About to buy this planer. It got high recommendations from FWW. A little concerned that it doesn’t have table extensions. Anybody have any experience with it?
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Replies
I bought one a year ago and I don't have the table extensions. I do plan to buy them, though, because I am experiencing excessive snipe.
The blades do not last very long. I am satisfied with it, but it is nothing special.
Would you buy it again?
I have one with the extension tables and WOULD buy one again.Work Safe, Count to 10 when your done for the day !!
Bruce S.
FWW rated this thing very highly for snipe and, if you can beleive the photos, they didn't use any tables.
With the DW735 and other "bench top" planers it's all a matter of how you feed the lumber in and how you guide it out which determines how much snipe you get. But the Infeed & Outfeed tables do help the process quite a bit. I would love to convince the "lunch box" planer mfg's to install two infeed rollers and two outfeed rollers. But nobody can afford to raise their price too much above the competition with that feature.Work Safe, Count to 10 when your done for the day !!
Bruce S.
I love my my DW735 planer. I do have the infeed outfeed tables, as well as the dust collector setup. The whole thing works well, and I would buy again. The blades do tend to wear out quickly with maple, etc. I have had much better luck using replacement blades from Infinity tools. Much better blades.John
I bought this because of the FWW recommendation, but I have no basis for comparison. I probably would buy it again, solely because of its reputation.
I bought extensions for mine after about a year or two of buying it. I've had it for about 4-5 years now I think, and have planed down a lot of wood, mostly ash, cherry and oak. I like it and would buy another.
I bought one set of Infinity HSS replacement blades for it and they do seem to be holding up a little better than the dewalt brand. I've been through several sets of dewalt blades, and they don't seem to last long, consistently. Once they dull, you know it as the boards hardly move through the machine.
I've owned mine for probably over a year. I do not experience any snipe (okay, on two occaisons and two only). I don't have the accessory table and don't plan on acquiring them. I'd call myself a moderate to heavy user. I don't use it for weeks, then for a day or two, I'll run all the stock through needed for my project - about 3-4 garbage-cans of chips worth.
Chris @ www.flairwoodwork.spaces.live.com
- Success is not the key to happines. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. - Albert Schweitzer
I have had this planer for several years, and I can't think of anything that is wrong with it. The snipe is controlled by good infeed/outfeed support and the power is more than adequate for my needs. One of the biggest things is the nice warranty that DeWalt gives you, and they do a pretty decent job on service except for the fact that you have to carry that heavy piece around. I hear a lot about the blades but I haven't had any problem with them dulling fast.
For the models in this size I don't think you can go wrong, good luck!
Bio
I have had the planer about 2 years mostly because of the great reviews and the 3 blades. I also purchased the tables from amazon (bought the planer locally) at the same time and saved lots of $$.
I must admit to a great deal of disappointment with the unit based on all the stellar reviews it received from every corner. Snipe is my main problem and I too am completely astounded at the FWW review showing the planer in use with no tables and reporting no snipe problems!, the picture shows a board about 10" wide and about 30" plus long and to have no snipe , to me is unbelievable based on my experience with the 735.
Before the 735 I had been happy using my delta 2 speed (cant remember the model # but its their latest unit) but got seduced by the extra blade and all the good reviews. I still have it and I still use it quite a bit and it performs better if not equal to the dewalt in all areas except final smoothness and the delta blades seem to hold up much longer as well.
Conclusion- I'm keeping the dewalt and hope we can coax a happy relationship until the next wonderful, cant go wrong with it, best of the best persuades me to bring it home. So Montanaman, I would say get the dewalt if you must have the must have, but I would recommend you give the delta some thought as well (I think its called a 22-580 ?)
good luck steve
Steve,
I don't use any infeed support and on the outfeed I built up a little bit that fits my table well. I read that when feeding stock to press it down lightly when going in and lift it up a little bit as it comes out. My outfeed support is at a slight angle (created by adding shims) and whenever I see snipe, which is very rare, I adjust my shims. Not saying this is the cure but maybe want to give it a try. I can post some pictures of my setup if you like. With the approach outlined above I rarely see any snipe, especially on the last end that comes out of planer.
Bio
I have a 735 with the tables that also snipes a lot. I bought it to replace a worn out 733 that had very little snipe. I have taken to gluing sacrificial pieces on the ends of my boards that I cannot have snipe on, before I run them through. My conclusion is that the degree of snipe in a particular machine depends on how that unit was assembled at the factory. Obviously the machines are capable of operating with little or no snipe, many people report good results with them.Some people get snipe, some people don't. It's the luck of the draw. And with these designs, there isn't really any scope to make adjustments to dial it out if your machine snipes.If I ever buy another lunchbox style planer (and I may not, I may buy an older used cast iron machine) I will be sure to buy it from a place that has a good returns policy, and plenty of inventory on hand so I can keep taking them back till I get one that was built right!Dan
Have you thought about taking into the service center and getting them to adjust it?
