DW735 Planer Questions

[Julie Moriarty]

I've been running 6/4 Bolivian walnut through the planer since about 7:00 this morning - cool down times inserted as needed. The widths vary from about 8" to 12". All total there is a little over 40 linear feet.

Supposedly, the planer can handle a 1/16" cut on a full width board. It struggles with a 1/32" cut. I tripped a 20A dedicated circuit once already and popped the overload once, too. Because the planer struggles so much on the 12" wide board, I've been taking 1/50" cuts to get it through but at such a light cut, the pressure rollers can't move it through. For that moment when I switch from pushing the board to pulling it, it almost stops self feeding entirely. Thankfully, that's just on the widest board.

I've switched from fast feed to slow speed and the slow speed works better but this is exhausting me! Each 10' board weighs maybe 40-60 pounds and getting heavier by the hour. I feel like I've been pumping iron all day!

Should this be this hard? I flipped the knives so I have a fresh edge but that 12" wide board is making me work WAY too hard. The planer is maybe 6 months old. Could the rollers need cleaning already? It shouldn't take all day to plane off 3/8", should it?

[David J Blackburn]

I've been running 6/4 Bolivian walnut through the planer since about 7:00 this morning - cool down times inserted as needed. The widths vary from about 8" to 12". All total there is a little over 40 linear feet.

Supposedly, the planer can handle a 1/16" cut on a full width board. It struggles with a 1/32" cut. I tripped a 20A dedicated circuit once already and popped the overload once, too. Because the planer struggles so much on the 12" wide board, I've been taking 1/50" cuts to get it through but at such a light cut, the pressure rollers can't move it through. For that moment when I switch from pushing the board to pulling it, it almost stops self feeding entirely. Thankfully, that's just on the widest board.

I've switched from fast feed to slow speed and the slow speed works better but this is exhausting me! Each 10' board weighs maybe 40-60 pounds and getting heavier by the hour. I feel like I've been pumping iron all day!

Should this be this hard? I flipped the knives so I have a fresh edge but that 12" wide board is making me work WAY too hard. The planer is maybe 6 months old. Could the rollers need cleaning already? It shouldn't take all day to plane off 3/8", should it?

I've had one for a couple of years now; I find that if I am running a wide board through (more than 8-10" or so), it cannot take much of a cut at all. Very consistent with what you've said. I've tripped a dedicated circuit multiple times myself, sometimes on the same board, because I'm an idiot and leave the settings as it was, and keep it going once the power is back on.

I'd wax the beds - that helps the feed rollers work even with light pressure. I used to have issues with the feed rollers not pulling it through very well, but a good cleaning and waxing on the beds made that problem go away, and I've kept at it and the problem hasn't returned.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

So, how heavy is this board? Are you able to take a deeper cut (at least 1/32) if you "help" the board along by pushing and/or pulling a bit? i don't mean to power it through there, I just mean to help take the load off the rollers.

I have run 12" oak through without tripping breakers. I have often wondered, when I trip a breaker or similar, if the voltage is sagging from something else; like lots of air conditioners running in nearby houses; not that I have ever checked into that.

[Andrew Hughes]

I remember the same thing with that planer. It will take a 1/16 cut in a softer wood popler basswood.
For hardwoods it’s not really a production machine.

[Greg Parrish]

I run all sorts of hardwood through mine, including stuff 13” wide. I have the Shelix head on it. It bogs down with deep cuts but does better than it did with the straight blades on hard stuff. That said Ive tripped the circuit a few times too. My wider stuff is usually shorter like cutting boards though. Like yours mine has no problem on narrow hard woods.

Would love to to upgrade mine but no room. Have been thinking of upgrading my powermatic 54a that has a shelix head to a helical combo machine. If I do I’m still not sure i would part with the dewalt as it is nice having separates but this would give me options for tougher material.

[Doug Dawson]

I've been running 6/4 Bolivian walnut through the planer since about 7:00 this morning - cool down times inserted as needed. The widths vary from about 8" to 12". All total there is a little over 40 linear feet.

Supposedly, the planer can handle a 1/16" cut on a full width board. It struggles with a 1/32" cut. I tripped a 20A dedicated circuit once already and popped the overload once, too. Because the planer struggles so much on the 12" wide board, I've been taking 1/50" cuts to get it through but at such a light cut, the pressure rollers can't move it through. For that moment when I switch from pushing the board to pulling it, it almost stops self feeding entirely. Thankfully, that's just on the widest board.

I've switched from fast feed to slow speed and the slow speed works better but this is exhausting me! Each 10' board weighs maybe 40-60 pounds and getting heavier by the hour. I feel like I've been pumping iron all day!

Should this be this hard? I flipped the knives so I have a fresh edge but that 12" wide board is making me work WAY too hard. The planer is maybe 6 months old. Could the rollers need cleaning already? It shouldn't take all day to plane off 3/8", should it?

