Planer Won't Maintain Thickness

[Julie Moriarty]

I'm running boards through a Dewalt 735, taking 1/4 turn per pass. Everything is fine until the handle on the wheel reaches about 270 degrees. At that point the planer head slowly starts creeping lower, making the depth of cut greater. It seems the vibration, combined with the weight of the handle, is the culprit. I watched it happen.

Is there any way to tighten this thing so the head will stop self-lowering? Or do I have to lock it in place by some other means?

[Greg Parrish]

Not sure as I’ve not had that problem yet but I see a heavier planer in your future after watching all the issues you’ve faced on the dewalt. Maybe it’s time to upgrade to a floor stander. Good excuse anyway :)

[William Young]

Your 735, according to the manual, has an automatic lock on the carriage. Maybe it isn't working for some reason. Not sure how it works. If your 735 is new enough, maybe your warranty coveres it.

I've used a model 734 for many years. It has a manual brake that is very effective. However, the vertical adjustment crank has some slop in it. I can turn it perhaps 1/4 turn between starting to move the carriage up vs move it down. I have learned that, if I want my adjustments to be the most accurate I will end my adjustment turn in the upward direction. That way the crank shaft threads are in pressure against the carriage and will tend to hold better and my adjustments will be more consistent. You might try that and see if it makes a difference. Otherwise, you may need to make some kind of holding device for your crank handle.

Does your crank (carriage) continue it's movement downward or does it only move within the "slop" in the mechanism?

[Dan Friedrichs]

Julie, do you mean that you turn the handle, then after you've stopped moving the handle, the planer continues to move up/down? That's odd.

Take the cover off (as though you're changing the blades) and inspect the height adjust mechanism. It's very simple - just a chain wrapped around sprockets riding on each of the 4 corner posts. There is no "height lock" - it's "automatic" in the sense that the mechanism doesn't require it. So just check the chain tensioner, check that all 4 corners move when you turn the handle, clean/lube the chain and sprockets, etc.


Actually, re-reading your post, do you mean that the handle, itself, is turning (and causing the height adjust mechanism to work properly in response to the handle turning)? That's also odd :) There is a screw through the middle of the handle that can be removed - perhaps it can be tightened. But I don't think there is any other means to lock the handle. Again, the mechanism for this is very simple - I believe it's a bevel gear and a sprocket driving the chain. Perhaps some thick grease in it would help?

[glenn bradley]

For other reasons, dad removed the handle. the wheel by itself is what he uses for adjusting the height. Maybe this would help but, the design of that mechanism is to resist the action you are reporting. I did used to jam a rubber door stop on the height wheel for a contractor saw I had.

[Matt Day]

I have the same issue on my 15” 4 poster, even with the columns locked down with the knobs. Handle is pretty heavy so I use the handle to macro adjust then remove it.
The locking mechanism on My old dw734 would slip on the columns, if that’s any help.

[Julie Moriarty]

Julie, do you mean that you turn the handle, then after you've stopped moving the handle, the planer continues to move up/down? That's odd.

Take the cover off (as though you're changing the blades) and inspect the height adjust mechanism. It's very simple - just a chain wrapped around sprockets riding on each of the 4 corner posts. There is no "height lock" - it's "automatic" in the sense that the mechanism doesn't require it. So just check the chain tensioner, check that all 4 corners move when you turn the handle, clean/lube the chain and sprockets, etc.


Actually, re-reading your post, do you mean that the handle, itself, is turning (and causing the height adjust mechanism to work properly in response to the handle turning)? That's also odd :) There is a screw through the middle of the handle that can be removed - perhaps it can be tightened. But I don't think there is any other means to lock the handle. Again, the mechanism for this is very simple - I believe it's a bevel gear and a sprocket driving the chain. Perhaps some thick grease in it would help?
Yes, the wheel rotates and the head drops as a board is being fed through. I saw nothing in the manual that addresses that problem. In order to keep going, I jammed a wedge between the housing and wheel to keep it in place. That seems to work but it is a pain removing the wedge every time I need to lower the head and jamming it back in again. I never had any of these problems with the old Delta lunchbox planer.

