I have a dewalt DW735 13" planer, the RPM is 10,000 & the feed rate is 14/26
FPM. To be honest it's a good planer, but it can go thru blades. That seems
to be most peoples gripe. So the Grizzly catalog arrived and I started
looking at planers with spiral carbide inserts. I had bought a Grizzly 8"
jointer G0593 with the same spiral carbide inserts. I love it, great cuts,
easy to rotate the cutters etc. So I thought a planer like that would be
great. I start looking at the specs on 15" & 20" planers, 16/20 FPM feed
rate & 5000 RPM. I would have thought the feed rate on 3 or 5 hp 220v
machine would have been higher than the dewalt? Also the rpm on the Grizzly
is 1/2. I have no doubt the Grizzly is an upgrade, but I don't understand
these differences. Any help? While your at it, anyone have a Grizzly 20"
planer model G0454Z or G1033X(Extreme) . What is the difference between
their Extreme series & regular?

Thx,
Chris

Chris wrote:
I have a dewalt DW735 13" planer, the RPM is 10,000 & the feed rate is 14/26
FPM. To be honest it's a good planer, but it can go thru blades. That seems
to be most peoples gripe. So the Grizzly catalog arrived and I started
looking at planers with spiral carbide inserts. I had bought a Grizzly 8"
jointer G0593 with the same spiral carbide inserts. I love it, great cuts,
easy to rotate the cutters etc. So I thought a planer like that would be
great. I start looking at the specs on 15" & 20" planers, 16/20 FPM feed
rate & 5000 RPM. I would have thought the feed rate on 3 or 5 hp 220v
machine would have been higher than the dewalt? Also the rpm on the Grizzly
is 1/2. I have no doubt the Grizzly is an upgrade, but I don't understand
these differences. Any help? While your at it, anyone have a Grizzly 20"
planer model G0454Z or G1033X(Extreme) . What is the difference between
their Extreme series & regular?

How many blades on the DW? I don't have anything except old industrial
iron to compare, but I'd guess it's probably two instead of three (or
four) so the higher rpm is required to achieve the same cuts/inch...

Feed rate combined w/ rpm and number of knives translates into
cuts/inch. Designs are for that end spec, not as only linear speed.
Larger planers and higher horsepower translates to more capacity to
handle larger work and take more material per cut than the small guys
(but, otoh, they may do as fine or better detail work on what they can
handle).

I've not specifically looked at the relative Griz in detail but a quick
glance at the last printed catalog I happen to have laying here shows
the primary difference appears to be the segmented spiral cutterhead on
the X as opposed to four (4) HSS knives on the Z--oh, but this isn't a
"Z" model, just the 0454 so that may not be true although the other "Z"
models seem to have straight knives as standard w/ the segmented as an
option...

Those are the types of differences I'd suggest looking at the current
descriptions w/ in mind. Also, compare weight altho they look roughly
equivalent in this catalog.

--

Lots of physics here. I think cuts per minute is more informative than
RPM. If I have 4 blades spinning at 2500 RPM it makes as many cuts as
1 blade at 10,000 RPM. I assume the dewalt has 2 blades and the bigger
planers have 3 or 4.

Second, there is the need to have enough inertia to keep the head
spinning. A bigger planner has more mass in the spinning head so it
can run at a lower RPM and have the same continuous torque hitting the
wood (I am not a mechanical engineer so my terminology is non-
technical, just recalling as it was explained to me).

Regarding feed speeds, a part of the consideration is not ffeding so
fast that the wood stalls the head at a typical depth of cut. A wider
planer has much more to overcome so even with more horse power it
might need to feed a little slower.

Now with spiral cutters with many little cutters, you mostly have
cutters into the wood continuously, which makes for a smoother cut
because of lots of little nicks continouusly instead of 2, 3 or 4
bigones each revolution. So you can still count cuts per minute but
one cut actually eaquals lots o' little cuts that add up to one full
width cut.

Another aspect of feed rate to rpm rate is that each cutter is
actually cutting a small arc out of the face of the wood. So the
diameter of the head makes a difference in the finish. So two machines
with the same number of knives at the same rpm and feed rate but
different diameter head will produce a different finish. So a feed
rate is not just a factor of power but is optomized as part of the
whole system to produce the smoothest range of finishes by overlapping
the arcs sufficently to feel smooth although with a spinning head and
a moving board there will always be some level or ridges.


