that minor differences in floor flatness may cause issues if a machine on wheels is moved.

My fix was to locate it exactly where required (my shop is very small too), and to mark around the feet with a felt pen so that if moved it always returns to exactly the same spot.

Here's a low tech take on a wheel kit using parts from the local hardware - this time on an F3 shaper. (the socket is a cast iron bracket for a light gate hinge, the pin a trailer tailgate hinge) I'd rather not move it, but needs must. The cabinet is much stiffer than the A3 410 (structurally stiffer layout), but the plan once a clear location is established is to mark the floor for it too:

f3 diy mobility kit 5-7-14.jpg

PS sorry - missed that it was an old thread….

Dag dabit Ian, I just got done putzing around with my A3 31. New set of blades and kinda half way double checked the in and out feeds. The real test was running some scrap through it. all seems good in that spot. I have casters on mine as well so I guess I need to devote a bit more time to make sure everything is correct in different places. Maybe I won't have that problem.

BTW Rod nice base. I had to pile on as well

[ian maybury]

The A3 31 may be a bit stiffer than the 410 David - but either way it may not matter so much. Depends on what you need of it.

Bear in mind too that I was measuring the height variation between the tables as a result of varying the height of diagonally opposite corners/twisting the cabinet. i.e. worst case. Depending on what's going on it might not much affect the height of the outfeed table above the cutter - and for sure the cabinet is very stiff end to end. There will be minimal movement unless it's twisted. i.e. it's essentially a very short length of a very deep H section beam - incredibly stiff in bending, but quite flexible in torsion/when twisted.

It's still probably worth marking a preferred location on a flat section of floor where the machine is to normally be set up and run. What's clear is that an out of flat floor has at times the potential to significantly move stuff about.

My 410 had a roughly 0.005in dip in the middle of the infeed table just in front of the cutter as well (which lots would tell you is no problem/within spec) that meant it jointed significantly differently depending on where the work was placed on the table - so there are potentially other factors about in the case of individual machines that might mask/swamp levelling effects too. I posted the saga of trying to get it jointing reliably straight or as posted here ages ago - and eventually ended up going away to bite the bullet and hand scrape the tables accurately flat. That got it jointing straight and responding precisely and predictably to adjustments - but it's not recommended (high risk of terminally messing up) unless you are very confident of your skills and prepared to put a lot of time in....

The great news for me is that the drop in knife system (while it may or may not be dead accurate if used that way) has proved to deliver amazingly precise adjustment of the knife heights...


ian

[David Nelson1]

Glad you where able to resolve the issues. Myself I will move it around to see if I have the same issues, but I think you might be right that the smaller machine may not have this trouble.

[Randy Hermann]

Back from the dead, this thread!

My A3-31 is shipping soon and I did not order the mobility kit, thinking I can do as well for a lot less money. Can someone provide measurements for the axle diameter for the wheel kit or the hole diameter? Those wheels look like they are about 4" by 1"?

Thanks!

[Dan Friedrichs]

Randy, the axle is 15mm diameter.

[Randy Hermann]

Reviving an old thread to add some info for anyone making their own mobility kit. I can't find the nice looking socket used by Mr. Maybury but have found an alternative at the blue box store. There are several versions of the sliding bolt hardware that may work or there is the "Gatehouse Nickel Gate Hardware" which is what I may end up using. I think something with 4 bolt holes on the receiver is important...

I also got lucky on finding wheels. There aren't a lot of easily available U.S. made casters/wheels but RVM has some (not all- maybe just some of the grey wheels) as well as Sheridan(?). My lucky find was on Amazon- they had several different wheels/casters at ridiculously low prices because it was the last item in stock, literally indicated 1 in stock, so I was able to get them for <$20 per wheel/caster rather than the regular >>$60/each. I actually bought a wheel and then bought a caster with the same size wheel to have a matched set, even though I didn't need the caster assembly it was still far cheaper. Yeah, I know, who buys a machine of this price and then goes cheap on wheels? Me, because the pricing on "accessories" is often ridiculous and I love to make things.

[ChrisA Edwards]

PortaMate 3500 ($130) from Amazon.com

[Randy Hermann]

Those are definitely an affordable option but I am doing my best to avoid buying Chinese made stuff these days. My solution is still less expensive and is all made in the USA. :-)