looking at the Delta TP400LS good planer???

[Shannon Seelig]

HI everyone,

I was out window shopping for my first planer ever. Want to get into wood working with my 6 year old son. Great way to spend time with each other between fishing and hunting seasons. Instead of buying wood from HD and other chain stores, I am looking for a planer. How is the new Delta TP400LS? I saw it in one of the stores on Monday and it looked less "beefy" than the DW735 or the Jet planer. I have read past threads on it and it seems to have been around in some way shape or form for quite a while. Did the quality go down from 3 to 4 years ago? How does the delta measure up for the part time hobbyist? Is bigger better like the Jet or the Dewalt?
Just looking for some good sound advice.
Thanks everyone,
Shannon

[scott spencer]

IMO, price is always relative in comparisons of this type. At $270 shipped from Amazon it's a very attractive deal to me, but I can't comment on it's current quality from 3-4 years ago. My version of this planer was a 22-560 and is was a good machine.

At $270, I'm interested. At $350, I'm looking at others.

[Lee DeRaud]

What Scott said. I've had one about two years now...IIRC about $290 delivered from Amazon.

My only complaint was that it didn't come with the dust-collector attachment shroud: it's pretty much useless without it and it took a bit of research to track down the right part. All things considered, they should include it standard and forget about the "free" stand.

[Jim W. White]

My experience with the 22-560 (previous model) has been very positive. My only trouble over the years was with the drive mechanism bushing which worked it's way loose. It cost me a little anxiety and a replacement belt from Amazon; but the fix was easy and I've been without incident since. This is a pretty typical failure on this unit (atleast the earlier ones.) but I wouldn't let it stop me from buying another. For the price point it's at, I think it is a very good deal; and fits a very good role for the weekend hobbiest.

I've had mine for 7-8 yrs now and have planed a good deal of wood. I'm still on my second set of disposable doublesided blades, which I think is a pretty good track record especially when compared to the Dewalt disposable blades.

The next step up from this would be a 3-blade head. This would definately be a strong upgrade, but it comes at a pretty steep price premium IMHO.

Jim in Idaho

[scott spencer]

What Scott said. I've had one about two years now...IIRC about $290 delivered from Amazon.

My only complaint was that it didn't come with the dust-collector attachment shroud: it's pretty much useless without it and it took a bit of research to track down the right part. All things considered, they should include it standard and forget about the "free" stand.

A few days ago Amazon had the dust chute on sale for ~ $11...making it $281 delivered, nicely equipped.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/103-0666017-4028638?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=delta+tp400ls&Go.x=0&Go.y=0&Go=Go