DW735 Stainless Bed surface plate has come undone

[Ron Swanson Jr.]

I have the DeWalt DW735 and have put 10 years of solid use on it. I love that machine. I work at a woodworking supply store (The big one that rhymes with "Fockler' ) and it is so easy to sell people on that machine, because IMO it is heads and tails better than just about anything else out there, short of industrial machines. 

 

Anyway. 

 

I was planing a piece of 12/4 mahogany and I noticed I wasn't getting much dust in my collector. It was all coming out with the workpiece. And I realized it had been a while since I had last opened that machine up, so it was overdue for a cleaning and some troubleshooting. 

Here are the issues and solutions I encountered. 

1. DUST COLLECTION NOT EFFECTIVE. This was really simple. The shroud that routes the dust out of the machine had simply clogged so there was no where for the dust to go. Cleared the clog, problem solved. 

 

2. SEIZED BOLTS.  2 of the 24 hex-fasteners that secure the blades had seized. (This is a round head fastener that uses the machine's allen wrench to tighten/loosen)  I have had this problem in the past. I used a bolt extractor kit and it worked like a charm. It's a 2 sided bit that you chuck into a drill. In SLOW SPEED and IN REVERSE you bore out the head of the bolt. Once you have bored through the head you flip the bit around in the drill and use the other side to extract the seized fastener. Worked like a charm. I keep a stock of about 12 extra of these bolts on hand (ordered them from an authorized DeWalt repair shop years ago). Simple fix. 

 

3. STAINLESS STEEL BED SURFACE HAS COME UNDONE. I haven't fixed this yet. It was loose and came off of the bed with no extra encouragement. This is a sheet of stainless steel that covers the bed of the planer (Not to be confused with the Infeed or outfeed tables. The bed sits in between those 2 tables). It appears like it was simply affixed wit h contact cement and that had lost it's bond. 

If anyone has made this repair in the past and has any advice, I would love to hear it. I am planning to simply use contact cement and clamp pressure, evenly distributed to re-bond it back in place. 

ALSO - a word of advice for owners of this machine. In 2009 I bought a set of carbide blades for it from a company called Infinity Cutting Solutions. I have 9 years worth of use on these blades and they are STILL reasonably sharp!  While I was wrestling with one of the seized blade bolts, I slipped with the allen wrench and chipped one of the blades, dang it - but of the 3 blades, that is the only noticeable wear. I do not have an agenda of promoting Infinity Cutting Solutions but those blades were worth every penny. 9 years of solid use and they are still doing a great job! They weren't cheap - as I remember they were nearly $100 each blade. But I would've far surpassed that had I been using HSS blades over the last 10 years. So i would encourage anyone interested in a long term blade solutions to check out Infinity. At that time, the DW735 was the ONLY planer they made carbide knives for. Maybe now they offer them for more planers. 

 

AJ 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 14, 2018 by applejackson
fixed a typo

[Chestnut]

I'd be concerned about getting the plate re attached and keep it parallel with the cutter head. I'd be tempted to make a melamine that goes all the way through the planer and calibrate it with shims to parallel.

Interesting about the carbide knives I was interested in them back in the day it seemed like it was the infinity knives or a byrd head. I chose the byrd head because damaging a piece of carbide on those heads is a cheaper fix than if i damaged an entire blade like what happened for you. I commonly run less than ideal material through my planer so it's a valid concern for me at least.

[wdwerker]

I made a 2' long bed for my 10" lunchbox planer from particleboard & laminate and it reduced the snipe greatly. Then I made 8ft boxes that I use as infeed & outfeed tables. 

[AJ_Engineer]

3 hours ago, wdwerker said:

I made a 2' long bed for my 10" lunchbox planer from particleboard & laminate and it reduced the snipe greatly. Then I made 8ft boxes that I use as infeed & outfeed tables. 

I would consider this if you don't often hit close to the maximum planing depth on the machine. Re-attaching the plate with it remaining parallel to the cutterhead may be a challenge. With a longer bed that you put in you can shim it to maintain parallel easier than getting that piece re-attached parallel with glue I would think. As a bonus it does get you the increased bed length which has benefits.

[wdwerker]

I only loose 3/4 -7/8 from the height capacity. The boxes equal the base height of the machine. Both boxes store in a rack. Assembled its 18 ft long and hangs over at both ends on my tablesaw & 10' outfeed table.  A few shims & clamps keeps the whole thing steady. I can take a stack of lumber and feed it through butting end to end which runs my assistant ragged trying to dump the chips off the board and stack it before the next board is being pushed off the end.  It's just a 10" lunchbox planer. Wider stock goes through the 19/38 drum sander. 

[Ron Swanson Jr.]

@wdwerker I'd love to see a picture of that if you have one.

@Chestnut I don't think keeping parallel to the cutter head will be too difficult. The surface plate I'm fitting is a thin plate of SS that sits on a flat aluminum bed. (See pic). As long as I can get clamping pressure evenly distributed, it should stay parallel. I appreciate the concern though. 

I didn't get to the store for contact cement today, likely to take this on tomorrow. Just like a glue up, I'll dry fit and go through my clamping execution once or twice before the adhesive gets applied and the clock starts ticking. I'll post an update afterwords. Take care all!

PS 

Now that this thing is out of the machine I might as well see what I can do to take out some of the scratches and grooves accumulated in a decade of use. I hit it with a 220 disc in a random orbit sander, waxed and buffed it. It's very smooth now. 