On Jan 18, 8:57*am, "Chris" wrote:
I have a dewalt DW735 13" planer, the RPM is 10,000 & the feed rate is 14/26
FPM. To be honest it's a good planer, but it can go thru blades. That seems
to be most peoples gripe. So the Grizzly catalog arrived and I started
looking at planers with spiral carbide inserts. I had bought a Grizzly 8"
jointer G0593 with the same spiral carbide inserts. I love it, great cuts,
easy to rotate the cutters etc. So I thought a planer like that would be
great. I start looking at the specs on 15" & 20" planers, 16/20 FPM feed
rate & 5000 RPM. I would have thought the feed rate on 3 or 5 hp 220v
machine would have been higher than the dewalt? Also the rpm on the Grizzly
is 1/2. I have no doubt the Grizzly is an upgrade, but I don't understand
these differences. Any help? While your at it, anyone have a Grizzly 20"
planer model G0454Z or G1033X(Extreme) . What is the difference between
their Extreme series & regular?

Thx,
Chris

Chris wrote:
I have a dewalt DW735 13" planer, the RPM is 10,000 & the feed rate is 14/26
FPM.
I start looking at the specs on 15" & 20" planers, 16/20 FPM feed
rate & 5000 RPM. I would have thought the feed rate on 3 or 5 hp 220v
machine would have been higher than the dewalt? Also the rpm on the Grizzly
is 1/2. I have no doubt the Grizzly is an upgrade, but I don't understand
these differences.

The bigger planers have a much quieter motor, and can take a much deeper
bite without bogging down. They are also better able to deal with very
rough lumber (segmented rollers deal better with thickness variations
than the rubber rollers of lunchbox style planers).

For sheer quality of finish the lunchbox planers are very good and can
take a lighter pass than the heavy-duty ones.

Chris

"Chris" wrote in message
...
I have a dewalt DW735 13" planer, the RPM is 10,000 & the feed rate is
14/26 FPM. To be honest it's a good planer, but it can go thru blades. That
seems to be most peoples gripe. So the Grizzly catalog arrived and I
started looking at planers with spiral carbide inserts. I had bought a
Grizzly 8" jointer G0593 with the same spiral carbide inserts. I love it,
great cuts, easy to rotate the cutters etc. So I thought a planer like that
would be great. I start looking at the specs on 15" & 20" planers, 16/20
FPM feed rate & 5000 RPM. I would have thought the feed rate on 3 or 5 hp
220v machine would have been higher than the dewalt? Also the rpm on the
Grizzly is 1/2. I have no doubt the Grizzly is an upgrade, but I don't
understand these differences. Any help? While your at it, anyone have a
Grizzly 20" planer model G0454Z or G1033X(Extreme) . What is the difference
between their Extreme series & regular?

Thx,
Chris


Speculation here.

The slower RPM may be to increase the power being directed to the cutter
head. Apparently these spiral head cutters require more HP as the cutter
head is basically in constant contact with the wood. Because the cutter
head is running slower, the feed rate is slower than most large planers with
3 knife cutter heads. This was news to me when I first read an article
about spiral head cutters some years back.

The feed rate on the DeWalt just happens to be the same as most of the
common bigger planers. Really, a thickness planer should only be expected
to cut your stock to a desired thickness and not produce stellar surface
smoothness although all planers produce nice results with fresh sharp
blades. As I am sure you have noticed, nicks form and you still have to
follow with sand paper or the like to acquire the surface desired. IMHO
the DeWalt has a slow speed and Too Slow speed. I am going to scrape and or
sand the finish afterwards so what is the use in going too slow to begin
with? Remember the nicked knife?

FIY, my 15" Stationary Delta planer with 3 knives runs at 16 and 30 feet per
minute and the knives are only in contact with the wood 3 times per
revolution.

On Jan 18, 12:36 pm, "SonomaProducts.com" wrote:
Lots of physics here. I think cuts per minute is more informative than
RPM. If I have 4 blades spinning at 2500 RPM it makes as many cuts as
1 blade at 10,000 RPM. I assume the dewalt has 2 blades and the bigger
planers have 3 or 4.


The 735 has three knives.