Am I the only one that hates a DW735 Planer?

[keith micinski]

I got this planer when they were on sale from Home depot for about 250. I then bought a second one and sold it so I ended up only paying about 75 bucks for this thing. I can't stand it. It is hideously under powered. I am lucky if I can get a 64th off of anything wider then 6 inches. It's loud and even though I have built a really nice stand with infeed and outfeed tables I still get snipe from time to time. I often wonder what people do with all of the other lunch box planers because as far as I know the 735 is supposed to be the best one by a mile and if it was any more useless I would just start looking for an old number 7. I spend more time trying to dimension wood then I do anything else and it is driving me crazy. I hear about people buying Byrd heads for their 735 's and I cant believe it. I just wanted to rant a little because I just looked at the Grizzly web site and even with holiday discount I still can't afford a new 15" planer with a spiral head. Oh well, maybe next year.

[Dave MacArthur]

LOL...
Honestly Keith, your post is one of the first I've read that isn't all praise for the 735. Most folks post they like the tables and they get little or no snipe, and that the finish is great.

I've got one, actually bought two like you and sold one to make the one I own "free" (craigslist!), and have it on a nice rolling table too. However, I really haven't put enough material through it to have developed strong opinions except it's noisy.

[Rick Cicciarelli]

I know nothing of this planer except all of the positive reviews compared to the other 'lunchbox types' like you mentioned. It always gets ranked pretty high. Of course, when reading for even a few days on this forum is seems no one goes with something like this and everyone has at least a 15" floor model like the Grizzly. Or at least that is what it seems at times. All I can say is it brings back the saying I always try to go by: "The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price has been long forgotten."

[Victor Robinson]

I also got mine during the HD blowout sale. I like it quite a bit, aside from the fact it's noisy. I've actually never tried taking off more than 1/32" but it doesn't have any trouble powering through 12" wide boards of hard maple and the finish on the high quality setting is practically 220 grit. I don't have the infeed/outfeed tables yet but the snipe I am getting is less than 0.003" and practically disappears if I give a little upwards pressure/support during feeding and receiving.

Sure, a stationary planer with spiral cutterhead would be a heck of a lot better, but for the price I (and especially you!) paid, it's grand.

The things it can't do I've figured out I'm supposed to be using a drum sander for (thin stock, short stock, figured stock...).

[Bruce Page]

LOL! You would've been absolutely suicidal if your first real planer was the Delta 22-530 like I had.
Sorry, not much sympathy from me...

[david brum]

I'm with you Keith. I started out with a Grizzly lunchbox planer. It was loud, vibrated and sniped horribly no matter how I adjusted it. I read lots of reviews and bought the Rigid planer. I took it out of the box, set it up and planed a test board. It was even louder and sniped nearly as much. I put it back in the box, returned it and got a used 15" stationary on craigslist for the same price. No comparison in noise reduction and near total lack of snipe. The finish isn't quite as smooth, but close enough and it will obviously take a heavy cut. I see them on my local cl all the time.

[Brad Gobble]

I've been reading a lot on these things lately ... the DW all work great for the first 100 ft, then start to crap out. The Makita seems to be the one with the best longevity in the class, with folks who have put 1000's of bf through them singing their praise.

I need one, and am hoping that I exit the holiday season with a few $ so I can buy one. My shop doesn't have room for anything bigger now....

[Paul McGaha]

Keith,

You do sound like you're ready to upgrade to a full size planer.

I went from a Ridgid TP-1300 to a Powermatic 15HH. While the Ridgid was a good lunchbox planer (Steel City seems to be using the identical planer now) it is a very large upgrade.

I would guess, that you are simply not going to believe how quiet a HH Planer is compared to a lunchbox planer. In my case it was going from no doubt the loudest tool in the shop to one of the most quiet.

Quality of cut is excellent.

PHM

[Clarence Miller]

I have the Delta 2 speed planer and absolutely love the results I get from it. Very little snipe with the locking cutter head.
Prior to that I have a Craftsman that I received as a longevity award from my job. The motor would wind itself up and down constantly when I first got it but $14 set of brushes fixed so you may want to try that for your DeWalt. This machine also had the locking cutter head.
My first planer was an older delta 12 in with removable i-f and o-f tables. Lots of snipe.

[Peter Quinn]

They don't suck, they are the best lunchbox portable going. Lunch box being the operative word. I had far better performance from mine than you describe. However, the step up to an iron floor model is huge, the difference is significant, and the spiral head makes things even better. I paid $325 for a used delta dc-380' which was actually less than my dewalt, and I haven't used the dewalt since. But the 24" spiral head Italian planer I use at work makes my little planer feel like a POS! And for $18K, it should. There will always be a bigger and better machine in every machine category. I happen to like milling stock, so the time it takes me is time I enjoy, but many like to power through that part and get on to " real" woodworking like shaping or joining. If you dislike milling than I can see the dewalt exasorbating that, and it may be time to move up a grade or two. If that isn't possible, I recommend slowing down and enjoying the process with your present planer. It's like a zen thing, but louder and with ear plugs!

[Roger Bullock]

I use a DW lunchbox planer also and we had to get acquainted at first. Now that we know each other, we get along fine and it does a good job as long as I use it keeping in mind its capabilities and those little things it hates. Mine will give less than satisfactory cuts when I don't allow my dust collector to do its job by leaving an additional gate open, or when the dust or chip collection containers are nearly full. If I try to get aggressive with rough cut lumber it sometimes doesn't like that either. In short, it is an economically priced machine and will do a good job for a machine in its class. I don't expect it to give me the cuts a machine costing thousands of dollars more.

[Jim Laumann]

Keith

Just a thought.....but how sharp are your blades?

Jim

[John Nesmith]

Interesting. All I have ever had is the Delta 22-560. By all accounts it is far less a machine than the 735. Yea, it's loud, but with sharp knives it does the job well. No complaints after years of use.