[wdwerker]

You don't need to clamp contact cement !  Read the instructions, do a test w small scraps. You try to apply the glue evenly to both faces then let it dry until it's strongly sticky & not wet. You tilt the surface plate and align one edge, press it in place to act as a hinge, then you fold it down into place and rub firmly. That's it , your done.  This is how laminate is installed ,no clamps needed.

[Chestnut]

Also i was just thinking if you need any sort of clamping action you can just use the planer it's self the guide rollers should put an equal force just put a board on top and crank the unit down.

[Ron Swanson Jr.]

10 hours ago, Chestnut said:

Also i was just thinking if you need any sort of clamping action you can just use the planer it's self the guide rollers should put an equal force just put a board on top and crank the unit down.

I was thinking along those lines too - using the planner itself as a clamp.  I haven't used contact cement before so thank you @wdwerker for the advice. I assume that CC is a suitable agent to bond stainless to aluminum correct? Whatever they used in manufacturing for adhesive was clearly blown on.

[Ron Swanson Jr.]

22 hours ago, Chestnut said:

I chose the byrd head because damaging a piece of carbide on those heads is a cheaper fix than if i damaged an entire blade like what happened for you. I commonly run less than ideal material through my planer so it's a valid concern for me at least.

@Chestnut How has that Byrd head performed? Any issues to report? I will probably need another set of blades or a new head soon. Would like to know more about the Byrd head to make an informed decision. Can you buy just a few replacement cutter tiles for the byrd? Or do you have to buy the entire set? 

[Chestnut]

4 minutes ago, applejackson said:

@Chestnut How has that Byrd head performed? Any issues to report? I will probably need another set of blades or a new head soon. Would like to know more about the Byrd head to make an informed decision. Can you buy just a few replacement cutter tiles for the byrd? Or do you have to buy the entire set? 

So far so good. It was a very easy change too maybe an hour tops. I invested in mine for the noise reduction primarily and the cut second. The one that i bought came with 5 spare inserts. No you don't need to buy a whole set of them they are sold in packs of 10. They do have 4 sides and you should be able to get almost a lifetime of hobby use out of the stock inserts. I think Cremona just mentioned he changed around the ones on his jointer after 5 years and he does more woodworking than i do.

Cut quality isn't as smooth as fresh strait knives but is comparable to strait knives after 25-50 bf of use. I never seemed to be able to get through more than 200 bf with my knives if i was lucky. I'm trying to remember the last time i got tear out. I still have to make sure to pay attention to grain direction but it is much more forgiving there.

The main drawback to the byrd heads is they are slightly smaller than the stock head. The zero mark is no longer the zero mark because of this the new zero mark is 1/32 on the planer scale. They do offer a head that doesn't have this issue but in order to install it you have to remove all the inserts and then reinstall all the inserts after it's in the machine. Looking back it might be worth the issue because my experience is the machine can take off more material compared to the strait knives.

[wdwerker]

They do sell aresol contact cement. 3m makes a good one but it's a bit pricey. However you might want to mask off most of the machine to save hours of cleaning up overspray. 

[Ron Swanson Jr.]

@Chestnut and @wdwerker thanks guys for all the info. Appreciate it!

[Ron Swanson Jr.]

Quick followup - 

I cemented the bed back together last night. It went well. Should be good to go from here. Thanks for the advice, @wdwerker

[wdwerker]

Always glad to help.

[Chestnut]

Run a wide board and check to make sure it's even both sides.

[Ron Swanson Jr.]

11 hours ago, Chestnut said:

Run a wide board and check to make sure it's even both sides.

@ChestnutI haven't run anything though yet, but it's seated evenly over the bed. This is a fairly thin sheet of stainless. It's either seated or it's not. Even a dummy like me can keep it parallel pretty easily. But yes I'll be testing soon, likely tonight after work.

[Chestnut]

On 8/17/2018 at 7:50 AM, applejackson said:

@ChestnutI haven't run anything though yet, but it's seated evenly over the bed. This is a fairly thin sheet of stainless. It's either seated or it's not. Even a dummy like me can keep it parallel pretty easily. But yes I'll be testing soon, likely tonight after work.

I just mentioned that because it depends on the work you do and your tolerances. I had some legs get terribly off square because i found out the 735 can tweak slightly off parallel if you run thin stock through it. Even being off in parallel by 0.01" could add up. I'm not doubting you i'm just letting you know to check it before you use the planer for something critical.

[Ron Swanson Jr.]

Thanks @Chestnut! I did some planing last night and all looks well to my eye. I appreciate your guidance and perspective!

[Dennis M]

Has anyone found a supply for the stainless thin steel for the bed?  Mine has 1 dent, numerous scratches and one side edge is bent up.  I just bought a used machine and the price was good enough to overlook these flaws.  Thanks all.

[Chet]

18 minutes ago, Dennis M said:

Has anyone found a supply for the stainless thin steel for the bed?  Mine has 1 dent, numerous scratches and one side edge is bent up.  I just bought a used machine and the price was good enough to overlook these flaws.  Thanks all.

I would look at McMaster-Carr https://www.mcmaster.com

Just type "Stainless Steel" in the search bar and scroll through the list until you find a sheet close to the size you need.

A 12" X 18" piece might be around $20 I'm guessing.

[Dennis M]

It is part # N576980  base plate and I just had my new one delivered today .

From service net that links directly to the dwalt page.

$22.15 + shipping.