DeWalt DW735 Planer won't feed

[Bob Daniel]

Good day and Happy New Year!

Thought I would sneak in some shop time today, hoped to mill up some boards, business as usual. My DeWalt planer has been giving me trouble lately, getting more and more reluctant to feed the wood through. Needing more and more of a push from the next piece in line, or a pull from the outfeed side.

Today, it got to the point where it finally won't feed the board at all... normally you can feel it grab the wood and feed it into the blades. Today it just stops. Feels like the rollers aren't rolling.

I take very tiny cuts, I'm not in a rush, so I'm definitely not bogging it down.

I did the only thing I could think of, which was to flip the blades around, which was due anyway. No obvious problems there.

Cranking it to full height and looking at the rollers, no obvious problems there either, except, should I be able to turn them by hand? I can't remember if I ever tried that when it was working normally, wouldn't have a reason to. For now, the rollers will NOT turn by hand when nudged from underneath. Didn't want to get too aggressive under there, but with medium force they won't turn at all with power off (and unplugged!) ... Is that normal?

Any insights appreciated... be a while before I can get it looked at, with the holiday, so thought I would try here first. Cheers!

[Jason White]

Is it cold in your shop?

The rollers won't work right if they're cold because the rubber gets too stiff.

I usually wait until the shop is around 50-60 degrees before using the planer for anything.

Jason



Good day and Happy New Year!

Thought I would sneak in some shop time today, hoped to mill up some boards, business as usual. My DeWalt planer has been giving me trouble lately, getting more and more reluctant to feed the wood through. Needing more and more of a push from the next piece in line, or a pull from the outfeed side.

Today, it got to the point where it finally won't feed the board at all... normally you can feel it grab the wood and feed it into the blades. Today it just stops. Feels like the rollers aren't rolling.

I take very tiny cuts, I'm not in a rush, so I'm definitely not bogging it down.

I did the only thing I could think of, which was to flip the blades around, which was due anyway. No obvious problems there.

Cranking it to full height and looking at the rollers, no obvious problems there either, except, should I be able to turn them by hand? I can't remember if I ever tried that when it was working normally, wouldn't have a reason to. For now, the rollers will NOT turn by hand when nudged from underneath. Didn't want to get too aggressive under there, but with medium force they won't turn at all with power off (and unplugged!) ... Is that normal?

Any insights appreciated... be a while before I can get it looked at, with the holiday, so thought I would try here first. Cheers!

[Bob Daniel]

Thanks for the reply. Yes, cold, very! The shop is unheated, except for an overhead IR heater for when I'm standing at the lathe... Probably about -5C (25F) in there today, which is plenty mild for my comfort, but not for the planer, you say... interesting!... maybe I'll park it under the heater for a couple of hours, see if that helps... otherwise, no planing until spring, aaakk!! :(... thanks again...

[John Buzzurro]

Bob,

If you haven't already done so, you might try waxing the planer bed. I find that occasionally I need to do this on my DW735 to keep the boards feeding smoothly. Good luck.

John

[Ed Griner]

Dull blades will sometimes cause this type of problem,the harder the wood the worse the problem, plus the tips already mentioned. Hope you get squared away.

Ed

[Dan Bowman]

Have you been using an uncommon wood? I've had similar problems with certain woods that deposit oil (or something slippery) on the rollers - just clean them with a detergent and soft cloth and they work, at least until they get slippery again. Quaruba seems particularly bad for gunking up the rollers.

[Joe Scharle]

Actually my manual recommends cleaning the rollers with mineral spirits.
But if you have a broken chain or sprocket you can tell, if you crank the unit all the way up, turn it on and visually check the rollers for rotation. From a safe distance! Because the cutterhead will be flying!
With a well waxed bed acting as a mirror, I can easily see what's going on in the reflection.

[Leo Vogel]

Bob, my Dewalt planer was doing the same thing. I wipe off the rollers with mineral spirits and waxed the bed and it worked like new. I was really surprised. Give it a try.

[Bob Daniel]

Great tips everybody, will definitely do all the clean and wax type things, it's probably due. Nothing too strange wood-wise, mostly walnut lately...

