Infinity blades for Dewalt 735 - disappointed

[Mark Gibney]

I put a set of new Infinity blades in my Dewalt 735. Ran some doug fir, and it came out matt dull, with little divots like the blades were dull.

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I opened up the machine and I noticed that I can move the blades around a little - the registeration pins don't hold them tight in one place (not just sideways, they can move a little back and forth).

I took them out and I can see clearly that the holes for the pins are milled unacceptably poorly, almost as if someone used a handheld drill.

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I am very disappointed with this. Has anyone else had this experience with Infinity blades?
I bought them back in June, and I intend to return them. Can anyone say how Infinity are with taking returns?

I had to get the job done, so I took the old factory Dewalt blades and dressed the edges with my 4K, 8K and 12K water stones, then ran them over my leather strop. Reinstalled them, ran the doug fir, and the surface came out glassy smooth. Those factory Dewalt blades has worked a lot of wood.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I have more Infinity blades in my shop than any other brand and have been quite happy with them.

[Rich Riddle]

Did you contact Infinity prior to posting? Most would consider that a first course of action. You would want to take a picture of both the original blades with the milled registration holes along side of the factory original.

[Larry Frank]

I have Infinity blades in my 735 and they are very good. I do not understand being able to move the blades. When mine are installed and torqued down, they do not move.

[Wade Lippman]

A little sideway movement is good so you can stagger defects. Up and down would be completely unacceptable. As others said, contact Infinity.

[Mark Gibney]

I will contact Infinity tomorrow, Monday. Not trying to dirty their name, but I am wondering if this is something others have encountered or if my blades slipped through quality control.

Larry - once they are cinched down they probably don't move, but because the registration hole is poorly milled and therefore is not held in a precise setting by the pins, the cutting edges of the three blades will not be at the circumference of the same circle, all along their width, and that's why the cut is so poor.

[Frederick Skelly]

Not trying to dirty their name, but I am wondering if this is ....

Ummm, Mark? Re-read the title of your thread, friend. You have dirtied it, without meaning to but without talking to them. Maybe you or the Moderators should change the title to line up with your intent?

Just a thought.
Fred

[Jim Becker]

Ummm, Mark? Re-read the title of your thread, friend. You have dirtied it, without meaning to but without talking to them. Maybe you or the Moderators should change the title to line up with your intent?

I actually chose to do that prior to reading your suggestions. I suspect that the OP will find speaking with the manufacturer helpful in resolving his issues.

Jim
Forum Moderator

[Mark Gibney]

To Frederick Skelly - I bought a set of brand new blades from Infinity. They are substandard. That is on them. If I misrepresented what they did I would agree I shouldn't post about it here, but I had read a lot of good things about their blades on this forum before I bought them, and bought them because of the things I read. If their quality control let this set of blades be shipped to a customer then that it is appropriate that other people who might consider buying the blades would know that. I figured this was an unusual enough occurrence that it would be of interest to other woodworkers.

I had to finish this job that day - I am not a hobby wood worker. Luckily I was able to hone the old blades well enough that I got the job done. If I had been in the position of having only their blades the job would have been pushed.

[Frederick Skelly]

To Frederick Skelly - I bought a set of brand new blades from Infinity. They are substandard. That is on them. If I misrepresented what they did I would agree I shouldn't post about it here, but I had read a lot of good things about their blades on this forum before I bought them, and bought them because of the things I read. If their quality control let this set of blades be shipped to a customer then that it is appropriate that other people who might consider buying the blades would know that. I figured this was an unusual enough occurrence that it would be of interest to other woodworkers.

I had to finish this job that day - I am not a hobby wood worker. Luckily I was able to hone the old blades well enough that I got the job done. If I had been in the position of having only their blades the job would have been pushed.

You have a valid beef. My comment is directed solely at the way you delivered the message. Re-read the earlier replies - other folks noticed it too.

I hope that when you call them, Infinity does right by you as they have for many of us.

[john lawson]

Is this Sawmill Creek or did I stumble onto the blog for NBC SNL, woodworker's edition?

