Planer recommendations appreciated

[Dave Westover]

Im in the market for a budget friendly planer. I think Im going to stick to the $250 range until my wallet catches up with my ambitions. What would you learned folks recommend?

Thanks

[scott spencer]

Hi Dave - $250 will buy you a new basic portable planer that lacks a cutterhead lock system....some in that price range will also lack a dust collection port. Both are fairly important features IMHO. A cutterhead lock helps reduce snipe significantly, and you'll realize soon enough the benefit of having DC on a planer! :eek:

I'd try to keep your eyes and ears peeled for a good deal on a planer with both of the above features, but will likely mean spending another $100 or so. The units I'd be watching for include the DeWalt 734 and 735, Delta 22-580 (http://www.epinions.com/review/Delta_22_580_13_2_Speed_Planer/content_156115177092), Delta TP400 (formerly 22-560 (http://www.epinions.com/review/Delta_12_1_2_Portable_Planer_22_560/content_55772089988)), either Ridgid, or a Makita 2012. You might even stumble into a good deal on a used unit.

[Craig McCormick]

One of the wood mags had a review of the portable planers a few months back and rated the Ryobi as best buy or best value......

Craig

[Mark Kosmowski]

If you were looking about three years ago, the Ryobi AP 1300 would have been a nice buy. Unfortunately, the new model, the AP 1301, no longer has a cutterhead lock.

Maybe you could find a used AP1300?

[Tony Cox]

I know it's a little more than $250, but the Ridgid 4330 has been a great planer for me. Now, it is the only planer I have ever owned, but I can tell you I haven't made a change to it and right out of the box it performs great. Any snipe I get is so little that my sanding process takes care of it.

Tony

[Jeff Dunlap]

For about fifty dollars more and if you can wait till a sale you can pick up the dewalt 734 for about 300. That what i did and beleive me you won't be disappointed, 3 cutterheads, cutterhead lock, torret stops, and a glass smooth surface. If i were you like i said if you can wait, wait for a sale and grab this planer you won't regret it.

[Paul Ryan]

I also have the ridgid 4330 and it is a real nice planer for the price. Regularly about $379. Fathers day is fast approacing and HD always has good sales on ridgid tools. I know that is more than you would like to spend but I think it is your best bang for the buck. The 12 1/2" delwalt dw734 would also be a good choice, but again it will be more than that $250 unless you find someone giving them away.

[Richard A. Rivera, M.D.]

Dave, I am in the same boat as you. I have looking at the three blade planers and have been trying to decide between the HD Ridgid R4330 and the Steel City 13 in planer.

These are both rather new to the market and am haveing difficulty getting any reviews other than the one by FWW. Has any one used either of these planers? Will the Steel City planer make it in the long haul, will the company be around?

Thanks, Dr. R..

[Lee Koepke]

For about fifty dollars more and if you can wait till a sale you can pick up the dewalt 734 for about 300. That what i did and beleive me you won't be disappointed, 3 cutterheads, cutterhead lock, torret stops, and a glass smooth surface. If i were you like i said if you can wait, wait for a sale and grab this planer you won't regret it.
thats what i have. i paid a smidge more than 300 ... but its performed quite well.

[Jerome Hanby]

Ditto on the Ridgid. Plus the reversible blades are like having two sets (except you cant use the second set while the first are being sharpened:eek:). Looks like it's $369 on the orange borg www.


I know it's a little more than $250, but the Ridgid 4330 has been a great planer for me. Now, it is the only planer I have ever owned, but I can tell you I haven't made a change to it and right out of the box it performs great. Any snipe I get is so little that my sanding process takes care of it.

Tony

[JohnT Fitzgerald]

Keep your eyes open for a lightly used one, but keep in mind when pricing it that you'll probably have to spring for a new set of knives.

A lot of stores carry different brands, BUT....the big stores like to have 'price match' guarantees, so it's a good chance to find a deal at one place, take a printed flyer to the other store and then have them match it and take an added 10% off. I just bought an outdoor storage shed for gas cans, fertilizers, etc. HD had it for 289. Lowes had it for 249, so HD matched the 249 price PLUS took another 10% off. A nice way to stretch the dollars....