[Charlie Barnes]

Travel back in time, if you will, to a time when lunch box planers were the latest thing. You have entered the Delta 22-540 zone - a.k.a. my shop. I bought it used around 1994 and it's been my only planer since then. Yep, it's unbelievably noisy and it snipes pretty bad even with a long custom infeed/outfeed table. As mentioned above, I have come to know the limitations very well and have learned to work around them. Also as mentioned above, I have come to dislike the planing process because of many of these limitations and am considering upgrading to a new 15" with a helical head. But I've put a lot of wood through this thing over the years and a lunch box planer can do a lot of work, just much slower and with a lot more noise.

[Derek Gilmer]

I also got my at HD 147. So I might be biased about the price to performance side :). I've run at least 400 bf of cherry and red oak through mine and it works great. Most of the cherry has been 4 to 7 inches wide and the oak was between 6 and 10 inches wide. As log as my depth of cut was within the suggested range on the depth chart it has came out great.

Then I ran some pine through to dimension it and a knot knicked the blades !?. I called dewalt and they shipped me a new set of blades for free. My only complaint is the noise but that is what hearing protection is for.

[Neil Brooks]

It's consistently rated as the best in its class, but only with a decent set of in/outfeed tables.

And ... if it's actually a chunk better than my Ridgid R4330, then ... it must be a heck of a planer :)

[glenn bradley]

I think Peter touched on the possible reason for your disappointment. Properly setup, the DW735 does a great job; smooth finishes, no snipe, good chip collection. My dad's is an example. If you are looking for the results I get from my 3HP, spiral headed floor unit, you aren't going to get it. If you are looking for one of the best lunchbox planers around, you already have it.

The knife life often comes under fire on these and is perhaps their weakest point. Second is probably the overpriced tables that are available as an "accessory" though they can be adjusted to provide snipe-free cuts on appropriate sized lumber. That is; don't go feeding 2 x 12's eight feet long through the thing. That's kinda like towing an RV with a mini pickup truck. Lunchbox planers do very well milling furniture sized parts and the mini pickup can bring home a new washing machine without a problem. Scale the tool to the job.

I have read where folks have had the gearbox fail on them and don't recall if that turned out to be a warranty issue or overwork. There are several threads on it here somewhere. Maybe folks could chime in with methods they've found for getting good results. Dad and I had a head start as I had already achieved good results on my DW734 and knew what to look for so FWIW, here's my take:

- Elevate the outer edges of your infeed and outfeed tables to avoid snipe. If you have built the unit into something with long infeed and outfeed surfaces this will be a challenge. On the stock "accessory" tables, with a straight edge laid across the outer edges and passing through the cutting area, the straight edge will be a fat 1/8" off the platen. Your adjustments may vary. With this much rise, your infeed and outfeed could get pretty weird if they are over about 12 - 14" long.

- Clean your rubber rollers regularly. These rollers leave a nice finish ("lunchbox" planers are finish planers) but, do not have the serious grip of a floor model designed to mill down rough lumber. I spent a reasonable amount of effort getting my floor unit to be more gentle than the tenacious factory settings.

- Wax those tables. The reduced grip capability of the nice rubber rollers requires a smooth and easy path across which to drag your material. Re-waxing tables and cleaning rollers seems to be the standard fix for lunchbox planers that start to "slip" or give irregular results.

- Control the stock at the entry and the exit. Control your material and assure a stable contact with the infeed table prior to the first drive roller getting a grip and up until the cutter head is fully engaged. Control the material in a similar fashion at the outfeed. Sometimes I press the material to the table near the exit point, sometimes I lift up on the outer edge with one hand and control the table contact with the other. Depends on the material. Either way you want to be in control until the material completely leaves the cutter head.

Can anybody else toss out some more helpful tips that I have missed?

P.s. Thought of another one. My DW734 manual has a diagram for maximum depth of cut for a given width:

1/8" deep, 3" max width
3/32" deep, 6" max width
1/16" deep, 9" max width
1/32" deep, 13" max width

[Chuck Wintle]

I would check the knives to see if they are sharp...when a planer won't plane start with the knives.

[Will Overton]

Sometimes the problem with a car is the nut behind the wheel. Just sayin'

[lowell holmes]

I pick up on the end of the board when starting the feed when starting a cut on my 22-540. I pick up on the outfeed end of the board as well. The result is no snipe. Try it.

You don't exprct an Austin Healy Sprite to run with a Healy 3000. Same kind of thing.

I doubt many of you know what an Austin Healy Sprite is. :)

[Gary Herrmann]

I had a DW735 for 4 or 5 years. It performed very, very well for me. I could remove 1/16" with no problem at all. Only reason I don't have it any more is because I got a screaming deal on a Canadian General 14" planer. Definitely check the knives. You might also want to try the dime trick on your outfeed table to eliminate snipe.

[Jim Summers]

My 735 is awesome. Loud, yes, but every planer I have been around is loud.

[glenn bradley]

Sometimes the problem with a car is the nut behind the wheel. Just sayin'

That is most often . .. me ;-)

[glenn bradley]

I doubt many of you know what an Austin Healy Sprite is. :)

You mean knowing one on site is a bad thing? :D:D:D

[Matt Kestenbaum]

Sorry to hear you are not getting good productivity from your 735. Where I take classes they have a monster Felder Dual 451 20" jointer/planer with digital motorized table, but they have also had a DW735 in the shop for several years. It gets some use -- mostly its there for students to get familiar with planers that might be a first purchase when assembling a shop. It worked well enough that I had planned to buy one even before the HD deal.

Last year I made the same move as you and others -- buying two from HD and selling one. But, I have to say I am really quite pleased with mine...I'm guessing I have run more that a hundred board feet through it. Mostly I work with cherry, but also some walnut, hard maple, beech, ash and poplar. I tend to take several light cuts <1/32" rather than more aggressive passes. I have had virtually no snipe. FWIW I'd definitely rotate or change blades, give the tables serious wax and buff (they need to be slick), always ensure that you are orienting to cut with the grain, and make sure the opposite face is jointed dead-flat before feeding it to the planer.