To turn the question around, do you need to be planing such huge surfaces? I've always preferred to cut the stock into pieces sized for what I actually need, when I need it, and that way I get a lot more yield with less work (I'm gonna cut it up at some point anyway.) I _rarely_ need anything wider than the 8" that my jointer will handle. That way, also, you might not need to be taking off 3/8" off a board (thickness is its own reward.)

I've always thought of those DeWalt (or other) "lunchbox-style" planers more as finish planers, not chip hogs. But then, they're so loud I can't think straight. So there. :^)

[glenn bradley]

As Andrew states, this is a lunchbox planer, a really good one but, still a job site tool. I'd say it is doing remarkably well. Lots of wax on the bed and tables. Good roller stands or other support. The planer rollers are made to feed the material, not carry it. If the material is fully supported throughout the cut the planer will be happier and do more between cool downs.

[Julie Moriarty]

David, for whatever the reason, that widest board needed to be powered through. When I began, that wasn't happening. So I cleaned the rollers with mineral spirits, like I used to do with my old Delta. I hadn't thought of waxing the beds. Anyway, at first the cleaned rollers seemed to help but I think what may be happening is the surface of the wood is so smooth, the rollers have a hard time grabbing it. The other boards have more of the pecky surface and I don't seem to have that problem with them. The widest of those is 10-3/4".

Andrew P - I'd guess the boards are in the 40-60 pound range. As I mentioned above, that one board needed to be powered through until I cleaned the rollers. But even after, it needed help. As far as tripping breakers, that all happens between the load and the breaker. The only way loads downstream from your house would create problems is with something like a brown out.

Andrew H - Your comment about the DW735 not really being a production machine took the winds out of my sail. I knew it wasn't designed for production use but I really hoped it could handle whatever a 67 year old woman could throw at it. Just to show how desperate I was feeling, during my break I was watching videos of the Format 4 plan 63 planer.

[Julie Moriarty]

Doug, I totally agree, cut the stock down to size when you can. But this project is rustic and I'm trying to keep these planks looking beefy. So I'm trying not to cut anything down any more than necessary.

Glenn - oh yeah, I've got the rollers, two on each end. It's nice to just feed the wood in and not worry about it until it exist the other side. Not with this wood. It's like the planer thought it was Jess Willard but the wood was Jack Dempsey.

[Tom Bender]

This wood may be hard on knives. They may be dull already. Test with something else.

[Mark Bolton]

From all your 735 posts and machining "Bolivian walnut" it seems like you've got your cart either before, below, run over by, or perhaps tucked in the backside, of the horse. You've clearly spent too much money on wood and skimped far too much on your tooling.

Sorry for your luck. Itd be a quick lesson for anyone buying Bolivian walnut. Grizzly will be your next frustration but a.step up.

[Phil Mueller]

Julie, I have one step down...a 734. When Planing any hardwood, I’m pretty much limited to a half turn (can’t remember exactly what that is, but it’s not a lot). Taking off 3/8 on a board of your length would take eons...especially at 8” widths. In fact, when I’m working with wider boards, I’ll only go a quarter turn. I think it’s just the limit of these machines. It’s fine for me because I just don’t need that production performance often. But it does call for some patience and Advil at times.

Think of the bright side. You’re going to have a lot of really nice mulch for the flower beds!

[Hulsey Bray]

I just joined on here and this is my first post, but I can speak with some authority on this subject. I have the same planner, when I bought it I was a hobbyist more or less, I am now starting to do some work every-once and a while, if you are just running a few smallish boards through it, no problem - but it cannot do much more, I have tried everything mentioned above and more trying to improve the performance but nothing will fix the fact its just not as powerful and robust enough to do any "real" work with - learned my lesson with 200bft of Sapele in 8 foot lengths, 8-10 wide like you are doing, its like trying to move a dumptruck worth of dirt with a spoon, yeah you can do it, but it sure will take forever and torture your body.

[Grant Wilkinson]

Julie: I have the 735, but have not planed bolivian walnut. I have planed tropical hardwoods, though. If yours are similar to what I've planed, you have a dense, oily wood. I've had luck with a quick wipe of thinners before planning. It removes the surface oil and allows the board to move easier over the beds.

[Julie Moriarty]

I just joined on here and this is my first post, but I can speak with some authority on this subject. I have the same planner, when I bought it I was a hobbyist more or less, I am now starting to do some work every-once and a while, if you are just running a few smallish boards through it, no problem - but it cannot do much more, I have tried everything mentioned above and more trying to improve the performance but nothing will fix the fact its just not as powerful and robust enough to do any "real" work with - learned my lesson with 200bft of Sapele in 8 foot lengths, 8-10 wide like you are doing, its like trying to move a dumptruck worth of dirt with a spoon, yeah you can do it, but it sure will take forever and torture your body.

A few years ago I took some 9' slabs of 8/4 sapele, ripped it to a max of 9" and resawed it into thirds. Then I ran everything through a Delta lunchbox planer that was probably 20 years old. The planer worked like a charm.

I'm thinking somewhere in the smooth surface the 735 left behind and the hardness of the Bolivian walnut lies the answer to why this was so hard. Unless that old Delta simply had a more powerful motor.