[Dave Westover]

Thanks for the info folks. I might up the budget after this input. I hate having an extra $100 in my pocket and regretting not having spent it when I should have, on what I should have.

[Brian Weick]

just a few more bucks ~ I would purchase the Ridgid planner, I owned and used it all the time ~ was a great planner for the money, I was going to get the dewalt, more money obviously, but I talked with a few people that owned them and there was some feed wheel problem , something was malfunctioning , that was all I needed to hear to make my mind up.
The Ridgid planer :D
Brian

[Jesse Cloud]

If you can't get a planer with cutterhead lock now, keep saving until you can, otherwise, you are wasting the first $250. There's an old saying, buy quality cry once, buy cheap and cry again and again.

I'm not usually a big fan of DeWalt, and I was thinking how my DeWalt planer was one of the few tools I had to take in for repair (a bolt that holds the knife in sheared off), but the other day I noticed the repair tag on the power cord - that was 10 years ago - too long to hold a grudge.:rolleyes:

Watch craigslist, maybe post a want-to-buy ad for the brand you want.

A good planer is key to the quality of your work. One of the most important aspects of this quality is how easy it is to align the knives. If I were looking for a new planer, that would be one of my highest criteria.

[Doug Shepard]

Hi Dave - $250 will buy you a new basic portable planer that lacks a cutterhead lock system....some in that price range will also lack a dust collection port. ...

Other than maybe the DW735, are there ones that actually include the DC adapter as standard? I thought pretty much all of them required you to buy that as an extra.

[Todd Hyman]

Other than maybe the DW735, are there ones that actually include the DC adapter as standard? I thought pretty much all of them required you to buy that as an extra.


Both Rigid models do.

[J. Z. Guest]

I bought the Ryobi one at Home Depot for $200. It has a dust collection port for which I bought an adapter for my shop vac. It works great, but does snipe a bit more than the expensive models.

If you have a jointer too, the snipe is not an issue on boards less than the width of your jointer:

1) Face joint
2) Edge joint
3) Thickness plane to a hair above the finished thickness. (like 1/32" or so)
4) Face joint the planed side until the board is at final thickness
5) Rip the non-jointed edge

Step 4 is the extra step if you have a planer that snipes, and it removes the snipe if your jointer is set up properly.

I use mine in conjunction with my Ridgid 6-1/8" jointer, and it works great. I like that it is small & light enough to go under my workbench when not in use.

If I had more money, I would have bought one that doesn't snipe as much. But I was in the same boat as you. I had just bought a table saw and router, and needed a jointer & planer to do the kind of quality work I wanted to.

One thing that helped me justify this with the Purchasing Department (wife) was to shop for solid wood bedroom furniture. I found that I only had to make two nightstands and the bed to break even on the purchase price of the jointer, planer, and table saw. Plus, my stuff is much better quality. No plywood where I expect solid wood, no brads to hold drawer fronts on, etc.

[Jerome Hanby]

I use mine in conjunction with my Ridgid 6-1/8" jointer, and it works great.

I'm sure the stock answers of you need an 8 inch jointer (or bigger), but I was wondering how you like that Ridgid jointer. I like the look og it, and I love my other Ridgid tools and I bet it's over two inches better than my Shopsmith one!

[J. Z. Guest]

I like it a lot. The extra 1/8" is nothing to sneeze at, as it means I can really face joint 6" wide stock, not just in theory.

On the other hand, panels glued up from narrower stock are probably more stable. I never understood why Shopsmith didn't make a 6" jointer. The power unit should be plenty for a 6" wide unit. They probably know what they're doing though.

[Jerome Hanby]

That was the basis of my two inch comment, the SS is only four inches. I haven't hit any problems (other than my own stupidity) with the width so far. I saw a project to extend the in-feed and out-feed side of the tables that i think could make it a bit more effective.

But I still like that Ridgid Jointer. Probably remain deep on my wishlist, I figure my Mom is going to want me to take my Dad's Grizily jointer soon so he wont be tempted to fire it up.

[Mark Kosmowski]

If you have a sniping planar, can't you just plan on cross-cutting everything down to length after planing over-length boards?

I have the Ridgid 6 1/8" jointer and am very happy with it. It makes nice rabbets too.