new Planer update/review

[Tom Sweeney]

Some of you know I bought the Delta 13", 2 speed planer # 22-580 - last week. I finally found the time to set it up & play with it today.

SWEEEEET! I've never had a planer before - as a matter of fact this is the first brand new WW'ing machine I've ever bought - so I don't have anything to compare it to but this is one nice machine - right out of the box. It's very easy to set up & easy to use. Has a few neat features - though I couldn't figure out how to work the positive depth stop - which will come in handy. There is an optional dust collection hood that I'll have to get - it really thows the chips & sawdust.

There is a dimensioning speed (60CPI) & a finishing speed (90CPI)

I ran some cherry through it & even on the rougher setting it operated smoothly & the surface almost looked like it didn't need sanding - It actually might not on the finishing speed it's so smooth.

I also ran some curly maple 1X2 that I got from Home Depot through it - this was really rough surfaced from the borg - My planer cleaned it up no problem. I even took a 2' long peice where I face glued 2 pieces together cause I need a thicker piece & ran it through. My jointer chipped out the face & edge pretty badly but the planer cleaned up both faces & both edges nicely.

This planer is about $70 more than the Dewalt - but I liked the fact that it is bigger & heavier & of course the 2 speeds will be real handy for working with figured wood & such.

I would highly recommend this machine to anyone looking for a "lunchbox" planer. It's an awful heavy lunchbox though. :D :cool: :D

[David Rose]

Hit a few knots and the beautiful smooth finish will go away somewhat. :-( Oh, well... It will still speed production considerably and probably do a better job than other methods.

Also, watch the glue. Clean off as much as you can from the surface before planing. A hard (well cured) glue line is a little tough on the blades. I plane glued boards all the time, but try to get them in a day or so when practical.

If you get any tearout on figured woods, a little water on the surface of the wood allowed to soak in can help.

My Delta 2-speed varies in thickness a little from side to side depending on the wood. Softer woods are perfect. Hard maple will vary about .010" on a 10" wide piece. I've seen no cure for this so I just figure it will happen.

Check your infeed and outfeed table heights. Mine were a little low from the box. Mine reduces snipe considerably when I set them about 1/8" higher than the table at the outside ends.

It's a nice machine. Mine is in use constantly.

David

[dougj1715]

Congrats on your new planer, I got mine roughly the same time you did and still have not had the oppertunity to get it out of the box yet. Soon though I hope.

Your mom must of really packed your lunchbox real well.

[Tom Sweeney]

David I think you jinxed me.

It wasn't really Murphy - it was stupidity that did it though. :rolleyes: I was back out in the shop last night & I was setting up a cutting board I'm working on for glue up. Well - I miscalculated on the width of some small pieces. It's kinda hard to explain but these pieces have to be exactly the same width. There are 3 cherry & 2 maple peices. When I ran the Cherry through ( before cutting them to length) I didn't plane them thin enough just by a hair. If I glued it up the maple peices could not mate up to the neighboring peices.

I say to myself - "self (always a precursor of trouble) why don't you just run these small pieces through your brand new planer with a board behind them to push them through - sort of like a sled". Well as soon as the blade hit the small pieces they cocked & were spit out. I was at the ready on the off switch in case something like this happened so I hit it right away & there was no real problem.

Ran a few pieces through afterwords & they looked real nice - except for the 1/16" ridge running down the center of them. :mad: Well I now know that it's not too difficult to change the blades on my new planer :(

[David Rose]

I didn't help him really. Don't forget to try shifting the blades a little for small nicks. I haven't had one that helped, but it's worth a try.

I know how easy that would be to do. I've gotten out the manual a few times to see "now just how short a piece can I plane?".

After running some knotty wood through mine and getting lots of little ridges, I examined the blade with 6x and ran my fingernail over it and you could tell nothing that was wrong. A light stoning and replacement and they still left the tiny ridges. Hmmm... I didn't take off much so...

Glad neither man nor machine were hurt.

David