New DeWalt 735 Planer

[Dale Critchlow]

Has anyone had experience with the new DeWalt benchtop planar?

It got a rave review by Wood Magazine this fall. The only negative comment was that it is noisy.

I saw one at the local Woodworkers Warehouse. It looks like it is well engineered, but I have never seen one in operation.

I plan to buy a planer in the next month or so, therefore any advice would be helpful.

Dale

[Jim Becker]

All the comments I've seen on this planer from owners...except one who has been having snipe problems (could be operator related)...have been "rave reviews". If I were buying a planer of this type, the Dewalt would be at the top of the list. The Delta 22-580 is comparable, but I think the Dewalt raises the bar in design and purportedly has better dust collection, too.

[Kevin Gerstenecker]

Dale, my buddy has had this Dewalt Planer for a short time, I have used it, checked it out, and it is as advertised.............a very nice machine. The Walnut, Cherry and Maple we ran through it had an excellent finish, and after we tweaked it a little, there was no snipe problem. It is a tad noisy, but after thinking about that, what planer isn't? IMO, you can't go wrong with this unit............I think you will be pleased. Let us know how you like it.

[Byron Trantham]

Dale I currently have the Delta 12 1/2" planner. When they came out with the 13 inch unit, I was curious but not moved. When I saw the DeWalt 13 inch unit I just have to have one. I haven't bought one yet but it's on my list.

If you do buy it, please let us know what you think.

[nic obie]

I've had one for about a month now. I really like it.

Regarding the noise, I think it's a bit quieter than the Delta 733 it replaced. It does a nicer job than the 733 too. However I suppose that might have something to do with having new knifes. ;)

[Dale Critchlow]

Thanks guys. The 735 looks like a winner.

Is there anyone out there who is unhappy with the 735.

I plan to buy one in a couple of weeks after I get my dust collection system reconnected.

Dale

[rrich]

Dale,
I've been using a 735 at school since last May. It is really a fine unit and there is no snipe. It is a bit noisy, however. Ours doesn't get a lot of use because it sits right next to a 5HP Oliver, 24" planer. Usually 3 and 4 students team up and feed 4 to 6 boards through the Oliver at a time. The work goes a lot quicker.
Rich

[John Miliunas]

Dale, this is by no means an end to all "reviews", but I finally fired up my 735, which has been sitting in my new shop for the last month, without as much as having it plugged in! After reading your request yesterday, I decided that I'm just going to have to try it, even without my DC system in place. (That part may have been a mistake....)

Anyhow, took a brief "tour" of the instruction manual and grabbed some Aspen I had laying on the shelf. This stuff is really in tough shape, but I finally managed to get it jointed and cut to the 6" width my jointer will cover. Now, granted, this was only Aspen, but I discovered it had some really neat wavy dimension to it, almost "figured". I ran the piece through, until the whole cut side was smooth. I flipped it over and ran the jointed side for a couple 32nd" passes. Results? In a word, "Holy smokes!" OK, that was two words, but all the ranting and raving they've done about this planer is, IMHO, founded! Just for grins, I fired it back up and clicked it down to the lower feed rate. At least on this particular wood, I really couldn't tell the difference! However, I can see how this would be helpful on some highly figured hardwoods. The slow rate is certainly slow.

So, what of the chip extraction? Well, if you're planning on planing :D without a DC, I would suggest you point it out the door of your shop, not toward a workbench area. (DAMHIKT) When they say there's a "blower" on this thing, they mean it! Personally, I would have no reservations whatsoever in placing this unit at the *end* of just about any DC system! I'm still waiting on my cyclone, so I was fool enough to try it with the dispersion attachment, which comes with it. The damnest thing though: Even after I saw what it was doing, I was having so much fun, I just continued to let the chips fly! :rolleyes:

As for measurement? Well, you need to remember that I'm limited to a 6" jointer, so that's what I used. In the 6" x 52" piece that I ran, I noted there was a 1/1000 difference of the plane. (Measurement taken with a digital caliper.) The thickness ran dead on for the entire length of the board, except for the "snipe". "Snipe"...You say?!!!! Yeah, I detected an additional 1/1000th at the exit side of the board. Mind you, I had made zero adjustments to this unit. My "testing" consisted of taking the unit out of the box and planting it on my old rolling cabinet, previously home to a Ryobi planer.