I don't know what tables you are using for extension tables...DW's add-on? I made mine by laying a single, nearly 6' long piece of phenolic faced 3/4" ply through it as a continuos infeed/outfeed table, with some cleats securing it the rolling cabinet below. Flat, slippery and pretty stiff...and cheap.

[Jeff Heil]

I have put 1000's of bf through my DW 735 without any issues. Keep the front feed roller clean and the tables waxed and it works well. I do mostly QSWO, white oak, cherry, and black walnut. It handles figured wood well. As others have said, it's not a fixed unit, but one of the best lunchboxes I have used. You might have a dud?

[Richard McComas]

"It is hideously under powered. I am lucky if I can get a 64th off of anything wider then 6 inches"

Well, it''s only got a 15Amp motor. I don't think any of the other lunch box planers is more that than that either. There made to plug into a 120 v circuit.

[Russell Smallwood]

Haven't had any experience with the 735 but I'm not a fan of lunch box planers in general. They work great as long as you aren't trying to actually use them to capacity. It would not surprise me in the least to have two different people have completely opposite experiences with an identical lunchbox planer, person A uses it for furniture parts that are consistently small and require just a few light passes, person B consistently tries running 8-10" wide 8 foot long pieces of rough-sawn white oak through the thing needing to take 1/4 - 1/2 inch off each board.

Yeah, person B is not going to be happy with any lunch box planer on the planet. I'm not saying you can't make it work by adding infeed/outfeed support etc. Just not really the right tool for that job.

[Salem Ganzhorn]

Loud is relative. I had a DW734 and upgraded to a 15" import (straight blades). Yes the DW734 was louder. But they both require hearing protection, especially because the 15" planer requires separate dust/chip collection. And although you can take larger bites with the 15" the finish will not be as nice. I know of others who have made this upgrade and were not happy with the trade, or bought a separate lunchbox for the final pass.

As for the snipe most people can avoid it with this model. Try setting the far end of the infeed/outfeed tables 1/64th higher than the bed. Depending on if you are getting snipe on the leading or trailing end you may only need to adjust one side.

I guess the grass is always greener :). Merry Christmas!
Salem

[Richard McComas]

Loud is relative. I had a DW734 and upgraded to a 15" import (straight blades). Yes the DW734 was louder. But they both require hearing protection, especially because the 15" planer requires separate dust/chip collection. And although you can take larger bites with the 15" the finish will not be as nice. I know of others who have made this upgrade and were not happy with the trade, or bought a separate lunchbox for the final pass.

As for the snipe most people can avoid it with this model. Try setting the far end of the infeed/outfeed tables 1/64th higher than the bed. Depending on if you are getting snipe on the leading or trailing end you may only need to adjust one side.

I guess the grass is always greener :). Merry Christmas!
Salem

I have never understood the concern about the finish cut on wood coming out of a planer. The planer is more of a dimensioning tool and not meant to be a finishing tool. Wood coming out of a planer still need scraping or sanding before going to the finish room. I routinely get little nicks in my knives and I don' worry about them because they go away with I do my finial sanding. I would never buy a lunch box planer to clean up cut from another planer. All rotary cutting tools like joiners and planers leave a scalloped cut anyway and need further prep before finishing. Just my .02

[David Prince]

I have the 735 and cannot really complain. Is it the greatest? No, but I didn't pay for the greatest. If you pay for a KIA you cannot expect it to perform like a BMW!

The thing does have some noise, but it seems that with a 4 inch flex hose attached to the DC it absorbs some of the excess noise.

[Salem Ganzhorn]

Rich,
I agree with your points. I should have been more clear. The finish is not very important as you pointed out. But the lunchbox does have some benefits: can take lighter cuts (1/64th leaves heavy roller marks on most larger machines), and I dare say they tend to produce less snipe.

Best wishes,
Salem

[fRED mCnEILL]

I had a 733 and, while it seemed to plane OK, it broke a gear (which I understand is par for the course for the 735 as well). I also had two other Dewalt pieces of equipment which also broke. A 12 volt drill that the chuck could not be removed and a sawzall that the armature was bent on. When I asked the repair guy how an armature would get bent he didn't know. So no more yellow tools for me. I bought a grizzly 20 in planer, a Costco special drill (got the drill and 2 batteries for less than a replacement dewalt battery ) and a Harbor Freight sawzall.(Just as good and 1/5th of the price). I am pleased with all 3 pieces of equipment, especially the planer.

[keith micinski]

Well when I started this thread I didn't realize how popular it would be. Unfortunately my knives were just turned over and my tables are all setup right. I guess I am just destined to get a 15" 3hp Spiral head planer. To play devils advocate a little bit I will say that other then the occasional snipe I can't complain about the cut quality at all. That having been said I run everything through the drum sander anymore anyway. I was at my sawmill today and I almost had a heart attack. He just bought a 20 inch oliver planer with a spiral head from a high school workshop and it was unbelievable. That sealed it for me. That thing is a monster.

[Richard McComas]

Rich,
I agree with your points. I should have been more clear. The finish is not very important as you pointed out. But the lunchbox does have some benefits: can take lighter cuts (1/64th leaves heavy roller marks on most larger machines), and I dare say they tend to produce less snipe.

Best wishes,
Salem

Your're right on with the advantage of the making light cut with out feed roller marks. I had kind forgoten about that. I have been blessed with a 735 and a stationary planer that doesen't snipe.

[ian maybury]

This it seems to me is probably a classic instance of the problem I've grouched about before - that the lack of hard test data published by either the makers or the mags (further confused by their pitching misleading numbers mixed with the usual 'professional quality'/'ours is best' bulls**t) makes it next to impossible to know what you are buying unless you can get access to an example somewhere to try out. Which is a tall order if you live in a remote area, or a small country - or don't have woodworking friends close by.

I've been burned this way at considerable cost in the past.

