Once more unto the DW735


collinb

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The more I use it the happier I am that I got it.

I always run it on slow feed and minimal cut. I am not seeing any washboard. None.

What I do get is a lot of fine, fluffy material for my compost.

I sometimes go over the material with a 220 grit afterward, of course depending on the species put through it. Generally I only need to touch of the edges. (Cherry comes out near-perfect. Oak has a brittleness that most always needs at least a little clean-up.)

SNIPE CONTROL: Avoiding snipe is easy by lifting the back end of the piece a bit as it feeds in, and not letting go until it hits the outfeed roller.

Not doing this gives me snipe at about 2" in. Not holding it up until it hits the outfeed roller results in snipe at about the 4" point. (Or, just buy the end tables and adjust the infeed up 1/8".)

OPINION: This is almost certainly the highest quality "portable" unit available. (It's portable like the Mamiya RB67 was a field camera.) It gives top-grade results.

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I do happen to agree based on my use of it and others.

Only complaint this early in the morning is the dw blades.  I had to sets when I bought it and both sets of new blades chipped edges really quickly. I don't run glue or dirty lumber through, just think the metal may not be high quality which sucks. The good blade sets aren't cheap.

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I guess I am surprised with the no sanding part but with that said the 733 I had did a nice job but still needed sanding.  If the 735 is that good it would be nice for the last pass after I hog off most of the stock with different plainer. My Delta 15 inch will remove stock fairly quick but even with sharp blades and a light last pass I still need to run most everything through the drum sander and finish up with a palm sander.  The 735 threads make me want one.

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29 minutes ago, mat60 said:

I guess I am surprised with the no sanding part but with that said the 733 I had did a nice job but still needed sanding.  If the 735 is that good it would be nice for the last pass after I hog off most of the stock with different plainer. My Delta 15 inch will remove stock fairly quick but even with sharp blades and a light last pass I still need to run most everything through the drum sander and finish up with a palm sander.  The 735 threads make me want one.

I changed the knives on mine to some I got from Amazon shortly before I sold it. Ran a piece of curly cherry through it and was nothing short of stunned at the finish. I had had the machine for 5 or 6 years up to that point. Almost hated to sell it, but when the guy saw the test piece I ran through for him he bought it immediately. Really impressive for any planer, much less a portable.

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8 hours ago, collinb said:

It's portable like the Mamiya RB67 was a field camera.

LOL - the Pentax 67 was not exactly kind to your back either... I do miss those big old transparencies though.  Opening the envelope with your developed "slides" on Velvia was always a treat.  Its just not the same feeling on digital. 

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9 hours ago, collinb said:

OPINION: This is almost certainly the highest quality "portable" unit available.

Until it breaks.  Last week I was running a bunch of cherry through mine and the planer quit planing.  I opened it up and discovered the drive belt had broken.  Ok, I ordered a new belt installed it, ran 1 board through, and the new belt broke.  Tore the machine apart again and discovered that the bearings on the cutter and motor were bad and I don't know what other problems might be there.  I bought the planer in 2010, (Home Depot had a closeout sale paid $270.00) I have no idea how much wood I have put through it, but it was obvious that this one is done.  Went to Lowes, bought another, guess I will wear this one out too. 

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13 hours ago, RichardA said:

Infinity's HSS blades are about $80 and they last 5 times longer than DeWalt blades.  And Infinity's can be honed a number of times.

Agreed. There is a suitable metal which doesn't seem cost prohibitive to have decent blades. This is dewalts top of the line planer. I think it's ok to expect more than the tin can blades stock.

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6 hours ago, Just Bob said:

Until it breaks.  Last week I was running a bunch of cherry through mine and the planer quit planing.  I opened it up and discovered the drive belt had broken.  Ok, I ordered a new belt installed it, ran 1 board through, and the new belt broke.  Tore the machine apart again and discovered that the bearings on the cutter and motor were bad and I don't know what other problems might be there.  I bought the planer in 2010, (Home Depot had a closeout sale paid $270.00) I have no idea how much wood I have put through it, but it was obvious that this one is done.  Went to Lowes, bought another, guess I will wear this one out too. 

I hope this is a compliment and not a bitch? 8 years of satisfaction with an initial investment of $270 is fantastic. 

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8 hours ago, K Cooper said:

I hope this is a compliment and not a bitch? 8 years of satisfaction with an initial investment of $270 is fantastic. 

Only complaint is that now I had to spend $550.

7 hours ago, mat60 said:

8 years of any kind of satisfaction for only $270 would be great.

I agree.  

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19 hours ago, Robert Morse said:

LOL - the Pentax 67 was not exactly kind to your back either... I do miss those big old transparencies though.  Opening the envelope with your developed "slides" on Velvia was always a treat.  Its just not the same feeling on digital. 