Have to ask again though, should I be able to turn the rollers from underneath? And if not, how can I clean them properly? Could they be seized up?

[Joe Scharle]

I can turn them from the top using the small gear (interlock depressed) but they are stiff from the rollers themselves. Too much gear reduction or I'm getting weak!

[Bob Daniel]

I think you lost me there Joe: I just had the top off to change the knives, and you can't even see the rollers. Are you talking about the interlock that locks/unlocks the knives, so you can rotate them for changing? Is that what allows the rollers to rotate as well?


I can turn them from the top using the small gear (interlock depressed) but they are stiff from the rollers themselves. Too much gear reduction or I'm getting weak!

[Fred Voorhees]

Is it cold in your shop?

The rollers won't work right if they're cold because the rubber gets too stiff.

I usually wait until the shop is around 50-60 degrees before using the planer for anything.

Jason

I thought of this also and I might add to check to see if the rollers are "gunked up" withany dirt or resin from previously milled lumber. The rollers could need some cleaning up.

[Joe Scharle]

Look at the chain 'train', and if memory serves you will see a small gear that drives the sprocket. I'll look again tomorrow. But turning the cutterhead should also drive the chain. The cutterhead probably makes a thousand RPMs to 1 for the rollers, so the motion will not be much.

[Tim Livingston]

One thing I do if I have a board that is not feeding well I will turn it over without changeing the cut and run it through again. It almost seems like sometimes they cup a little and won't feed well but I am going to hit the rollers with mineral spirits and wax the bed.

[Joe Scharle]

One other thing is the speed control lever. If it's not fully seated the rollers won't turn, but I suppose you already knew that.

[Bob Daniel]

Totally did not know that, thanks... not sure why it wouldn't be fully engaged, but bears checking, and worth knowing! Thanks again!


One other thing is the speed control lever. If it's not fully seated the rollers won't turn, but I suppose you already knew that.

[Leo Vogel]

Bob, when I cleaned my rollers with mineral spirit I could not turn them by hand. I had to plug it in and tap the switch to get the rollers to turn enough to clean. Be careful, and unplug after every tap on the switch. Wow, that would be one awful wound.

[Larry Frank]

I would guess that the bushings on the end of the rubber rollers are binding. This could be because of the cold or you could have some gunk in them or a combination of both. I have the DW735 now but did have a DW733 which has the same bushings on the roller shafts. On the older machine, the rolls bound up in the bushings and actually broke a drive socket. I ended up replacing the bushings and that solved the problem.

Take a look at the exploded drawing of the DW735 and you can see the bushings. You should try warming up the machine and see if the rollers turn. If you have been having this problem for awhile, it may be worth taking the bushings out for inspection and see if there is any damage on the inside of them.

Good Luck

[Bob Daniel]

Thanks, that was going to be me next question, how exactly do people clean those rollers if they don't turn easily... appreciate the info, cheers!!



Bob, when I cleaned my rollers with mineral spirit I could not turn them by hand. I had to plug it in and tap the switch to get the rollers to turn enough to clean. Be careful, and unplug after every tap on the switch. Wow, that would be one awful wound.

[Bob Daniel]

Oh boy, that sounds hard... I'm not sure I'm equipped for that kind of thing, either tool-wise or expertise-wise... or is it no big deal? ... I don't have a lot of "machinery" related tools or skills... just the basics that got me through assembly of my shop tools over the past year...


I would guess that the bushings on the end of the rubber rollers are binding. This could be because of the cold or you could have some gunk in them or a combination of both. I have the DW735 now but did have a DW733 which has the same bushings on the roller shafts. On the older machine, the rolls bound up in the bushings and actually broke a drive socket. I ended up replacing the bushings and that solved the problem.

Take a look at the exploded drawing of the DW735 and you can see the bushings. You should try warming up the machine and see if the rollers turn. If you have been having this problem for awhile, it may be worth taking the bushings out for inspection and see if there is any damage on the inside of them.

