DeWalt 735 Planer Kickback

[Andrew Pitonyak]

I was sending some relatively small thin narrow boards (roughly 18 inches long, 1/4" thick, 2" wide) through my 735 last night..... and one of them shot out the back and punched a hole in my utility sink. Yeah, that small light board punched a hole in utility sink. I did not expect that from such a small light board.

No injuries.

Anyone else every have a kickback from a planer?

I assume that this was because the



board was very short
Two boards were run at the same time... They should have been the same thickness, but who knows. Never seen anyone comment on running more than one board at a time when the boards are narrow.


If someone had been hit by that board, it would have been like being hit by a hammer.

[Phil Thien]

There have been other similar posts from people running two or more boards simultaneously.

[ken masoumi]

Could it be that the rollers are worn out which could cause the knives to hit the wood first?

[Joe Kaufman]

No kickbacks experience but that's definitely something to consider.

Thanks for the reminder.

[Kent A Bathurst]

"Two boards were run at the same time."

"If someone had been hit by that board, it would have been like being hit by a spear"

fixt for you - don't kid yourself - small pieces like that are retrieved in the O.R.

do the math - circumference x rpm........calc the muzzle velocity of that stick.........

[Jim Finn]

I have not had this happen to me but the thought of it keeps me to the side of my planer. I NEVER stand at the in-feed nor the out-feed ends of this equipment.

[Jeff Ramsey]

I was sending some relatively small thin narrow boards (roughly 18 inches long, 1/4" thick, 2" wide) through my 735 last night..... and one of them shot out the back and punched a hole in my utility sink. Yeah, that small light board punched a hole in utility sink. I did not expect that from such a small light board.

No injuries.

Anyone else every have a kickback from a planer?

I assume that this was because the



board was very short
Two boards were run at the same time... They should have been the same thickness, but who knows. Never seen anyone comment on running more than one board at a time when the boards are narrow.


If someone had been hit by that board, it would have been like being hit by a hammer.

What's the distance between your feed rollers? Are they worn? And you don't mean it kicked back toward you, but kicked front out the back side where you weren't standing, right? My Delta has kick-back fingers, and if a piece was too short it would float between the rollers and be at the mercy of the knives, but the outfeed roller would probably prevent it from shooting out the back (but it might jam). Your knives are alined?

[Peter Quinn]

I've seen it before and it's pretty scary. Most of the industrial planers have a legal warning on the in feed side to the effect of "don't stand here". Feeding two boards of different thickness on a non industrial planer (one with segmented infeed rollers, segmented kick back pauls, segmented chip breakers). Is a recipe for problems, I've run multiple boards of same thickness innumerable times without incident, but the potential for problems always exists. Definetly stand to the side when feeding, especially thin narrow stuff. Those little planers with non serared infeed rollers don't have much grip on thin stock, add in a little wear in a few spots on the roller....whamo.

[Kent A Bathurst]

I have not had this happen to me but the thought of it keeps me to the side of my planer. I NEVER stand at the in-feed nor the out-feed ends of this equipment.

its functionally the same as kickback off a TS...........never stand in the line of fire with either one

[Mike Ontko]

Feed roller condition, cleanliness, or pressure could also be something to look into.

I've noticed on my DW735 when running large boards (8/4 ash) through it, there's a potential for slippage of the feed rollers if they get too choked up with wood chips. I've had a couple of boards get stuck (stopped feeding) halfway through, and had to pull on them (from the outfeed side) gently to get the rollers to re-engage. The end result was a nice black mark where the rubber couldn't quite grab tight enough. My dust collector is strong enough, and I'm only removing light amounts of material (1/32 to 3/32 at a time) with each pass, but the wider boards seem to be more prone to this.

...and I was happy to read that your utility sink was the only one to suffer a casualty!

[Susumu Mori]

Wow, I have heard many warning about kickback for TS, routers, and shapers, but I've never heard or seen for a planer. Thank you for sharing the information. I'll never stand behind a planer anymore, although ergonomically, I assume most people stand at the side of planers....

As for sending multiple stocks, I'm not sure if I should entirely stop this practice because it saves time,,,,,

[glenn bradley]

Keep out of the line of fire on all tools, hand or powered. Glad you weren't hurt. I had a lunchbox planer kickback on thin/narrow stock as well. I think the cutterhead hitting the stock presented more force than the bearing surface available to the feed roller could resist.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

It sent it straight out the back at high speed. You are correct Kent, it probably could have impaled someone.

I have a 7 year old who has been known to stand there even when I tell her to move. She did it about two years ago and we had a very strongly worded discussion. I have not had a chance to show her what happened and that there really is a reason that she cannot stand in certain places when I am working.

The wood has teeth marks about the first two inches into the wood, so it did not get far through.

Figured I would post as a reminder to others to not stand there. I don't know why I knew to not stand there, but it would have been bad.

[Victor Robinson]

I think the Dewalt's minimum thickness is 1/4". If it was right at its limit, and the other piece was a little thicker, it's likely the feed roller didn't have a very good grip.

Scary, glad you weren't standing in the line of fire.

[Art Mann]

I can't say that slipping rollers caused your problem, but if it did there may be something you can do about it. When I start to get slippage, I clean the rubber feed rollers with isopropyl alcohol and then wax the platten.

[Andrew Hughes]

My Dewalt 735 will spit out a board if I stick two at a time.If they are long enough I just push on them till there sticking out them pull a bit till the cut is finished.Mostly I just have one or two so I don't bother feeding more than one.
I bet it was maple the feed roller always seem to have a weak grip on maple.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

I think the Dewalt's minimum thickness is 1/4". If it was right at its limit, and the other piece was a little thicker, it's likely the feed roller didn't have a very good grip.

Scary, glad you weren't standing in the line of fire.

There is a thickness limiter that you can change. The "thinnest" setting is 1/8". Wish I had a bandsaw, it would save wood on those few occasions where I need to something much thinner. I was creating wood that I then used to add dividers inside of some drawers.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

My Dewalt 735 will spit out a board if I stick two at a time.If they are long enough I just push on them till there sticking out them pull a bit till the cut is finished.Mostly I just have one or two so I don't bother feeding more than one.
I bet it was maple the feed roller always seem to have a weak grip on maple.

White oak!

[John McClanahan]

If I lower the head onto the board on mine, I can make it feed a board thru without the knives touching the wood. It takes more downward pressure to remove wood. I have never had trouble with the feed rollers not gripping the board. I will, however, heed the warning!


John