I'm running pecky Bolivian walnut through the planer. Boards are 8" wide. Maybe the wood is too hard for this planer. I've reduced the passes to 1/100".

As the board is being planed, you can see the wheel vibrate. When the handle of the wheel is at the bottom, I don't see the wheel moving. But when the handle is 90 degrees, the rotation is pretty obvious.

A serious planer is not in the cards (lack of room and money) so I have to make this work. I've learned two things from this: (1) have the supplier do the heavy planing and (2) they don't make them like they used to.

[Andrew Hughes]

When ever one of my machines starts cutting weird it’s a sign of a dull cutter.
The 735 are not know for their great knifes.
I sold my 735 with a set of infinity’s carbide tipped knives it was a awesome set up. I could pass very strips of gaboon ebony thru with no problems.
I think that I was lucky with that one because it didn’t snipe. My Pm 15 hh snipes on both ends.

[John TenEyck]

I would bet the knives are dull, too. OTOH, the height adjustment on my Craftsman TS creeps down, too, if the handle on the wheel is not at bottom dead center, until it is. To solve that problem I put a spring clamp on the bottom of the wheel.

John

[Doug Dawson]

My Pm 15 hh snipes on both ends.

Lower the table rollers so that they're no longer contacting the wood (i.e. level them at or below the table surface.) That should reduce the snipe. You don't need them unless you're planing rough lumber, but you've already jointed the surface that is in contact with the table, so you're not.

[Matt Day]

Snipe is completely different than what is going on here. Snipe is usually due to bed rollers too high, lack of board support, or infeed or outfeed roller pressure.

[Andrew Hughes]

Doug I’ve put them put down I’ve put them up.
Adjusted every single thing one can be adjusted on my planer.
Ive come to the conclusion that the bed has a dip between the rollers and have found the whole carriage assembly flexes when wood goes thru.
Someday I’m going to replace it with a proper machine. Until then I always feed with a salvage board to take up some of the snipe.
Thanks for your advice :)

[Randy Viellenave]

I made a kwik fix a while back.
391009
A toggle clamp would be better, but this gets the job done. I will at some point change to the toggle clamp.
391010

[Rod Sheridan]

Any planer where the head is lowered to reduce thickness, should be lowered down below the setpoint, and then raised to the correct setpoint.

This takes all the backlash out of the planer elevation mechanism.

On a planer where the bed is raised, this isn't required because you're always taking the backlash out of the elevation mechanism. Unless of course you rise it too high, then you have to go below the setpoint and raise it to the correct setpoint............Rod.

[Randy Viellenave]

I read that someplace else and tried it, but my 735 still tends to drop a little when the knives get just a little dull or I try to take too much. I use the stop to keep it in the right range, then set the final from below to avoid the tolerance drop which holding the wheel doesn't help any. That drop is only about 0.005".

[Doug Dawson]

Doug I’ve put them put down I’ve put them up.
Adjusted every single thing one can be adjusted on my planer.
Ive come to the conclusion that the bed has a dip between the rollers and have found the whole carriage assembly flexes when wood goes thru.
Someday I’m going to replace it with a proper machine.


On the Powermatic 15HH? Someday you're "going to replace it with a proper machine"? Sounds like something is a bit off somewhere.

[Matt Day]

On the Powermatic 15HH? Someday you're "going to replace it with a proper machine"? Sounds like something is a bit off somewhere.

Agreed. I had snipe on my 4-poster but adjusted it out. The first thing to do is lower those pesky bed rollers below the bed and apply some wax or other lubricant to the bed. Bed rollers are only used for hogging material during rough milking, if at all.

[Julie Moriarty]

Thanks for the tips on dealing with the dropping head. Randy, I was surprised to see your toggle clamp fix, primarily because it speaks loudly on how real the problem is. But it's a great fix! Too bad Dewalt R&D couldn't prevent the problem in the first place.