I enjoyed the Pentax 6x7 mlu more than the RB. Especially when using the prism on the RB. Those later coating 67 lenses were better than the KL, though both were excellent.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
20 hours ago, collinb said:

I've noticed that there is so much air being pushed through to the bag that I get a shock when I touch near the bag while the planer is running. Hmmm.

The friction of the moving air is generating the static charge.  Take a small piece of chain or a piece of wire, fasten an alligator clip to it and clip it to the bag.  Make sure the other end touches the concrete. 

Discharging static through a means other than our bodies (ouch) is a simple matter of giving the charge ANY better path to ground than we are.  It doesn't have to be perfect, just better than the walking bag of water that we humans are.

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Concrete itself may not be enough. Grounding rods go deep to where humidity is relatively constant because dry conditions don’t aid in materials with lower conductivity. Just a thought. Concrete may  work well, but if it doesn’t, look for a better path to earth. Some municipalities will not let you ground much to water lines, but shop vac static should be fine. 

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3 hours ago, gee-dub said:

The friction of the moving air is generating the static charge.  Take a small piece of chain or a piece of wire, fasten an alligator clip to it and clip it to the bag.  Make sure the other end touches the concrete. 

Discharging static through a means other than our bodies (ouch) is a simple matter of giving the charge ANY better path to ground than we are.  It doesn't have to be perfect, just better than the walking bag of water that we humans are.

 

2 hours ago, Tpt life said:

Concrete itself may not be enough. Grounding rods go deep to where humidity is relatively constant because dry conditions don’t aid in materials with lower conductivity. Just a thought. Concrete may  work well, but if it doesn’t, look for a better path to earth. Some municipalities will not let you ground much to water lines, but shop vac static should be fine. 

The *best* way to ground would be to go to the nearest ham radio store and pick up a 6 ft copper rod, drive it into the ground, and then attach to it. Other than that the power cord ground tab should work just fine.

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 Just speaking from experience.  My system has been alligator clipped to a piece of foil tape attached to a clean spot on the concrete floor. This has worked well for over a decade. It’s not about creating an optimal electrical circuit. It is simply about providing ANY source to ground that is better than yourself.

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On 7/27/2018 at 2:23 PM, Just Bob said:

Until it breaks.  Last week I was running a bunch of cherry through mine and the planer quit planing.  I opened it up and discovered the drive belt had broken.  Ok, I ordered a new belt installed it, ran 1 board through, and the new belt broke.  Tore the machine apart again and discovered that the bearings on the cutter and motor were bad and I don't know what other problems might be there.  I bought the planer in 2010, (Home Depot had a closeout sale paid $270.00) I have no idea how much wood I have put through it, but it was obvious that this one is done.  Went to Lowes, bought another, guess I will wear this one out too. 

I actually got one of these planners for free because of the same issue. The bearings are not exactly easy to get to or get off but replacements were only $5 and planer works fine now. Took me about 4 hours to get the job done.

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I wonder if it is true that a spiral cutterhead is too much strain on a 735. Some folks think so it seems. That is the only planer w/spiral head in my future I'll bet. I would love some advice on this, as 2 grand for a 15 inch / spiral head is hard for me. Light touch on the depth wheel and a few more passes is fine with me.

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9 hours ago, blackoak said:

I wonder if it is true that a spiral cutterhead is too much strain on a 735. Some folks think so it seems. That is the only planer w/spiral head in my future I'll bet. I would love some advice on this, as 2 grand for a 15 inch / spiral head is hard for me. Light touch on the depth wheel and a few more passes is fine with me.

I'm not buying it on my DW735 i can remove more material with less motor bogging with my spiral head than i could with the strait knives. I'm not entirely sure why it seems all over the board like this.

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A lot of this theory came from hooking amp meters up to the cord after swapping out the cutting heads. I cannot find the article right now, so it may be behind a pay wall. Spirals led to  a higher amperage draw in some marginal fashion as there was no “rest” between cutter heads. I am fairly certain that was all before people actually gave them a try and adapted to any quirks. 

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12 minutes ago, Tpt life said:

A lot of this theory came from hooking amp meters up to the cord after swapping out the cutting heads. I cannot find the article right now, so it may be behind a pay wall. Spirals led to  a higher amperage draw in some marginal fashion as there was no “rest” between cutter heads. I am fairly certain that was all before people actually gave them a try and adapted to any quirks. 

Does it depend on the segmented head as well?I feel like with all the different geometry options (helical shear cut ect) they can't all cut equal.

Wish i had unlimited time because I'd totally be willing to swap the head a couple times and take cuts on the exact same piece of lumber measuring the power draw. I'd say it can't be fresh knives on each either they should have a few passes before draw is measured the HSS knives might draw a lot less for the first 10 BF but they dull fairly fast.

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