Planer dropping

[Eddie Ormerod]

I've had a DeWalt 734 planer for about 15 years. It works great. It started to get hard to raise and lower the planer.
A couple of weeks ago, I cleaned and lubed the parts that make the planer go up and down.
Now when I plane a board, it gets stuck when it is almost out. I can see the planer motor base dropping when I jerk the board out.
And when I go to put the board back in the planer after slightly turning the lowering handle, it won't go in.
What is going on here?
Thanks.
Eddie

[glenn bradley]

The 734 has a carriage lock which is what makes it so great. If you over-lubed where the carriage lock sleeves engage that could be a contributing factor. You could confirm this by cleaning a short section of the posts where the carriage lock sleeves engage, run some cuts and watch for improvement.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

Portable bench top planers just behave this way. 15 years is a very good run for a 734. I had to wrap the feed rollers on my little Delta with grip tape to eek a little more life out of it.

[Mel Fulks]

Always adjust a planer up. Always lower a planer a little lower than what you need , then raise bed to correct height .

[Maurice Mcmurry]

Glen makes a good observation about the locking mechanism. Another thing I did along with the grip tape hack was to adjust the locking mechanism.

[Eddie Ormerod]

Glen makes a good observation about the locking mechanism. Another thing I did along with the grip tape hack was to adjust the locking mechanism.

I have never used the locking mechanism. I tried once today and it popped up. Probably needs adjustment.

Maybe I over lubed it. 😭

[Maurice Mcmurry]

I lock it every time. It makes a big difference in feed roller grip and end snipe.

[Brian Runau]

My 735 just recently got out of whack. Planer head was not level on 4 corners to the bed. Measure each corner to the bed to confirm level.

[Eddie Ormerod]

My 735 just recently got out of whack. Planer head was not level on 4 corners to the bed. Measure each corner to the bed to confirm level.

How did you adjust the bed? I don't see anyway to do so.

[Eddie Ormerod]

My 735 just recently got out of whack. Planer head was not level on 4 corners to the bed. Measure each corner to the bed to confirm level.

How did you adjust the bed? I don't see anyway to do so.

[Brian Runau]

How did you adjust the bed? I don't see anyway to do so.

Eddie: I would consider this as a last resort based on what is involved and I would certainly measure the corner height from the table to confirm that the corners are different heights. Mine was binding going up because the corners were not level against the table. Not sure how they got this way, but my unit was 13-14 years old. I called the parts side of Dewalt and spoke with someone there on advice of how to go about this. For me it was a last resort, I was going to pitch it so I gave this a try as a last ditch effort figuring I couldn't screw it up any worse than it was.

You have to remove the top and the cover, the guts and remove the chain that drives the carriage up and down. See pic below. U tube videos that show how to do this. Find something you can use as a spacer. Something with parallel sides. I used a scrap block of wood that had been jointed and planed. Find the lowest corner and start there. I lowered the carriage to the spacer top, light pressure. Then placed the spacer on the next corner and adjusted the ball screw nut down until it touched the spacer with the same pressure. The ball screw adjustment lowered the corner. Do this on all corners. Carriage should then be parallel to the table. Check to confirm. I reinstalled the chain to check if the motion was free moving up and down. Then reassembled. Keep track of the screws and the wiring connections. I took pics and even sketched the wiring to make sure I didn't screw it up.

Planer 2.jpg