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Thread: Why get DW735 planer?

  1. #1
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    Why get DW735 planer?

    The DeWalt DW735 seems to be a default choice planer and putting in the byrd head is nice upgrade. Thirteen inch width is plenty for me. Is there something else I should consider? Is it "enough"? Am I missing out having something "beefier". My prior planer was a woodmaster 18". It wasn't great in that I found the feed to be poor. I used my buddy's crapsman lunchbox when I had molding knives installed on the woodmaster. The little thing had better feed than the woodmaster. Thanks!
    Last edited by Drew Sanderson; 03-31-2019 at 7:24 AM.

  2. #2
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    It will depend a lot on what you want to plane. If you buy a lot of rough sawn lumber and plane it to dimension, a larger, more heavy duty planer would be a better choice. It will dimension lumber faster as it can remove more material per pass. If you build small projects and want to occasionally plane a board to a thinner dimension, or plane a few rough sawn boards for a relatively small project, the 735 is ideal for this because it is a 2 speed planer and the slower speed leaves a very smooth finish and almost no snipe. I know several woodworkers who have both a large heavy duty planer and a DeWalt 735 for doing their finish planning. If you are a hobby woodworker, and can afford only one planer, the 735 will likely be your best choice. I've owned 3 planers, but now have a 735. I don't do big projects or plane a lot of rough sawn wood any more, so I'm very happy using only my 735 for all of my planning needs. My shop is now significantly downsized from what it once was and I don't have the room for more than one planer now. It is mounted to a Miter Saw / Planer Stand and the stand sits in the corner of my shop. When I need to use it I wheel it outside in the driveway and connect the accessory hose and barrel cover to a 60 gallon plastic barrel.

    Charley

  3. #3
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    Charley,
    Thank you for the thoughtful reply! I really appreciate it
    -Drew

  4. #4
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    Does the Dewalt 735 need a powered cyclone to work properly? My older Delta 2-speed doesn’t extract the chips fast enough without being hooked to a cyclone to eliminate denting of the wood. I have moved to a much smaller indoor shop and would love to not need to figure out how to mount my cyclone and run power for it.

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by Peter Kuhlman View Post
    Does the Dewalt 735 need a powered cyclone to work properly? My older Delta 2-speed doesn’t extract the chips fast enough without being hooked to a cyclone to eliminate denting of the wood. I have moved to a much smaller indoor shop and would love to not need to figure out how to mount my cyclone and run power for it.
    I run my 735 with a shopvac and Oneida cyclone on a 5 gal pail. Works well, but not perfectly- there is a small blowback of chips through the planer and into the workspace, particularly when the collection pail nears full. Not a problem for me, but wouldn't suit someone who likes a dust-free workspace. I have never seen any denting of the wood.
    Last edited by Steve Demuth; 03-31-2019 at 3:50 PM.

  6. #6
    Drew, you didn't really explain what your needs are. I too had a woodmaster 18" planer, and sold it and bought a Grizzly G0453px. I have a 3hp cyclone system, and can plane a number of boards at a time, as long as I empty my 50 gallon drum often enough. All my lumber is rough sawn, as I have a small bandmill and saw my own lumber. The G0453 is a good size for me, of course always bigger is better. The smaller planer is pretty reasonable, of course Grizzly is now pushing a 20"planer with the motor on top, have not used one, but looks like something that works.

  7. #7
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    I have had the 735 for several years and for my hobby needs, it does a good job. I really don't understand the idea of spending as much again to put a helix head into it, but many do. For me, if I were to decide that I needed a helix head, I would buy a machine that has one in it. The 735 can bog down very quickly with a helix head. You need to take very shallow cuts.Dewalt voids the warranty if they determine that any burn out was caused by the installation of a helix head, but for that reason.
    That said, I get very good finishes off the 3 straight blades, and buying a better quality blade and honing them from time to time gets me a reasonably blade life.
    Chip extraction is very good, stock. I have mine connected to a 4" adaptor to my dust collector. I removed the impeller from the Dewalt. It quiets it down a lot and with the dust collector on it, I have no chip build up in the machine at all.
    Grant
    Ottawa ON

  8. #8
    What did you guys not like about the woodmaster? I have the 18" one as well and like it a lot. The versatility is useful for saving space, and I like the simplicity of the machine. I've not had feed issues with the rubber rollers. There is a serrated option for the input roller if your doing a lot of rough lumber, but I since I havent had issues, never bothered trying it. I chainsaw mill my own lumber too. I do have the spiral head on mine, and that made a big difference in finish quality.

    The main drawback I've had with the woodmaster is a bit of snipe, but I managed to mostly adjust it out by shimming the tables upwards slightly. I recall when I did that close 10 years ago I almost removed the snipe entirely for a while. (Cant remember if I messed with feed pressure) Today there is a little more than before, but I never bothered to tune it because it comes out in two finishing passes of a hand plane, which I would do anyway.