[Andrew Gibson]

Hi Mark, our DW734 and 735 knives are one of our most popular products and rarely have any problem.
Definitely give us a shout.
customerservice@infinitytools.com
We will take care of you.

[Jerry Wright]

Mark - this is analogous to one of your customers having a beef and putting in on the local radio before talking to you. It is called professional courtesy.

[lowell holmes]

There was never any doubt in my mind about Infinity taking care of this. :)

[Andrew Hughes]

I had a 735 with the carbide tipped knives from Infinity.And they were great.I could take very lite passes on short stuff that was too small for my big planer.
I also built a jig to them hone rasor sharp.If any one interested let me know and I'll post it.
Try to be a bucket filler and not a bucket dipper.;)

[john lawson]

It is becoming somewhat difficult to take Sawmill Creek seriously as an objective woodworking site that is geared to woodworkers sharing their experience. The OP stated that he had a problem and asked if others had had that problem. A few people answered his question and shared their experience.

I'm surprised at the amount of criticism directed at him because he wasn't sensitive enough towards the manufacturer. Since the post has been modified I don't know what was so bad in the title, but there was nothing wrong with the body of the post, including the fact that he had not contacted the manufacturer. Is the implication that no one should post a problem before contacting a manufacturer? If so, I find that unreasonable.

Let's say he had contacted them and they said "sure, return them" and gave him a prepaid RMA and a UPS pickup label, are we as a woodworking forum saying we don't want to know about this? Really?

[Frederick Skelly]

John,
Speaking only for my 2 posts above......

I hear you and I agree with most of what you're saying. We need to know. Speaking personally, I'd rather hear about this after the manufacturer had a chance to address the matter. It's a more complete story and therefore a little more credible/objective.

As you noted, both the original title and the text have been edited. To me, the original title seemed inflamatory. It felt way out of proportion with how the problem was described in the original text. (The text was clearly irritated but not inflamatory.) Hence my suggestion of an edit to the title.

Just my views. I understand that there are other ways to look at this.

Best regards,
Fred

[Ken Fitzgerald]

It is becoming somewhat difficult to take Sawmill Creek seriously as an objective woodworking site that is geared to woodworkers sharing their experience. The OP stated that he had a problem and asked if others had had that problem. A few people answered his question and shared their experience.

I'm surprised at the amount of criticism directed at him because he wasn't sensitive enough towards the manufacturer. Since the post has been modified I don't know what was so bad in the title, but there was nothing wrong with the body of the post, including the fact that he had not contacted the manufacturer. Is the implication that no one should post a problem before contacting a manufacturer? If so, I find that unreasonable.

Let's say he had contacted them and they said "sure, return them" and gave him a prepaid RMA and a UPS pickup label, are we as a woodworking forum saying we don't want to know about this? Really?

John,

No company has put out a product that hasn't had a problem here or there. There has been one instance reported here where a Sawstop table saw delivered with a problem. There have been reports of someone receiving a product from Lee Valley that was less than satisfactory. In those cases the companies quickly addressed the problems to the OPs satisfaction and they problems were reported here.

That being said, it's a only fair to give a company a chance to resolve an issue before coming to a website and making an inflammatory statement. The OPs original title was inflammatory and that is why one of the Moderators edited. It's called common courtesy.

It's more difficult to find value in reports of poor product quality or poor customer service issues when people are allow to make emotion, inflammatory statements IMO.

[john lawson]

John,

No company has put out a product that hasn't had a problem here or there. There has been one instance reported here where a Sawstop table saw delivered with a problem. There have been reports of someone receiving a product from Lee Valley that was less than satisfactory. In those cases the companies quickly addressed the problems to the OPs satisfaction and they problems were reported here.

That being said, it's a only fair to give a company a chance to resolve an issue before coming to a website and making an inflammatory statement. The OPs original title was inflammatory and that is why one of the Moderators edited. It's called common courtesy.

It's more difficult to find value in reports of poor product quality or poor customer service issues when people are allow to make emotion, inflammatory statements IMO.