As far as dull blades goes, I just changed them before beginning this project. If they are already dull, that's pretty pathetic performance.

After getting the 4/4 boards down to 1.05", I decided to resaw the boards to just over 3/4" and plane it the rest of the way. That's better than running the boards through the planer 25 times.

[Julie Moriarty]

Now I'm finding myself checking out Infinity carbide knives and comparing them to the Shelix... and wondering how that old Delta planer would be standing up to the Bolivian walnut.

[Julie Moriarty]

Just to make sure my memory was accurate, I went back to look at the time I had resawed 8/4 sapele into 1/2" boards. I ran this stack, ranging in widths from 6"-9", through a 15 year old Delta lunchbox planer with no breaks, no tripped overloads, no bogging down, no tripped circuit breakers.

http://julimorcreations.com/2220/GrtRm/EntCtr/DeltaPlanedSapele.jpg

I was just planing the walnut boards I resawed, 1/100" at a time. I just got started and the overload tripped again. I wish I had just refurbished the Delta planer. I never had these kinds of problems with that. It didn't plane as smoothly but at least it worked.

[Andrew Hughes]

Does the wood you are planing now seem harder then the Sapele. If not then it could be that the knifes in you old lunch box delta were better hss. The Dewalt knifes have a reputation for not lasting.
There could be several reasons why your planer is having a hard time.
Take the top off and look at the edge is all chipped up?
I don’t think it’s a good idea to refurbish a lunch box planer.

[Julie Moriarty]

Does the wood you are planing now seem harder then the Sapele. If not then it could be that the knifes in you old lunch box delta were better hss. The Dewalt knifes have a reputation for not lasting.
There could be several reasons why your planer is having a hard time.
Take the top off and look at the edge is all chipped up?

Without any accurate means to compare the hardness of the two, I took a piece of the sapele in my hand and did the same with the pecky Bolivian walnut. The pBw did seem harder. But the worst part about this now is the overload tripping while planing. The fact is is tripping more frequently now tells me it's breaking down and close to complete failure.

The year warranty is up in October so tomorrow I'm calling Dewalt to see what they are willing to do about all this.

[Andrew Hughes]

What does the B Walnut look like. Are there lots of dark streaks or colors the wood.
Some Woods ( from the rain forest esp) will have alot of minerals in them. Very beautiful to look at but really difficult to machine or hand plane.
Once again check to see if the knifes are completely worn dull.
Wood with a high silica will take 5 seconds to dull Hss.

[Julie Moriarty]

I just changed the knives the other day. Maybe they are already shot. Dewalt knives don't have much of a reputation for staying sharp. But the planed wood is still silky smooth.

This is the pecky Bolivian walnut
http://julimorcreations.com/2220/GrtRm/EntCtr/EntCtr_018.jpg
The moment it goes into the planer I can see little black dots dancing on the surface. I'm guessing hardened tree gum.

I've got a lot more of this wood so there's more planing to do. Maybe carbide is needed. But I'll still discuss it with Dewalt tomorrow.

[Andrew Hughes]

Well that’s some very interesting looking wood I see why you bought it. Very unique
It does remind me alot like mesquite, maybe someone from Texas or Arizona will agree.
Mesquite is very dense but every bit worth the trouble because of its unique beauty and it’s super stable.
I think your going to have a great looking project.
Good luck

[David Utterback]

Julie, Have you tried milling a different species that you have experience with?

[Greg Parrish]

What are the lighter horizontal lines running across the boards? Almost looks like where the wood stopped movement and the blade cut deeper like snipe. My drum sander does that from time to time on some materials.

[Bill Orbine]

What are the lighter horizontal lines running across the boards? Almost looks like where the wood stopped movement and the blade cut deeper like snipe. My drum sander does that from time to time on some materials.

Looks like sticker marks.