It's so easy when researching a purchase to drop into a reality bubble where low cost kit of very limited capability is trumpeted as being great by every source you happen to access - as well as the manufacturer's hype the mags will label something as 'excellent' without saying exactly what it's being compared to, or filling the data gap by publishing hard capacity and test information. Other owners keen to big up their purchases or with very different requirements or expectations to yours will meanwhile also talk the item up.

It's perfectly acceptable that there exists a continuum with cheap kit of minimal cost at one end, with the more capable stuff and specialist variants at the other - but it's not remotely acceptable when not only is the data not published to accurately locate a piece of kit on that continuum, it's also the case that much of what is published is almost certainly intentionally misleading.

The icing on the cake comes when you run into problems and other owners keen to trumpet their superior knowledge and buying smarts dismissively trot out comments in the 'but how could you have expected it to do that' sort of vein.

Take the example of a band saw - vertical capacity is not at all the same as resaw depth capability. It seems also that in some cases planer width capacity doesn't necessarily imply any reasonable depth of cut capability at that width.

Why is it that the purchaser having made a decent effort to research his/her purchase is almost inevitably left holding the baby? Why is it that we consider acceptable weasel words that can't quite in terms of the letter of the law/quantitatively be shown to be lies, but which in spirit most definitely are? Caveat emptor is a dodgy concept in law that paves the way for so many shysters...

Ian

[Curt Harms]

One thought re power. What is the amperage of the circuit it's plugged into? 15 or 20? How much else is running on the same circuit? I've been in a couple home shops that have one 15 amp. circuit in the basement that also powers other things. Oh, and the machine is running off a 16 or 18 gauge extension cord. Turn a machine on and the lights dim, hmmmm. That may not be the case here, just a thought.

[John King]

I have one with infeed and outfeed tables. A great shop tool that yields superb results! - John

[Dave MacArthur]

Caveat emptor is a dodgy concept in law that paves the way for so many shysters...

Ian

Eloquent post, Ian. Unfortunately, I still have to say that "Caveat Emptor" holds more power and wisdom ;)

Honestly... If a person's expectations are off and not met, with all the info out there, well... Maybe sometimes it's your own faulty expectations--we all have them until we study and gain expertise in an area? There's a reason folks sell a lot of magazines with tool comparisons and reviews--it's HARD WORK gathering user data points, takes a lot of reading, and most folks just don't do it.
In this one case though, I think the tool has been rigorously reviewed and peer-tested.
If over 10 reviews by magazines of a DW735, ALL of which were sufficiently qualified by the authors that "this is a lunchbox planer etc." and not industrial isn't sufficient; and several thousand posts on forums discussing the device all written by non-axis-of-evil-regular-folks-not-trying-to-suborn-you isn't enough;
if the fact that 15 minutes of planer study will clearly show where this planer falls on the COST continuum ($225 min price...$450 for this....$900 for a Grizzly 15".... $1500 for 15" w/ spiral cutterhead.... $3800 for 20" Powermatic) isn't enough to adequately describe to you the likely performance point...

Well, I'm not sure if any amount of data would be enough to save you from yourself. I'm not sure if I can think of another tool so extensively reviewed and posted about, it's certainly up there in the top-20 hobbyist items along with G0513 17" band saw.

No insult intended, and your post is probably valid for a LOT of stuff sold, but I just can't see it for the DW735--way too many satisfied customers out there and descriptive threads. But NOW I'm wondering what nefarious marketeers you had in mind when you scribed that poetic indictment up above! I KNOW it wasn't your band saw, you did as good a job studying that decision as I've seen. Fess up, who's the sneaky weasels on your mind? ;)

[Bernie May]

Sharp knives? Someone menioned this above and it reminded me of my purchase of my Ridgid planer from HD. I bought it at a heavy discount because they said it was a floor model. Fortunately I checked the knives before I tried it. Turns out someone bought it, abused it on something non-wood, and returned it. Floor model my foot!. If you have an extra set of knives or reversible knives, try new ones before throwing this machine away.
-bernie

[keith micinski]

I would like to point out that there are a lot of people in this thread that used the logic " Well everyone else seems to like it so it must be good." I may be dating myself a little but with this reference but Vanilla ice had the fastest selling record by a new artist for a very long time. Take from that what you will.

[Larry Frank]

I am surprised at some of the comments. I have the DW735 and it does quite well as it was intended and does very well with a good set of sharp knives. I also have a 15" Jet that is like most other 15" planers. It does a great job at removing material but not good with shallow cuts as it leaves marks. I typically will bring stock down close witht he 15" planer and take finishing cuts with the DW 735.

it is LOUD and the LOUDEST in my shop. It is the one tool that I always use hearing protection.

[Jon Grider]

No complaints on my 735. Noisy? Very! But used within it's limitations, it does the job very well for me.

[Dave MacArthur]

I have a 20" Powermatic planer with Byrd Shelix head. It's quite nice.

I still like my DW735 for finish cuts, and sometimes I use it for small boards when I don't want to pull the PM away from the wall. It's loud sure but for nice light planing I've not been disappointed. I do have sharp knives, saw them sold at HD one day for $20 a set and bought 3 or 4. I do have the metal infeed/outfeed tables with it.

And have you seen that new "Vanilla Ice Project" show where he's basically a landscaper on house flips? I have to say, I was impressed by ol' Vanilla! By the end of the show, I was like, "Dude finally found his true calling, that's some righteous landscaping!"

Also--thanks for this thread ;) I needed something to read while kids were playing new games and the Christmas Roast was cooking and wife was taking a nap, and I knew the instant you posted this one that it would see me through the Xmas posting slump ;) Now you've brought Vanilla Ice into it, Ian has thrown down with an epic post second only to Adam Smith's "The Wealth of Nations", and I think this could well take me safely through New Years!

[keith micinski]

Dammit Dave I was hoping no one would mention The Vanilla Ice project because it does take away from my point. I couldn't tell if you were being sarcastic but to be honest with you it is my favorite home improvement show on tv right now. Him and his guys aren't as goofy as you might think and I think he actually does a good job "hosting" the show and making design decisions.

