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Portable Planer Recommendation?

Brent, I have the Dewalt 735 but it sure makes a racket. Loudest tool i have but i like it.

If you asked me what i would do now since you already have a lunchbox planner and are saying you might be in the market for an upgrade, well then i would offer you this thought.

I have 13 ' planning capacity with the Dw735, 8" jointing capacity with the Grizzly jointer i have. Well in a small shop thats two tools and pretty incompatible. Might as well have a 8 inch planner but hey they dont make these.

So recently there has been what i think of as the European influence in the tool design area. They all stuck for a lot less space over there than typical of North America. So i see the combo machines have come out and are getting much better reviews.

Today i would have rather not spent the $500 I did at the time on the planer and its stand and the $650 I spent on the jointer and rather bought one of the combo planner jointers where i have a wider jointing and compatible planning width and one set of cutter knives to deal with when it comes sharpening time. Since my jointer is 220v anyhow and i have a 3hp motor, i have no difference in the power demand and most of all in a small shop with one operator things are pretty sequencial so I would save space and do the milling operations in a batch manner just as we would do if we have two machines. Even if you leave the two running and go from jointer to planner normally there is not much time saved by doing jointing and then set the machine up for planning.

Think of all the benefits. And its only one dust collector line as well.

Smaller footprint there substantial space saving
Single machine with compatible cutting width
Same power requirements
One set of cutters to sharpen
same sort of combined cost probably a better resale value IMHO.
Negative would be I dont know at this stage what the setup/change over operation time is.

Anyone got one of these machines???

Here is what i mean at Grizzly site here, I know there was a review in either Wood or Fine Woodworking not that long ago but my mags are all over the place so i cannot check for yu without doing a huge hunt sorry.

Ok I looked up the Grizzly machine and its still quiet a bit more, but if i knew what i knew what i know now back when i was buying my machines I would have sprung for the extra. This looks like one of those machines that, like a table saw you would only have to buy once for a hobby shop and you would have covered yourself for life.
 
Don Baer said:
I have looked at the jet version of that tool and I to would opt for it if I were doing it all over again. Funney thing is two of the jet dealrs have each had one on their floor since they came out and neither one has sold one.:dunno:
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They are a little pricey. However, my biggest concern would be the 55" overal table length as opposed to 72-80" on most 8" jointers.
 
Brent, I'm generally happy with my DW735 -- just like all those other guys -- but I do fantasize about putting a Byrd head in it.

If I were starting over I might look around and see what options there were for planers that already had a Byrd head.
 
Rennie Heuer said:
They are a little pricey. However, my biggest concern would be the 55" overal table length as opposed to 72-80" on most 8" jointers.
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Yeah i guess its a bit of a compromise Rennie but i find my 8 inch jointer a real space gobbler for an operation that i dont do that frequently and then only for a short duration.



While we are at it has anyone tried the private label alternative blades for the DW735. I saw a ad in one of the mags for a Infinity Tools blade as a replacement can anyone offer a review?
 
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DW 735 and/or jointer

I thought I'd throw in my 2 cents (may be over priced at that;-)

I have had the 735 for several years and aside from the NOISE am very pleased with it. I have been woodworking for close to 30 years and for the first 25 years had a separate jointer. I used it sparingly for about the first 10 years then it collected dust until about 5 years ago and I sold it. If I need to straighten an edge I use my router table w/an offset fence (I have the Incra top of line set up) or my Shopsmith Mark V w/a straight edge jig. I use a Forrest blade so ripped edges are ready to glue straight from my saw. I buy my wood from a local mill that straight line rips the lumber and surfaces the boards to 11/16. I guess if I needed to flatten a board a jointer would be nice but it's so rare for me that I could simply build a jig for my router and flatten it that way. I guess if I used a decent amount of rough cut lumber a jointer would be an asset. Otherwise, for me the floor space in the shop is way more valuable.

:dunno:

Jack
 
Very good point there Jack.:thumb: Come to think of it this idea also speaks to the concept of developing a relationship with a local lumber supplier and i dont mean HD. Ones local lumber supplier inevitably has the ability to give you a starting point at a reasonable cost. Given the amount of wood that a hobbyist is using this is a very fair point. Heck why did you not tell me that idea before i bought my jointer.:D

I just went and looked up my local lumber yard and they have a $20 minmum for planning/jointing and a fee of $60 per hour for up to 6 inch thick and 24" wide and $125 for their bigger planner that will do 8" thick and 51 " wide. I did not even know there were planners that wide. Guess you can plane/joint a lot of wood in an hour.
 
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Not to steal the thread, but my screws strip out all the time. Had to take a dremel tool to them the last time and make flats on the sides so I could remove them. Used a vicegrip and some words, not to be used here. Either going to buy new screws or a new head.
 
All I can recommend is the one I have, it has been absolutely bullet proof, and it never ever snipes anything, as it is designed correctly from the get go!

>> Makita 2030S Planer/Jointer <<

Heck it is even portable........
97lbs.jpg


:wave:
 
Steve Southwood said:
Not to steal the thread, but my screws strip out all the time. Had to take a dremel tool to them the last time and make flats on the sides so I could remove them. Used a vicegrip and some words, not to be used here. Either going to buy new screws or a new head.
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Never, ever, had a problem with the screws that hold down the blade in my dw735.

Were they over-tightened? I put the supplied Allen key in, and one sharp twist frees them and then they spin out.
 
Yea, I think they were too tight from the start. Now it is like everytime I do a blade change they get tighter. I just figured it was the force of rotation doing it. I don't know what the answer is, but a Byrd head would be nice.
 
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