[Greg Parrish]

Looks like sticker marks.

Bet that’s it. Was thinking it could be a clue to issue but you’re prob right.

[Julie Moriarty]

Julie, Have you tried milling a different species that you have experience with?
Not since the overload started tripping. But I have run sipo, Florida pine, figured cherry and maple through the planer recently. All that was done with the first edge of the factory knives.


What are the lighter horizontal lines running across the boards? Almost looks like where the wood stopped movement and the blade cut deeper like snipe. My drum sander does that from time to time on some materials.
None of those boards have been planed by me. That's how they came from the yard.

I spoke with Dewalt today. They sent me a UPS label so I can send it to the service center in Tampa. Tampa is a 2 hour drive from here. I called Tampa and asked them if they had had complaints about dropping heads and tripping overloads. The guy there said he hadn't seen anything come in with those problems. He just said send it in with a note on the problems I'm having.

Last night I was all set to bite the bullet on a Shelix, seeing how fast the HSS knives dull. I might still do that, depending on what the service guys say.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Julie,by any chance is it under warrantee ?

[Nick Decker]

Julie, David's question about running other stock through is a good one. Trying that might help to figure out if the problem is electrical or stock related. Unless, of course, the B. walnut has trashed the knives.

[Julie Moriarty]

Julie,by any chance is it under warrantee ?
Yes, Ken, it's still under warranty. I got a hold of Dewalt. They sent me a shipping label and it's going out tomorrow.


Julie, David's question about running other stock through is a good one. Trying that might help to figure out if the problem is electrical or stock related. Unless, of course, the B. walnut has trashed the knives.
I'm thinking the knives are trashed. If so, it sure didn't take much. I'm really surprised how little it takes to bring this planer down. 20 years with a Delta 22-540 and I never had these kinds of problems. In all that time I went through maybe 5-6 sets of knives and I used that thing as much as I use the Dewalt with woods like hickory, ebony, bubinga, walnut, cocobolo, African hardwoods, figured maple, etc. That Delta handled it all. I figured the only reason I'd ever need a floor model planer was for boards wider than 12".

[Julie Moriarty]

Last night I went to print out the UPS label. When I got to the section about UPS picking up the planer, I discovered Dewalt doesn't pay for that part of the shipping. This morning I put the box on a hand truck, wheeled it out to the SUV, opened the hatch and when I went to lift the box into the back I realized 90+ pounds is a lot heavier than it used to be. WHEW! I did manage to get it in back but I think I'll ask for help unloading it at the UPS store. :rolleyes:

[Julie Moriarty]

Just want to add one more observation that may be relevant to the hardness of the wood or the poor edge holding of the Dewalt knives...

The Bolivian walnut I've been ripping has a LOT of tension in the boards. I've never seen wood move so much. I don't have a power jointer so I've been using hand planes to joint an edge on the boards after ripping. Thus far I've probably put in 2-3 hours hand jointing the edges. I'm using a #7, #62 and bronze edge plane. I haven't noticed any signs of dulling in the plane irons.

I don't know if this is testament to the high quality of LN plane irons or the poor quality of Dewalt planer knives. I realize I'm not comparing apples to apples but I think this, and the fact the Delta planer never had these problems, speak more to the poor quality of Dewalt HHS knives than anything else.

[Nick Decker]

I'm curious, because I've never owned or used the 735. I'm well aware that it's widely regarded as the best benchtop planer available, but what is it about its design that gives it that edge? I knew about the complaints about the knives, but this is the first I've heard about the "automatic" head lock not being quite so automatic. Seems that several people have posted their work arounds for that.

[Mel Fulks]

Julie ,they are poor quality,but no worse than the steel that are stock in new large planers. I think the main problems with
the Dewalt are the shallow cut and real slow feed rate. Slow feed is a fast edge killer even with high quality knives. I would use only carbide in that machine.