Good Luck

[Dave Stuve]

Here's something obvious to check - I had a similar problem - it was really hard to feed in a board, and I had just flipped my blades too. It turned out that out of the three blades, I had flipped one and turned something around so that the blade or 'holder' was pushing against the board instead of a sharp blade cutting into it.

Check your blades again before you take anything else apart!

Dave

[Bob Daniel]

Good call, I'll definitely check for that... it WAS my first blade change (flip) so anything's possible...




Check your blades again before you take anything else apart!

Dave

[fRED mCnEILL]

The 935 has the same problem as the 933, namely a small gear that drives the rollers breaks. If you raise the motor and observe the rollers when turned on you will find they are probably not turning.
It takes an hour or so to change and cost a couple of dollars. Buy two, one for a spare.

You would think that a lousy company like Dewalt would fix a simple problem such as this in a new model but apparently not. EVERY dewalt product I have owned has been defective in one way or another. Solved the problem. no more yellow.

[Bob Daniel]

Yikes. Okay, that ALSO sounds like it might be what's going on... I'll confirm tomorrow if I can... one way or another... "it's just cold" may be just wishful thinking... those rollers aren't budging at all by the feel of things today... thanks for your thoughts!


The 935 has the same problem as the 933, namely a small gear that drives the rollers breaks. If you raise the motor and observe the rollers when turned on you will find they are probably not turning.
It takes an hour or so to change and cost a couple of dollars. Buy two, one for a spare.

You would think that a lousy company like Dewalt would fix a simple problem such as this in a new model but apparently not. EVERY dewalt product I have owned has been defective in one way or another. Solved the problem. no more yellow.

[Darren Linse]

I had the same problem just the other day. After raising the unit up to its full height, I tried to move the roller by hand, they were not moving at all. Then proceeded to remove the crank handle and the cover from the right side of the machine, there was saw dust and chips packed around the chain and sprocket. Once that was cleaned up and the roller cleaned, the unit works like new again. Good luck.

[Michael Schwartz]

I had the same problem just the other day. After raising the unit up to its full height, I tried to move the roller by hand, they were not moving at all. Then proceeded to remove the crank handle and the cover from the right side of the machine, there was saw dust and chips packed around the chain and sprocket. Once that was cleaned up and the roller cleaned, the unit works like new again. Good luck.

thanks for reporting that this is possible, I will check mine periodically.

[Bob Daniel]

Well I don't know what exactly fixed it, which is the danger when you shotgun a bunch of possible soutions, but the planer is working like new again!

I first let it warm up as best it could for about 2 hours under the IR heater and a rather warm trouble lamp in the shop, which is otherwise at about -15C (5F) today.

Then I had the lid off again to check my knives and knife covers were all properly oriented, which they were. Otherwise, just blew a little more dust out and closed it back up.

Removed the right-side crank handle and panel, cleaned that little chain up a bit, though it wasn't bad, and replaced the panel and crank handle.

Wiped the rollers with a little paint thinner (mineral spirits). Cleaned around the edges of the rollers with a little brass brush to get some sawdust out, nothing major. And finally waxed and buffed the bed.

Lowered it down, plugged it in, and tried my same workpiece... went through like buttah, slick as you please...

So who knows exactly what happened, but I'm a happy guy now. THANK YOU ALL for all the great insights and info, REALLY appreciate it...

I have a feeling I'll be back soon... my Delta X5 jointer is due for some maintenance... B-/

[Daniel Richards]

The 935 has the same problem as the 933, namely a small gear that drives the rollers breaks. If you raise the motor and observe the rollers when turned on you will find they are probably not turning.
It takes an hour or so to change and cost a couple of dollars. Buy two, one for a spare.

You would think that a lousy company like Dewalt would fix a simple problem such as this in a new model but apparently not. EVERY dewalt product I have owned has been defective in one way or another. Solved the problem. no more yellow.

My planer was bogging down and I should have sharpened the blades and waxed the base but you know how that goes, anyway the rollers stopped moving at all, and when i took off the gear box cover (left side) i noticed the gear snapped in two.
Learned my lesson, getting an extra set of blades, and will wax the base. Thanks for the info.
Dan