I took a PC router into the service center just to make sure that I was ordering the correct parts. The guy behind the counter glanced up and said, "That'll be $189 to look at your router." Luckily, the three little parts I needed came to $12.87.
My mention of this little story is to point out that not all of the DeWalt/PC/B&D centers are so willing to impart information without a hefty charge.
The info I've read, from several sources, has always indicated to lift slightly on both infeed and outfeed sides. A look at this sketch and article from Highland Hardware makes it obvious why this technique would work to reduce snipe. Pressing down slightly could work also, but I suspect not as well as lifting slightly, especially with a heavier board.
For a relatively thin board (1/2" or less) some people use a sled, believing that these thin boards tend to snipe more.
forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
I know of no better best bench top planer. Buy the extensions and snipe should not be an issue. I bought mine from Amazon for $345 but I had to wait for a while before it hit that price.
I have one, and I get snipe, and I still love it. The surface it gives does not need sanding. I have found that sometimes we get much less snipe than others, probably due to the way it come out. I am going to try the shims.
As some others in this thread have mentioned, I have and recommend the Delta 13" two speed planer. I have owned it for three years now and use it often in my custom furniture shop. Excellent finish, no snipe, and have only had to change the blades once since buying it. The extension tables are included and fold up. And it has a very handy feature that allows you to zero the cutterhead to the board without having to measure the thickness first. BTW, I hope you have a dust collector otherwise you'll be up to your knees in shavings very quickly. If you buy the Delta machine, get the dust hood attachment also.
I would agree with the comment on the dust collection. And I would add that the little blower that is built into the 735 works very well, even with my asthmatic dust collection system there are hardly any stray chips to speak of. Definitely a gold star for the 735 on the dust collection.
The 735 blades cannot be sharpened, you need to buy a new set each time.
On the snipe, I still maintain that it depends on the individual machine. My 735 snipes a lot, yours may or may not. My 733 was great, never sniped until near the end. I have the 735 extension tables and have spent hours fiddling with them to no good effect. I find the 'lift it up a bit at the start and finish" trick to be ineffectual. Plus if the board you are feeding doesn't stick past the extension bed, that trick won't work since you won't be able to lift it up.
Gluing sacrificial boards on the ends works, as they take the snipe. You can also try pushing your good board thru in between two sacrificial boards without gluing, but this requires longer sacrificial boards and maintaining a tight fit between the boards.
Anyways, you are getting lots of opinions on this one, good luck on your purchase!
The 735 blades cannot be sharpened, you need to buy a new set each time.
As Lee Corso would say, "Not so fast my friend!" The blades are reversible and I too was under the impression that they can't be resharpen because the manual says so. Had it in at the DeWalt service center and they said that I could sharpen them just not as many times as another non-disposable blade. Went home, tried it and they worked like a charm. Just remember there isn't much material there so don't get overly happy, but you can do it.
Bio
So what's the best way to sharpen a 13" blade?Chris @ http://www.flairwoodwork.spaces.live.com
- Success is not the key to happines. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. - Albert Schweitzer
Replace it, it may be honeable, it was not meant to be sharpened regardless of what some limp d*ck at the service center told him. If you want one that is resharpenable buy one that is designed for it. If you buy a lunch box planer with disposeable blades plan on disposing of them unless you like dinking around rather than woodworking.
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You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club. Jack London
Man, was the comment about the service center guy warranted? Anyway, I took them to the guy who does the rest of my sharpening. He's an old timer (been sharpening for about 40 years) who does a lot by hand and he discussed the fact that there was not much sharpening that could be done but it could. He setup a little jig and went at it. I will admit, one thing he said is that if the blades get a ding or knick in them then they would be virtually impossible to sharpen because there isn't much material to work with, but mine didn't have any. Think about it, what makes a blade unable to be resharpened, simply the amount of material present to work with. I don't care if you have non-disposable blades when you don't have a lot of material left you can't sharpen it. Same goes with TS blades.
Bio
Blade height above the cutterhead is determined by the indexing pins, you cannot adjust the height of an individual blade. Unless exactly the same amount of material is removed from each blade they will not share the work equally.
It was bad advice from someone who is paid to know better.
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You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club. Jack London
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