[Randy Viellenave]

Thanks for that Mel, can we go back to a question Julie asked earlier (inquiring minds want to know)- Does anybody use the carbide knives on the 735? I looked them up, the site claims they last 10x longer than HSS, and if they do, then it is a good deal.

[Warren Lake]

Thermal overloads that trip stuff are not all the same from machine to machine, My hand circular saw could out power my Sears landfill radial arm saw by a long shot, I took out its overload many times with not much of a load, its in the back yard now which is good no more grief.

Your breaker being tripped in the power box, they get weaker as they are tripped as well more times more easier it is to trip. If i had ever had kept using that sears saw which was just for cross cutting rough I would have taken the overload out, if that led to burning it out that would have been fine. I did that to a carpenter once ripping 16 foot Abeco. Breaker in the saw kept tripping, took it out and in half an hour burned out the saw. He went home and got a smaller one :)

[Andrew Hughes]

Thanks for that Mel, can we go back to a question Julie asked earlier (inquiring minds want to know)- Does anybody use the carbide knives on the 735? I looked them up, the site claims they last 10x longer than HSS, and if they do, then it is a good deal.

I have used them in fact I sold my 735 with the knives in.
I also have posted many time a jig to sharpen the infinity knifes.
The leave a very nice surface way better then a bryd head.

[Clint Baxter]

Not since the overload started tripping. But I have run sipo, Florida pine, figured cherry and maple through the planer recently. All that was done with the first edge of the factory knives.


None of those boards have been planed by me. That's how they came from the yard.

I spoke with Dewalt today. They sent me a UPS label so I can send it to the service center in Tampa. Tampa is a 2 hour drive from here. I called Tampa and asked them if they had had complaints about dropping heads and tripping overloads. The guy there said he hadn't seen anything come in with those problems. He just said send it in with a note on the problems I'm having.

Last night I was all set to bite the bullet on a Shelix, seeing how fast the HSS knives dull. I might still do that, depending on what the service guys say.

Julie, I had a 735 that I upgraded with the Shelix head. Afterwards, I had really nice surfaces, but I had to take even lighter cuts than I’d previously done with the straight knives on wider boards. Otherwise I regularly had the planer overload trip on me. Got so frustrated with being unable to do a wide planing pass at anything other than a minuscule depth, that I sold it and upgraded to a Hammer A3-31 with the silent power, (helical), head. I lost an inch of planing width, but no longer have any issues with being underpowered.

Clint

[Jon Nuckles]

I have used two 735s a lot -- a former shopmate's and my own -- and I've never experienced the lock failure, the need to take passes shallower than 1/32", nor a tripped overload. Maybe yours is a lemon? On the other hand, when calling DeWalt/Porter Cable customer service about a Porter Cable tool I bought, I never got a helpful response, so your luck is better there. With multiple problems at less than a year old, this seems like something the manufacturer should replace with a new tool and not make you pay for shipping. Good luck getting a reasonable response from them. You deserve an award for patience.

[Brian Holcombe]

Just want to add one more observation that may be relevant to the hardness of the wood or the poor edge holding of the Dewalt knives...

The Bolivian walnut I've been ripping has a LOT of tension in the boards. I've never seen wood move so much. I don't have a power jointer so I've been using hand planes to joint an edge on the boards after ripping. Thus far I've probably put in 2-3 hours hand jointing the edges. I'm using a #7, #62 and bronze edge plane. I haven't noticed any signs of dulling in the plane irons.

I don't know if this is testament to the high quality of LN plane irons or the poor quality of Dewalt planer knives. I realize I'm not comparing apples to apples but I think this, and the fact the Delta planer never had these problems, speak more to the poor quality of Dewalt HHS knives than anything else.

If you've been hand planing for three hours without sharpening, it's time to sharpen. I normally resharpen ever 15-20 minutes of hand planing work.