[keith micinski]

I guess the better point I was trying to make was that maybe the dw735 isn't a bad machine as much as spending 15 minutes running around my planer to take two 8/4 maple boards down to 1 7/8 just isn't any fun.

[Michael MacDonald]

My 735 handled white oak at about 12 inches wide... i was only taking about 1/32 and had a new blade... but it cut nicely. Later, I tried to milll some red oak treads and risers I took off an old staircase in my house. Had trouble taking 1/64--never quite figured out why except the wood was unusually hard--perhaps because of age. I am now looking for alternatives to mill the red oak, but I find that the planer works acceptably for all my other needs.

[Lori Kleinberg]

Count me as another happy 735 owner. I have a hobby shop so admittedly have not run a ton of wood thru this machine. Yes it is noisy, ah make that very noisy, but it does exactly what I bought it to do.

If I wanted something more, better, then yes I would buy one of those big stationary models.
I truly believe in buying the best quality tools in each category,and strongly feel that the 735 is exactly that in the the category of lunchbox planers.

Since I will never be more then a hobby woodworker, I don't forsee buying another planer.

[Mike Henderson]

I have the 735 and have been very happy with it. Sure, I'd prefer to have a big floor model with spiral heads, but the DeWalt does the job and the price was right.

Mike

[ian maybury]

Hi Dave. Yes, I had a piece of kit in mind that I screwed up on - specifically the band saw I sold before buying the Agazzani. A reasonable quality piece of Euro built kit which was correctly specified as having 300mm vertical capacity.

I read so many gushing mag reviews of that saw, and felt safe buying it even though there wasn't as is usual a lot of hard performance data about. Not to mention it claimed the ability to run a blade of over 25mm wide which implied to my mind a certain re-saw capability too.

It'd run the wide blade all right if you were cutting thin material, but there's no way it could tension even a 19mm blade well enough to get past about 6in depth of cut without vibration and drift setting in.

I was just getting into woodworking equipment at the time (late 90s), and my inexperience left me wide open - I honestly had no idea just how minimalist you needed to be in your reading of published data to avoid getting taken in by what it might seem to imply. I can't say I'm familiar with the DW planer, but hearing that it struggled with anything more than a very light cut at it's full width rang all the same alarm bells for me.

The bandsaw seemed to be a relatively high end model, and it certainly should have been at the cost and the mag commentaries - but the mistake I made was that I didn't realise that the unspoken caveat was that it was being reviewed against toy machines in the hobby rather than genuinely professional context.

You're right too that publishing comprehensive performance data wouldn't stop many having problems - people don't always do their homework. But after many years as a mechanical engineer in industry I was no innocent so far as buying machinery is concerned - but I still got burned that time....

The one factor that has hopefully kept me on the track in my recent round of machine upgrades has been guys like yourselves here on Sawmill Creek sharing your experience - it's still damn difficult to separate stuff out based on the published data.

ian

[Jim Finn]

I like my 735. I use it on softwoods mostly. Gives a nice finish. Little snipe and no louder than the Ryobi I used to have. The chip discharge to my Dust collector works perfectly.

[Charlie Jones]

I am still using my Delta 22-540 that was bought in the mid 90's. I changed the cutterhead bearing twice and make sure the blades are sharp. Yes it's loud and has it's limits.

[Matt Woessner]

I have one as well- and Russell said it best. I happen to be person B and have had trouble. That being said when I send small pieces through I get along with it ok. Other than that if used like it was intended I believe it should work like a charm.


Haven't had any experience with the 735 but I'm not a fan of lunch box planers in general. They work great as long as you aren't trying to actually use them to capacity. It would not surprise me in the least to have two different people have completely opposite experiences with an identical lunchbox planer, person A uses it for furniture parts that are consistently small and require just a few light passes, person B consistently tries running 8-10" wide 8 foot long pieces of rough-sawn white oak through the thing needing to take 1/4 - 1/2 inch off each board.

Yeah, person B is not going to be happy with any lunch box planer on the planet. I'm not saying you can't make it work by adding infeed/outfeed support etc. Just not really the right tool for that job.

[Greg Portland]

I got this planer when they were on sale from Home depot for about 250. I then bought a second one and sold it so I ended up only paying about 75 bucks for this thing. I can't stand it. It is hideously under powered. I am lucky if I can get a 64th off of anything wider then 6 inches. It's loud and even though I have built a really nice stand with infeed and outfeed tables I still get snipe from time to time. I often wonder what people do with all of the other lunch box planers because as far as I know the 735 is supposed to be the best one by a mile and if it was any more useless I would just start looking for an old number 7. I spend more time trying to dimension wood then I do anything else and it is driving me crazy. I hear about people buying Byrd heads for their 735 's and I cant believe it. Hold on, you got this planer (http://www.amazon.com/DeWalt-DW735-Heavy-Duty-Thickness-Planer/dp/B0031T8HAW) for $250? That is an incredibly good price, maybe you got the "other" Dewalt? What wood are you planing? With Maple or other hardwoods I was able to plane a 12" board @ about 1/32" to 1/64" on my _old_ lunchbox planer. Yes, they are extremely loud & I can't believe that people are buying Byrd heads for them either.

For snipe, get a long piece of Melamine that is ripped to the width of your planer. Attach cleats at each end against the existing planer infeed/outfeed tables to prevent the melamine from sliding through the planer. Now you have a slick & long feed table. Support each end of the Melamine so it is flat using your existing work stands. If you are still getting snipe you'll need to adjust your rollers but I believe the Dewalt has a locking head so there shouldn't be an issue? You may need to call Dewalt support for more help.

Having said all that, a large floor standing planer is a major improvement. The spiral head is nice for reducing tear-out on difficult wood but does not eliminate the need for finish sanding.

[keith micinski]

Ya Home Depot was closing them out. Believe it or not there were people that got them for 140 bucks by the end.

[Cary Falk]

This sounds more like " I hate my lunchbox planer" thread mor than a DW735 hating thread. I had most of the same complaints from my Delta 22-580. I moved to the G0453Z and can't be happier.