    The other minor problem I've had is that it occasionally bogs down, I think because I have the belts on too loose ( motor keeps spinning), but I did that on purpose to make changing the head easier. I'm using power link belts instead of the v-belts. Nice thing about the infinite feed adjustment is that if I hear the head starting to slow down, I just turn the speed down a little for the head to regain momentum, and continue on.

    I never used a 735, it's certainly very popular. I can't really see how a lunchbox planer would be an upgrade over the woodmaster though - one has a 220v 5hp motor, the other runs on 15 amp 110 - I would be very surprised if a lunchbox could compete on feed rate and depth of cut per pass.
    Last edited by Jim Chan; 03-31-2019 at 11:16 AM.

  9. #9
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    I've not had a 735 but I've been using a 733 for several years and it's good for what it is. I had one of those Woodmaster 18" planers and it was a bad design, in my opinion. The rollers were much too far from the head, to leave room in case you wanted to set it up as a gang rip or a molder head or a drum sander. So instead of a good planer you got a crummy planer, and I bet it didn't do a great job at the other things it 'did' either.
    Zach

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Andrew View Post
    Drew, you didn't really explain what your needs are.
    I want to go from rough to finish on domestics. I need versatility. I have a two car garage I like to use as a garage so the thought of storing the planer without needing its own floor square footage is ideal.

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Drew Sanderson View Post
    The DeWalt DW735 seems to be a default choice planer Is there something else I should consider? Is it "enough"? Am I missing out having something "beefier".
    I got what I believe was the very first lunchbox planer thirty years ago. I lived in an apartment at the time (mainly a hand tool user.) The planer was a Ryobi (back when they were semi-decent,) and it was the only thing that would drown out my next-door neighbor's salsa music. Better than a router! I imagine the DeWalt should be similar. Is this what you need?

  12. #12
    I'm not totally sure what the question or debate of this thread topic is, but the fact is that the DW735 is hands down the best lunchbox "portable" planer available.

    I own one and use it as my only planer, but have also used other 735s, both with the 3 knife head and a Shelix. I never take more than a 1/32" cut per pass (sometimes taking even shallower cuts for various reasons), so it's certainly slower to dimension lumber compared to a planer with a bigger motor. However, because of this the finish quality is fantastic with sharp knives. I experience no snipe at all with my 735. I work with tons of rough lumber and routinely max out the width on my 735. I could benefit greatly from a big honking planer, but have spatial constraints and haven't yet absolutely needed to spend a couple thousand on a used, heavy duty 18" + planer, thought that time seems to be approaching.

    The helical cutterhead is handy for some situations, but I actually prefer straight knives for overall surface quality off the machine. It does max out the capability of the 735 in terms of what the motor can handle. Once the carbide cutters start to get dull (and stay partially dull for a long time unless you rotate them at first signs of loosing sharpness, which would be a bit wasteful and expensive) it put a much heavier load on the motor than straight knives and in reality, I think most folks end up running with partially dull cutters for more time overall than with straight knives.

    My ideal would be to keep my 735 and add something like a Yates 180, Oliver 399/299, or equivalent and use the DW735 for finish planing when appropriate or for quick runs of smaller stock, though I think the right big planers can be setup to achieve results equivalent to finish surface from the 735 so I may find it redundant to keep. I also have little motivation to sell it to try and recoup any initial investment because I was in a position to buy a brand new, warrantied, damaged box model for less than $300 several years back, which only makes me feel fuzzier about it.
    Last edited by Phillip Mitchell; 03-31-2019 at 11:51 AM.

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Drew Sanderson View Post
    I want to go from rough to finish on domestics. I need versatility. I have a two car garage I like to use as a garage so the thought of storing the planer without needing its own floor square footage is ideal.
    Good data. Normally when someone is going to buy a $600 lunchbox and throw another $400 to $700 at it in a spiral head I would suggest a floor planer. Your statement that you want to get close to a finished surface would direct you to a "finish" planer like a lunchbox. Floor planers will get you close to a finished surface depending on what your surface prep needs are. Nothing really goes from machine to finish in my shop so factor that in.

    I have run DW734 (knives), DW735 (knives) and 15" (spiral) floor machines. The lunchbox machines do a great job but, I use a lot of figured wood which they do not do so well on, ergo the large spiral machine. On the upside, your spiral head will pay for itself in not replacing knives pretty quickly.
    "A hen is only an egg's way of making another egg".


    – Samuel Butler

  14. #14
    The 735 is really nice if you value a near-finished quality surface and small footprint. It's a heavy machine and has a really, really nice fit-and-finish and "feel" to it - it was obviously a (successful) attempt to build the very best-quality 13" planer possible. It sounds ideal for your situation.

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by glenn bradley View Post
    Good data. Normally when someone is going to buy a $600 lunchbox and throw another $400 to $700 at it in a spiral head I would suggest a floor planer.
    Which floor planer would you point me to? I agree it seems a like a ton of money to put into a portable planer.


    Quote Originally Posted by glenn bradley View Post
    Nothing really goes from machine to finish in my shop
    Me either, but people love to gush over that surface on youtube reviews of the 735 with the byrd head

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