[Julie Moriarty]

Julie, I had a 735 that I upgraded with the Shelix head. Afterwards, I had really nice surfaces, but I had to take even lighter cuts than I’d previously done with the straight knives on wider boards. Otherwise I regularly had the planer overload trip on me. Got so frustrated with being unable to do a wide planing pass at anything other than a minuscule depth, that I sold it and upgraded to a Hammer A3-31 with the silent power, (helical), head. I lost an inch of planing width, but no longer have any issues with being underpowered.

Clint
Clint,

When considering carbide straight knives and the Shelix, I ran across a Stumpy Nubs video. In it he claimed the Shelix requires more power to run it, or, as you stated, taking a lighter pass. The theory is straight knives give the motor a split second break between knife cuts whereas with a Shelix or spiral cutterhead, there is no break. Does this sound plausible?

I was thinking of changing to the Shelix once the planer comes back but if that power theory is true, the Shelix is virtually useless. I'm already down having to take passes of 1/100" to avoid tripping the overload. I'm beginning to see the 735 more as a toy than the best benchtop planer on the market. I thought buying the 735 was going to be an upgrade to the Delta 22-540 but so far the opposite has been true.

[Andrew Hughes]

I believe the reason why a insert head take more power and feed pressure in a planer and jointer is a 35 Degree face bevel on each insert.
This is more of a scrap as it drags through the wood longer at a slight angle.

With straight knife each knife goes along scooping out little bits of wood. That’s why it’s important each knife is set the same. So they all do the same scoop.:)

[John Lanciani]

This might be a completely off the wall question but is there any chance you had the knives in backwards?

[Julie Moriarty]

This might be a completely off the wall question but is there any chance you had the knives in backwards?

No. I don't even think that's possible.

[Clint Baxter]

Clint,

When considering carbide straight knives and the Shelix, I ran across a Stumpy Nubs video. In it he claimed the Shelix requires more power to run it, or, as you stated, taking a lighter pass. The theory is straight knives give the motor a split second break between knife cuts whereas with a Shelix or spiral cutterhead, there is no break. Does this sound plausible?

I was thinking of changing to the Shelix once the planer comes back but if that power theory is true, the Shelix is virtually useless. I'm already down having to take passes of 1/100" to avoid tripping the overload. I'm beginning to see the 735 more as a toy than the best benchtop planer on the market. I thought buying the 735 was going to be an upgrade to the Delta 22-540 but so far the opposite has been true.

I tend to believe that theory myself. Regardless of the reason, I know that I had to take lighter cuts after installing the Byrd head to avoid tripping the motor reset. I was surfacing the benchtop slabs for my Roubo workbench at the time, and manhandling a 12” wide slab of 4” thick hard maple over and over through the planer drove me to getting the A3-31.

Clint

[Jim Morgan]

No. I don't even think that's possible.

Um, yeah, it is possible. If you just flipped the blades on the short axis when changing from one edge to the other, you would end up with the bevels down (when viewing the knives from above). No doubt that would result in lousy performance.

[Mark Rainey]

I read in the operator manual that for best performance the board should be face jointed before planing. It is possible that slight unevenness in a hardwood is giving this little planer fits?

[Mark Rainey]

I read in the operator manual that for best performance the board should be face jointed before planing. It is possible that slight unevenness in a hardwood is giving this little planer fits?

[Julie Moriarty]

I read in the operator manual that for best performance the board should be face jointed before planing. It is possible that slight unevenness in a hardwood is giving this little planer fits?

Since I don't have a power jointer, I take very light passes, flipping the board every pass until it's flat. I've never had any problems doing that. It's only when the full width of the board is being planed that problems begin.

After what I've learned thus far, it looks like Dewalt may have known their 13" planer motor couldn't handle most full width boards. Not even close. Rather than installing a motor that could or notifying potential buyers of this fact, they decided to let the thermal overload do the talking.

[Brian Holcombe]

A planer won’t remove bow from a board and won’t remove much twist. It will take out localized inconsistencies. Rather than simply plane the material it would be an improvement to face joint roughly by hand prior to planing.

