On Tue, 5 Sep 2006 12:42:45 -0500, Ellestad wrote:
Does anyone have experience with the DW735 planer? The features look
terrific, especially the dust ejection feature since I won't have dust
collection available. I am concerned with the many posts complaining about
short-lived knives. Are there knife quality issues with this machine or are
these guys getting the results of bad techniques? Are they expecting
industrial machine performance from a home-shop tool?

I've had one, for about a year now. I don't have any experience with any other
planer, so I have no basis for comparison. But I like the 735 a lot.

I bought the portable because I just don't have the room for a stationary
planer. I built a cart for it, with decent locking wheels, so its easy enough
to get out of the way.

Initially, I did not have the extension tables. There was, occasionally, a
little snipe. I've since added the extension tables, and now rarely have any
snipe. It seemed to be necessary to adjust the tables so they tip up very
slightly away from the planer.

I nicked the blades very early, running construction lumber through it for
"practice". The knots in the SPF really dinged the blades pretty well. I was
able to offset the blades a tad to minimize the ridging on stock for a while.
When there were too many nicks to get away with that, I turned them around,
one at a time, and repeated that process. I have a new set of blades ready to
install. I think I'll need to do that before I start my next project.

I use the 735 hooked up to my dust collection system with a short length of
flexible hose and an overhead bayonnet type disconnect. It does leave a few
shavings on the planer table. Nothing to fuss over. I've forgotten to start my
DC once or twice while using the planer. This results in shavings being thrown
into the piping for some distance, and the stuff in the DC's clear bag moves
around almost as if the DC is running. I have a press-fit cleanout cap on the
end of one piping run that was blown off due to the pressure generated by the
planer's chip ejector!

--
Art Greenberg
artg at eclipse dot net