Ken, We are talking about two different things. Sure, any company or anyone can make a mistake and deliver something defective. But a planer blade with a registration hole that is too large, or oblong, or however it is defective is unlikely, highly unlikely to be a "one off". Those blades are made with high speed equipment that will churn out hundreds if not thousands per hour, as I am sure you are aware. So, I believe there is a good chance the OP did not get the only set of blades and did us a service in reporting this. In fact, he may have done Infinity a service if this gets their attention faster than waiting for the returns to start piling up. The point is I don't know, and neither do any of the other posters know if this is a widespread problem. And the OP simply reported his experience, said he was going to return them and asked two questions of his fellow woodworkers.

I felt like this post very quickly devolved into criticism of the OP rather than a discussion on the merits of the post, and I still feel that way. Companies like Infinity or Sawstop do not need a "safe space". And I say this as someone who spent 30 years in manufacturing engineering and manufacturing management. Any company operating today knows or should know that poor quality products will show out very quickly and will be communicated quickly through media.

I would like to thank him for posting his experience.

Edit: But you did not answer my hypothetical question, would you rather he not posted at all?

[Myk Rian]

Since the post has been modified I don't know what was so bad in the title,................
That's right. You don't know. I think this thread has run its course.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

John,

In my first reply I indicated I have had good experience with the quality of blades I've received from Infinity.

Nobody was chastising the guy about posting his experience or suggesting he shouldn't post about his experience. They were merely pointing out that his TITLE was, in fact, inflammatory. If he had titled his post "Infinity blades for DW735" with a reasonable description within the body of the post along with the photos asking if anybody else had experienced this, one Moderator wouldn't have felt it necessary to edit his title and another Moderator wouldn't have found it necessary to edit the body of his original post.

It's not the message but rather the manner in which it is expressed. It was also being pointed out that it is just common courtesy to allow companies to address problems of this nature first before going online to rant on the company.

If someone has a bad experience with a company, that experience should be reported but after the company first has an opportunity to address the specific situation.

SMC has always encouraged people to express their opinions and report their experiences in a reasonable method and fashion.

[Paul Wolf]

I also built a jig to them hone razor sharp. If any one interested let me know and I'll post it.

Andrew, I for one would be interested in learning more about the jig you built. Thanks.

[Andrew Hughes]

Andrew, I for one would be interested in learning more about the jig you built. Thanks.
Sure thing Paul,I set my blade to 45 on my table saw and cut the three kerfs.The blades are less then 1/8 so the strips are there to make up the difference.Since my blades were carbide I used the cheapo smith plate from Lowes.If your sharpening HSs then you might just try a regular stone.
I cut my finger the first time so be careful.Unless you need to trim your nails back to your knuckles.:)

[David Sloan]

I have been happy with the Infinity blades for my 8" jointer.

[Pete Staehling]

would you rather he not posted at all?

The body of the post was OK. The original title was not. Personally I'd have been OK with the post if it had the current title, but waiting to contact the vendor and then posting including the resolution if any would have been better yet.

[scott spencer]

I'm curious what Infinity had to say when you contacted them? I'd be really surprised if they didn't take extremely good care of you.

[glenn bradley]

I would contact Infinity. Something's not right.

[Peter Kuhlman]

The OP posted two days ago. He must have called them by now?
My experiences with Infinity have been awesome. Had a minor mix-up and they went far out of their way to fix it. My questions I have asked them have always had quick responses via email and phone calls were handles professionally.

[Mark Gibney]

Scott, Peter - yes, Infinity sent me a postage-paid label for me to return the blades to them, and wrote they will replace the blades.

Any uncertainty I had about Infinity accepting the blades back was because I bought them quite a long time ago, but I'm happy to say that's not an issue.

[Peter Kuhlman]

Good to hear.
Infinity needed to be made aware of the issue to be able to investigate the root of the problem. It is possible they farm out some of the fabrication like for the mounting hole machining.
Thanks for the follow up info.