DeWalt Planer Problem

[Doug Hobkirk]

I have 2 problems with my planer, burns and inconsistent behavior. I have never done any maintenance other than vac out the sawdust (I use a shop vac when I run it) and squirt some oil on the main posts and threads and I tweaked the in- and out- trays to be level with the inside plate. I've had this for years, but I've only used it a few times, although those times will often be for an hour or two.

Why do I get burn marks on some (most) of my boards?

I am using small increments (1/4 turn of handle). It does not seem to matter if I feed the stock through in the middle, left, or right. Nor which end I feed in.
Sometimes it feeds through smoothly, sometimes I have to push and pull it through. Even when I feed it through a 2nd or 3rd time with no changes to the planer.
The wood happens to be oak, about 3/4" thick, and I've run it through the planer on progressively lower settings about 8 times.
A "good" board is shown to the right of the planer.


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Also, if I feed a board through and I hear the knives scraping away. If I feed the same board through again without making any adjustments"

Sometimes it will just glide through (this is what I expect)
But often times I can feed it through again and hear more planing. It seems unaffected by where I feed the wood in or if I change which end I feed in.
The wood is from the same source, stored and treated the same way, it has all been run through the planer the same number of times, etc.


My sloth always catches up to me eventually. But I think this is also a case of my ignorance catching up to me.

Thanks, as always.

[Art Mann]

It looks to me like the wood is stalling at various positions as it travels through the machine. I have a different brand of planer but all the "screamer" planers have rubber feed rollers and those rollers need cleaning from time to time to maintain their grip. I use isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol and blue paper towels to clean mine every few weeks. You need some kind of solvent because pitch from resinous woods will stick fine chips and dust to the rollers so that simple wiping isn't enough.

[Doug Hobkirk]

It looks to me like the wood is stalling at various positions as it travels through the machine. I have a different brand of planer but all the "screamer" planers have rubber feed rollers and those rollers need cleaning from time to time to maintain their grip. I use isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol and blue paper towels to clean mine every few weeks. You need some kind of solvent because pitch from resinous woods will stick fine chips and dust to the rollers so that simple wiping isn't enough.

I haven't done that, but I will.

Your comment made me realize I should edit my original post to say I often force feed the wood.

[ken masoumi]

I would also clean and wax the metal base/extensions, in fact I recommend doing a quick wipe and wax after each use,(and the roller too)it only takes a couple minutes but saves you a lot of headache.

[Brad Adams]

Change your blades, they are dull. Trust me on this, I have the same planer.

[glenn bradley]

I used to have that same planer. Its a great little machine if maintained ad setup properly. In my years of using it you want to be sure to do this:


those rollers need cleaning from time to time to maintain their grip. I use isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol and blue paper towels to clean mine every few weeks.

And this:


I would also clean and wax the metal base/extensions

And possibly this:


Change your blades, they are dull. Trust me on this, I have the same planer.

The blades are double sided so there is no penalty for this; flip them and if there is no improvement, flip them back.

As to sloth in tool care I have learned something that applies to many things in the workshop; "there is no shortcut that leads anywhere I want to go". ;)

[Jim German]

I'll echo others comments that your rollers need cleaning, or possibly replacement and you need new knives. You should never force the wood through, the planer should pull it through itself. If the rollers are slipping they need to be cleaned.

If the planer is working properly and you feed a piece of wood through and then feed it through again its quite possible you will still get a very slight cut on the 2nd pass. The knives and wood both deflect some when the knife hits the wood, so when it goes through again it could still be taking a very light cut again.

[John TenEyck]

"there is no shortcut that leads anywhere I want to go". ;)

How absolutely true. Maintenance is necessary even on seldom used equipment.

John