[Julian Nicks]

I don't get it. I have planed thousands of feet with my 735 with nothing but great results. You need a sharp set of blades or it will not cut well at all. I can easily take 1/16" off of 6 inch oak boards with no problem at all. When in doubt change the blades and see if it works better for you.

[Myk Rian]

I liked mine before I put a Byrd head on it, and like it even more since I did that.

[Bob Direso]

I have used the 735 for about five years now and it gets the job done I need. It definietly can't hog off a lot of wood at once, but then how much power can be expected from a 110 volt tool? I have put several thousand board feet through mine and when it gets slow I know its time to change the blades. On the other hand I have a friend with a 5HP planner and there is just no comparison in efficiency or noise. bob.

[keith micinski]

Just wanted to give an update to this thread. I did some woodworking for the first time in about 3 weeks last night and if it is possible I hate the Planer now more then I did the last time I used it. I will admit that the planer does leave a pretty nice surface but the snipe is terrible and I have a drum sander I run everything through anyway so that doesn't really matter all that much to me. I also realized the last week I have kind of wanted to start this project but was dreading firing the planer up to get all of my wood dimensioned. I have come to the conclusion that even though the planer gets the job done, I want to enjoy the process of Woodworking and there is no possible way for me to enjoy it with this planer.

[Salem Ganzhorn]

Try to find someone local that can help you diagnose the problem. Others don't have this issue. Or just sell it and buy something else. But even with a new tool there may be some necessary setup. Good luck!
Salem

[Prashun Patel]

I have one.

I can tell you that as my blades degraded, the tearout and cut quality was bad. I replaced the blades (not Bird-Shelical-schmelical, just normal replacement knives) and it provides phenomenal cut quality now - even on curly hard maple.

Was your machine brand new - or is it possible you received someone's return? I would take out one of the blades and examine it with a jeweler's loupe, or just flip each blade to the other end and see if yr problems abate.

As for snipe, I too experience a little with my DW735 - despite proper support fore and aft.
I compensate (when possible) by using a little longer stock. Are your infeed/outfeed tables slanted? They should both slope slightly up away from the machine.

Last, how much would you sell it for?

[glenn bradley]

Keith, I know you're hating that thing right now but, your resulting snipe and the statement that
my tables are all setup right just don't pan out. There is no reason to have snipe from that machine. When you lay a straight edge through the machine with the ends resting on the tips of your tables, how high off the platen is the straight edge in the center of the machine?

I think if we step through this we can get you a lot more satisfaction out of a pretty pricey lunchbox planer. It seems a shame to dread using such a nice little machine. The method of controlling your material on the infeed and raising the exiting end at the outfeed should overcome a snipe problem even if the table alignment is not doing it for you. I know one can lose interest after fussing with something time after time but, taking one more crack at tit and getting the thing running well may be worth the effort . . . once more into the breach :D

[Russell Smallwood]

Stop fighting it. Sell it, buy a floor model with spiral and enjoy the shop again.

Worked for me.

[Jim Summers]

Stop fighting it. Sell it, buy a floor model with spiral and enjoy the shop again.

Worked for me.

+1 on this solution.

[Paul Johnstone]

I pick up on the end of the board when starting the feed when starting a cut on my 22-540. I pick up on the outfeed end of the board as well. The result is no snipe. Try it.



Yep, that's what I was going to say.. It's especially important to do it on the outfeed.
Heck, I have to do that on my 20" stationary planer when the boards are really long.
Lunchbox planers are a great value for the hobbyist. Just remember that this is a hobby, there's no rush to get the board to thickness.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

Just wanted to give an update to this thread. I did some woodworking for the first time in about 3 weeks last night and if it is possible I hate the Planer now more then I did the last time I used it. I will admit that the planer does leave a pretty nice surface but the snipe is terrible and I have a drum sander I run everything through anyway so that doesn't really matter all that much to me. I also realized the last week I have kind of wanted to start this project but was dreading firing the planer up to get all of my wood dimensioned. I have come to the conclusion that even though the planer gets the job done, I want to enjoy the process of Woodworking and there is no possible way for me to enjoy it with this planer.

I think if you want perfection then you should invest in something that is designed for what you want. This is a lunchbox planer, and IMO a damn good one. If you buy a 275 buck planer, you are NOT going to get 2000 buck planer quality. Period. I like mine. I ran several hundred bf of maple through it. I'm happy. I probably would be much happier if I have a $2K planer, but I probably would not be able to afford to buy the maple.

Just m $0.02.

[Michael MacDonald]

I really like mine... clean the rollers and sharpen the blades. I get some snipe from time to time--I don't have the extra table extensions. Loud? yes. The wife complains. The power depends on the wood. I put some reclaimed oak through it, and really had power problems. But on new QS oak, 11 inch wide, I can take 1/32 or 1/16 with no problem... not sure why I would want to take more...

[Jim Finn]

[QUOTE=................... This is a lunchbox planer, and IMO a damn good one. If you buy a 275 buck planer, you are NOT going to get 2000 buck planer quality. Period. I like mine...............[/QUOTE]
I feel the same way. MIne gives me almost no snipe and is not all that noisy when hooked up to my dust collection system. I have the adjustable infeed and outfeed tables and adjusting the snipe out is not hard to do. It is a great little planer.

[keith micinski]

Stop fighting it. Sell it, buy a floor model with spiral and enjoy the shop again.

Worked for me.

Trust me I have been scouring Craigslist for a month now.

I have come to the conclusion that the problem doesn't lie within the planer but within my expectations of what I want a lunchbox planer to do.

[Vic Damone]

DeWalt, DuWhatajoke. The only piece of yellow plastic that I currently own is the 621 router that may have been designed by another company. I've read many positive stories about the 735 and just as many, if not more, negative accounts. Out of the box the a la carte cost and quality of replacement blades was outrageous. Fortunately, their price went up during my ownership and I was able to unload mine for a $20 profit. I replaced it with a drum sander which suits my needs even better.

