Doh! Little help here?

[Carole Valentine]

Owners of Delta 22-580 planers: How the heck do you get BOTH top covers off as instructed in the manual in order to change the blades???? Is there a trick to it? The front one just flops off, but the back one won't budge. (In my next life, I'm not going to be mechanically challenged, I promise!)

[Waymon Campbell]

Owners of Delta 22-580 planers: How the heck do you get BOTH top covers off as instructed in the manual in order to change the blades???? Is there a trick to it? The front one just flops off, but the back one won't budge. (In my next life, I'm not going to be mechanically challenged, I promise!)

Carole - I have the 22-580 and I haven't had to change my blades yet, but I am very interested in any responses you get.

[Carole Valentine]

Have you tried to remove your covers yet? Just curious if my planer is defective.

[Tom Sweeney]

I changed the blades once on mine once right after I got it. Don't send a very short piece of wood through your planer - DAMHIKT , I recall that it was pretty easy but forget exactly how. If you don't get an answer before tomorrow - I'll look at mine & let you know for sure.

[Joseph N. Myers]

Carole,

I've changed blades a couple of times and never did take off the back top plate (didn't have to to get the wrench to fit). The video did show both the front and back being off so I tried to get it off like I did the front. I had to reach under the back top plate and hit it with the palm of my hand to get it off.

I've read in different places that the blades for the Delta 22-580 wear out quickly. In my experence, I have to agree. I have 2 other planers, one being the Delta 12" and those blades seem to last at least 3 times longer. In the video, that say that the blades for the 22-580 are made out of D2 metal, and if I not mistaken, that is on the low end of hardness.

A couple of other things about the blades:

a. The best prices I've found for the blades is around $29.00 including tax at Lowes. Other places seem to run from $36 to $39 excluding shipping.

b. When you put in the blades, you'll want one of the blades shifted to the left, the other to the right. This way, if you get a nick in the blades, i.e., hit a nail, you will be able to shift the left one right and the right one left. This way, you'll have a good part of the blade over the bad part and you can continue planing.

Regards, Joe

[David Klug]

Carole I have a 22-540 so it must be set up different than yours because all I do is take the chip shield off and loosen the nuts and my blades come right out. How ever on the subject of blades where can you get good quality blades? Shortly after I got my planer I saw some that had carbide edges listed in a catalogue, but that was a long time ago and I haven't found any other listings for them. As I recall they were kind of pricey and I didn't feel like I could afford them. If someone knows where you can get some good quality blades please let me know because the ones that I have now are worn out.

DK

[Alan Tolchinsky]

Carole, You made me go down to my dark basement to find this out. But that's o.k. The cover on the infeed side comes off a lot easier as you have indicated. The outfeed cover was a bear until I learned the trick. You just pull the verticle part of the cover (the part with the Delta logo on it) in the horizontal direction. Then you just lift up on the cover and voila! It really comes off very easily if you do this. So to repeat just pull the cover in the direction the wood would be going then lift up. Hope this helps. Alan in Md.

[Carole Valentine]

No go. Almost looks like the top is spot welded on each side to the things the posts fit into on the side. <shrug> Maybe mine is different. Oh well, as long as I don't need to get them off to change the blades, I won't worry about it.

[Wes Bischel]

Carole,
Sounds like you've got it under control, but just in case, I looked it up in the instruction manual:

2. Remove the two top covers (C) Fig. 25.

Now, in your best Jack Benny voice: Well . . . that was a big help

Shame on Delta.
I was able to get my covers off by slightly bending the vertical section out to pop the sheet metal bead out of the die cast sides - one side of the cover at a time. To remove the back side I had to reach over the machine to get the leverage. Of course you do have that big mallet . . .

I suspect the sheet metal top cover on yours is a bit out of spec. I'm a bit surprised that Delta would even consider a snap fit cover design on a machine that vibrates. It's eventually going to be one of two things - never removed (too tight) or too loose due to being removed.

Oh well, good luck with the blade change.

Wes