In article YgZld.225864$%k.192568@pd7tw2no, "Dave" wrote:
As you are all aware, benchtop planers have come down in price
dramatically. I am considering buying my first planer, and I want it to be
the last planer I buy. I plan to make home furniture as a hobby, probably
low volume over a few decades. Portability is not an issue, and I do have
220v access with a good size shop. Is there a steep improvement in final
product quality with larger floor models? Do you think I should buy a
benchtop model, or save the dough and buy a floor model? If you had to do it
over again, which size would you buy?

Let's put it this way: My DeWalt DW735 benchtop planer produces, in
"finishing" mode, surfaces that need hardly any scraping or sanding to be
glass-smooth. It's difficult for me to imagine that *any* planer, benchtop or
free-standing, could produce a surface that is significantly better than what
I'm already getting from the DeWalt.

It's entirely possible that larger, more powerful planers could produce an
equivalent, or better, surface *faster* than the DW735 does. But if your
intended use is "a low volume hobby" then that wouldn't seem to be much of an
issue for you.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek-at-milmac-dot-com)

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