[Josiah Bartlett]

I have the Delta 22-560. I find it pretty useful for the most part, but I have found that the power drops off severely when you run it off an extension cord. Plugged directly into the wall it makes perfectly good power, but even a heavy duty #12 extension cord and it starts to bog down. The best explanation I can come up with about that is that the universal motor powering it has such bad power factor that the resistive losses of the cord are just killing it. I have a big old magnetic line conditioner that I plugged it into between the extension cord and the planer and that seemed to help. Mostly I just run it off the nearest outlet to my electrical panel. My next machine will either be a planer/molder or one of the heavy duty jointer/planers. Even now, for the most part my planer is living in my neighbor's garage because he has been using it more than me. He buys me new blades for it in exchange so I don't have much to complain about.

[Neil Brooks]

Josiah:

That's just weird. Never heard of that before.

I can tell that you know that ... "in theory ..." the voltage drop, across a given length, with a given gauge of wire ... is very know-able.

If yours doesn't subscribe to that theory, then ... yeah ... that's just weird.

Have you ever checked voltage AT the motor, first with NO extension cord, and then WITH your usual extension cord in place ?
:confused:

[Kevin Gregoire]

im new to woodworking and i have a 735 and i like it, yes its very loud but then its all i have ever had so i have nothing to compare it to

[Scott Vigder]

I have owned the DW 735 for about 4 years. It has been a love/hate relationship, but for the money I would absolutely buy another one. As Roger stated above, once you learn its limitations you can get fantastic results.
1] you must have the optional infeed/outfeed tables to properly support pieces over 3-4 feet. They are very well designed, install in minutes, and are easily adjusted to be level.
2] you must clean the rollers with denatured alcohol every 75-100 board feet to maintain adequate grip. Although dust collection and chip ejection are outstanding, dust will cake on the rollers and needs to be removed. The same holds true for my Grr-Rippers, by the way.
3] you must use a lubricant/cleaner on the bottom stainless plate to keep it slippery and reduce drag.
4] you must have a good pair of noise protectors! Sure it's loud, and with the DC going at the same time it's a real earbuster!

[Lloyd James]

Hi, I bought a Makita 2012 about 10 years ago, and it has been working fine since I planed my first board. The interesting design of this 12" planer is the fact that it is the
only planer that is design with a stationary cutting cylinder (the bed is what you adjust
to the board thickness). That is the samee design of all 15" plus
sizes planers. I believe that this design is more rigit than the design of the other manufactures. I know you can't use extentions, but I have not had any trouble with 8' boards. The blades have double cutting edges, so you just reverse them after they become dull, and magnetic blocks make the blades very easy to install.
Makita change this design shortly after I purchase it, mainly so they would be like all the
other makes. They probably thought future buyers would think there planer was odd and
be over looked.

[Josh Bowman]

A friend of mine used his to plane a bunch of 8 foot by 4" by 4" maple for a bench top and it did wonderful. We took lots of small passes, but I felt it was well up to the task and the result was wonderful.

[Josiah Bartlett]

I haven't had a chance to check it since my neighbor has been borrowing it. I've checked the thing on multiple cords. It doesn't bog down that much, but it does have a noticeable loss of power when I run it off a cord. I've been meaning to check the current draw as well as stick a scope on it to see if the power factor is really bad or something.

[John Park007]

Well it's been a while since you posted this , But I hate this machine more than any tool I have ever used . Im now trying to figure out if I should replace this piece of junk or replace the cutter with a spiral unit . John

[Ben Rivel]

Wow, old thread bump!

This is first Ive ever read of anyone disliking the DW735.

[glenn bradley]

Certainly a couple of folks in the minority. It may be a matter of expectations. Lunchbox planers are job-site tools. Portability (even with the DW734 at 80 lbs and the DW735 at 90 lbs) is the focus. The carriage on my floor planer probably weighs more than a DW735. I have a 10" bandsaw that I use for small work. It does fine but, it is not a real bandsaw, so to speak.

I sold my DW734 to an exotic lumber importer who already had one and wanted another. He had 2 or 3 iron monsters but, the DW734 got used the most and he wanted to be sure to have a spare on hand . . . go figger!?!


Well it's been a while since you posted this , But I hate this machine more than any tool I have ever used . Im now trying to figure out if I should replace this piece of junk or replace the cutter with a spiral unit . John

I would not put any more effort or money into something that irritated me that much. I would sell it (they hold their value quite well) and buy something that will do what you require.

[Myk Rian]

Well it's been a while since you posted this , But I hate this machine more than any tool I have ever used . Im now trying to figure out if I should replace this piece of junk or replace the cutter with a spiral unit . John
Not much for us to go on for a first post. I have a Byrd head on mine. Maybe you might consider one.

[Ben Rivel]

Not much for us to go on for a first post. I have a Byrd head on mine. Maybe you might consider one.
Yea really, interesting first post huh? Been a member for over 5 years and THIS thread is the one that finally gets him to post?! Thats some serious hate.

[Jack Lemley]

To me what is really humorous is he had all of $75 in the machine and apparently was expecting the performance of a 15" griz/byrd and likely a 2hp motor! I own a DW735 (had it for 8 or so years). I installed a Byrd head in it a couple of years ago and am very pleased with it. Granted, if you want to hog off a lot of wood in a short period this planer is not for you. Pony up a couple of grand and start removing 1/8 inch at a time or so. Oh, and by the way, I paid $495 for my 735 new and bought the Byrd head for $400 about two years ago. I get my lumber from a local saw mill that kiln dries the wood and will surface 3 sides for 10 cents a foot (and I don't have to haul off a boat load of saw dust).