[Mark Rainey]

True Brian, but did you see the length & width of those boards Julie is working with😳. That is a job for 2 high energy apprentices!

[Randy Heinemann]

Have you tried the planer on different types of wood since the problem started? Didn't see that answer in your posts but if it doesn't act the same on other, softer woods, it is more likely that the blades are not sharp enough. I don't believe I've ever heard or read of anyone having the problem you report on that particular planer. I've owned mine for 10+ years and, other than changing blades, having to clean and wax the table and clean the rollers that grab the wood once in awhile, I have done nothing else to the planer since I owned it. It has been a solid tool for the entire time.

I know it's sometimes hard to get an answer from Dewalt (or whatever they are these days), but have you tried Dewalt support?

[Randy Heinemann]

Julie,

Sounds to me like the blades are dull and/or the rollers are slipping and need cleaning. Didn't have time to read all the posts so, sorry if you already changed the blades and/or cleaned the rollers. I know my planer just kind of stops performing when the rollers start slipping a little because there is build up of one type or another. Also, cleaning and waxing the tables (bed and infeed/outfeed) really helps as the wood moves more easily over the surface. Sharp blades, of course, is a key also, but the blades on the Dewalt are hard to keep sharp, especially if the wood you're planing is very hard. I bought the Deulen jig for planer knives, but haven't used it enough to know if it's really worth it. However even if you can get one honing out of each edge of each knife, that means you would get 4 knife cycles out of each instead of 2. That alone seems worth it.

[Andrew Hughes]

Randy try sharpening all three blade as the same time. It’s important to Keep the blades all the same width.

[Randy Heinemann]

Already do that; sharpen all at the same time. Since you do 2 at a time and there are 6 sides, it works out well,

[Randy Heinemann]

Thing is that a planer like the 735 isn't really made for high volume use. It seems that at least recently that's been the case with your work. With that kind of use, I would probably have found a more commercial planer by now. For my use, the blades work fine and I've had initial success honing them with the Deulen jig (don't know the full extent of that). If I were to increase the volume of wood I run through it, I'd definitely find a standard 15" planer with a helical head. These issues would not occur with that type of planer.

[Andrew Hughes]

Sorry I wasn’t clear I meant sharpen three edges at the same time with this fixture. The blades have a 45 degree bevel so the fixture is cut at 45.

[Julie Moriarty]

Julie,

Sounds to me like the blades are dull and/or the rollers are slipping and need cleaning. Didn't have time to read all the posts so, sorry if you already changed the blades and/or cleaned the rollers. I know my planer just kind of stops performing when the rollers start slipping a little because there is build up of one type or another. Also, cleaning and waxing the tables (bed and infeed/outfeed) really helps as the wood moves more easily over the surface. Sharp blades, of course, is a key also, but the blades on the Dewalt are hard to keep sharp, especially if the wood you're planing is very hard. I bought the Deulen jig for planer knives, but haven't used it enough to know if it's really worth it. However even if you can get one honing out of each edge of each knife, that means you would get 4 knife cycles out of each instead of 2. That alone seems worth it.

The knives are pretty fresh. Flipped them as soon as the planer started bogging down. If the smoothness of the planed board is any indication the knives are still sharp because the boards come out silky smooth.

I'm waiting on Dewalt now. They have had it for a few days or so. Hopefully next week they will let me know something.

FWIW, I was looking at the Hammer A3-31. $5K My SO said, "We could take a European vacation for that!" Think I'll wait for that long lost rich uncle to contact me.

[Julie Moriarty]

True Brian, but did you see the length & width of those boards Julie is working with��. That is a job for 2 high energy apprentices!

You got that right, Mark! I need a small army of apprentices to hand plane this stuff.

[Brian Holcombe]

Quickly knocking the wind and bow out of a board by hand is well worth the improved results, more so the wider they get, and it’s easy work compared to truly jointing and thicknessing by hand which is something I did for a good few years.

[David Utterback]

Please let us know when and what you hear from Dewalt. Thanks