So, in the final analysis, I will openly admit that I've been on the receiving end of some pretty sly marketing in the past. Yeah, the "As seen on TV" people have gotten a few bucks off of me in the past. In this case however, I can honestly say that the marketing folks at Dewalt must've had one very, very easy job with this one! No, it won't replace that 5hp Oliver, but it will give anything even close to its class a run for its money. All MHO, of course! :cool:

[Dale Critchlow]

Your note sounded like a testimonial for DeWalt! I am glad to hear that you were positive.

I will connect it to the cyclone so the chip collection should be no problem.

Dale

[Byron Trantham]

Dave, that does it! I want one so bad!

You mentioned snipe, do you have the table extensions? If not, I sure they would help. When I get mine i expect to order the dust chute and the table extensions. I currently have the Delta 12 1/2" and frankly I have very little trouble with snipe.

Congratulations!

[John Miliunas]

Hey Bryon, John (aka Dave <G>) here. I mention "snipe" only because I got some measureable snipe with the passes I made. No, I don't currently have infeed/outfeed tables on it and again, I did absolutely *zero* additional tuning or tweaking on the unit! I'm pretty confident that, with a bit more attention, snipe won't be an issue. Once I get my cyclone and DC system installed, I'll go through the whole thing and be sure everything is setup according to the manual. Quite frankly, this is such a HUMONGO improvement over anything I've had before, that if I couldn't get rid of the super-slight snipe, I wouldn't even care! It's so marginal that, a quick swipe with some sandpaper would take care of it. That plus, when milling lumber from rough, I always tend to leave my cut lengths long until I'm ready to get them down to the final size. Once I get the puppy completely setup, I'll go ahead and post an update. :cool:

PS: Absolutely NO affiliation with Dewalt! Fact is, I have a CMS of theirs, which I'm not completely pleased with! Quite the opposite with their skill saw and this planer, though.

[Byron Trantham]

Dave, Sam, Pete, Harry? Hey I haven't finished my first cup of coffee! :D I agree with you that snipe isn't a problem the way you describe the results. .001"? Give me a break. :p I can't wait to get mine. Won't be before the first of the year though.

If you get a chance, let us know how it turns out for you. BTW, sure wish I had your problems with setting up that new shop! Mine's JUST big enough to cut 8' sheet goods. Takes planing and very careful rearrangement of the tools to do it.

[Charles McKinley]

Hi John,

I saw the planer demonstrated at at woodcraft in Pittsburgh and they had the bag attachment for the top of a trash can and it worked really well. If you need to do a lot of planing before you set up your dc I would recommend it.

Unfortunately my 733 will have to do until something in the 15-20 inch range follows me home. ;)

[John Miliunas]

Hi John,

I saw the planer demonstrated at at woodcraft in Pittsburgh and they had the bag attachment for the top of a trash can and it worked really well. If you need to do a lot of planing before you set up your dc I would recommend it.

Unfortunately my 733 will have to do until something in the 15-20 inch range follows me home. ;)

Thanks for the info, Charles, but I found out that the cyclone shipped yesterday! :D Not much point in buying another accessory, which will be cast aside as soon as my DC system is up. For others, though, that is a good piece of information! :cool:

[Warren Orcutt]

This is my first post. I am so pleased with the planer that I just had to respond. Previously I had the first generation delta, and it really performed. I put 1000's of feet of pine, spruce, hackmatack (sp?), poplar, fir and oak through it when I was building my house. This was back in 1995. It lasted up until about 3 months ago, when it would no longer take a shallow cut at all. I checked it out and the feed rollers had were pretty much gone, concave and cracked. My wife was helping me at the time and she said "I guess it's time for a new one", always a good sign!
A few weeks later we were at woodworkers warehouse just to look around and they had 1 dw735. I went over to check it out, I had been looking on the web, but not much good info was available on it. The salesman said that they had gotten 4 in on friday and the other 3 were gone, (now saturday at noon). Anyway, my wife said get it and so we did, also got the outfeed tables.
Got it home and fired it up and I was amazed! The wide 4 post design like the larger planers really makes a differance. There was minimal snipe right out of the box, and the depth stops (new to me) are great! No more planing every board I want for a project at once. I had looked over some of the other planers and there does not sem to be any other product that compares. The auto head lock is great.
This has been a tremendous upgrade from my old delta, and no I am not a "dewalt man" I have delta, jet, grizzly, shopfox, ryobi, hitachi, and performax as well. I usually try to get the best tool for the money for what i need. No regrets from this purchase.