Jack

[Art Mann]

I have an old Ridgid TP1300 rather than the DW735 and I also have access to a 5 hp 20 inch Powermatic. I use the Ridgid much more often than I do the Powermatic. One reason is that I can plane a workpiece to a uniform thickness within about 0.004". It is very difficult to set up a cast iron planer to that level of accuracy whereas the Ridgid does it by default. I can also plane off 0.010" without any trouble at all. If you try to cut that little on a cast iron planer you will see dents from the infeed roller. I seldom need to hog off 0.250" from a board. If I need to reduce thickness that much, I will just bandsaw it most of the way to start with. It is a requirement that I have accurately and uniformly planed material because I use a CNC router to carve, V-carve and inlay text and graphics. If I use the Powermatic to hog off a lot of material, then I have to run it through the drum sander with 80 grit and then through a sequence of finer grade sandpapers to get it smooth and uniform. I don't do any additional sanding before routing if I use the Ridgid.

Not everyone needs the same kind of planer and to imply that one type is always better than another type just isn't correct.

[keith micinski]

I think my main hatred of the planer was the fact that I wanted wood shop quality and speed out of the machine and it's just not made for that. The other problem I had was the fact that if you had bought one new back in the day this machine was almost double the price of the other lunch box planers and it definitely wasn't twice as good. Whatever you do don't buy a Byrd head for it. Take your money and get a g0453z and you will never look back. That's what I did and couldn't be happier with it.

[Robert Willing]

I love my DW 735 planer even more when I bought these http://globaltooling.bizhosting.com/products/knives-planer/carbide-tipped-planer-knife-sets.html for $158.00. I have not replaced my blades yet after more than 300 bf of oak, cherry, maple, walnut, and few exotics. They are about $100.00 cheaper than elsewhere. Yes I have a little snipe but only on very long boards when I don't pay attention.

[Allan Speers]

Wow, old thread bump!

This is first Ive ever read of anyone disliking the DW735.


Dislike? No. - but FWIW many folks consider the Makita to be a better lunchbox, overall. I used to use one, and my neighbor has the 735, so we compared them many times. With fresh knives, the Makita creates a slightly better finish, has less (no) snipe, is easier to change blades on, and is a little bit lighter.

The only advantages of the Dewalt (which is still an excellent machine) are the dual-speed (but a hobbyist has no need for the higher speed, anyway) and the ability to get a Shelix head for it. - That's a big deal, though. If I had a 735, I wouldn't even think twice about getting that head, as it improves the finish and DRASTICALLY cuts down on the noise. Sadly, those heads also "cost you" a little bit of power, which is already marginal on a lunchbox. Still, for hobbyisst use, I don't see the problem.

Both machines are fairly underpowered for anything wider than 4" and a few feet long, typically requiring the user to help push the stock through. At the same time, the motors seems very robust and don't easily burn up. They are what they are. I like to work out in the backyard during good weather, so a portable planer can't be beat. Plus, that Makita gave a "finish ready" surface on most lumber. (If I took super-light passes.)

Very few stationary planers can give the same results, even with a Shelix head. I now have a PM 100, which is one of the few small stationary planers that CAN give such results. I am still in the process of getting it running, saving for a Shelix head now, but it should serve me well for the rest of my days. 12" is all I need.

[Michael Stein]

(but a hobbyist has no need for the higher speed, anyway)

I use the high speed setting every project. Not because I am looking to speed up a process, or be more efficient with my time, but because it accounts to almost half the cuts per inch (96 vs 179) which, in my eyes, is also almost half the wear on the knives. I switch to the slow speed for the final couple passes for the better finish. This may or may not be true, but it makes sense in my mind.

[Mel Fulks]

I agree with Michael on the speed setting. Having used mainly big commercial machines ,when I help a friend who has the Dewalt the HIGH SPEED is all the slowness I can take. Most of the big machines adjust from 20 to 40 feet a minute. And there are probably faster ones now. Faster speed is a knife saver as knives run cooler.

[Bill Orbine]

I don't know why they call these thing lunchbox planers......These things are so slow and underpowered that it would take you a least all day to plane large quantity of wood when you can do it quickly before lunch or even a coffee break with a decent floor model planer. Lunchbox planers makes you miss your lunch! :D

[Patrick Walsh]

I also hated mine. It went through knives like crazy and the cut was meh.

My feed rollers where always problematic and worst of all it made a giant mess. The mess is not the machines fault though so i cant blame that on it.

But i love mu new Felder by comparison. It also cost me as much as a Hyundai vrs a nice pair of shoes.

[David Tolsky]

I still use my 8 yr old 12" DW "lunchbox" planer and mostly run red oak through it. I get snipe from the oak more than any other type of wood. I also run a lot of walnut, maple and pine through it with less snipe. I've pushed this little machine beyond what is expected of it so for that reason I've grown to like it. When coupled with a loud shop vac dust collection if I don't wear serious earplugs I will probably go deaf! I think if you keep replacing the blades or at least keep them sharp it will last for years.

[Jon Grider]

I've used my 735 for several years and my original opinion that if used within it's limitations, it works well still holds true. However, another dislike I have with it besides the noise and necessity of taking very shallow cuts are the rubber feed rollers. They tend to take an impression even if you try to feed randomly into both sides of the planer. They frequently get coated with dust and lose their grip so cleaning them with MS becomes a major time waster. I'll replace the rubber rollers, but not anytime soon as I bought an old Parks planer and am loving it. So quiet compared to the yellow Banshee and I can take off 1/16" per pass without a problem.

[Jim Dwight]

I use a Ryobi AP-10, the original lunchbox planner that only cuts 10 inch wide. I got it for $100 from a guy at church who had upgraded to the DeWalt. It would not really cut when I got it but the motor ran. I sharpened the knives, they were terrible, and it has been working fine since. I get some snipe if I don't lift the board as it comes out. I have to make a bunch of passes when cleaning up rough cut lumber. But I used to use an old manual feed INCA and the Ryobi is far better. I guess it all depends on your frame of reference. I find I get a lot more enjoyment in my woodworking if I slow down and don't try to get everything done in one day. My planner takes more time than would a floor standing model with a big motor but if I wasn't running boards through the planner I would be watching TV or fishing. The fishing isn't so bad but watching a planner work is probably a better idea than watching most TV shows.

[Robert Delhommer Sr]

Love my DW735.