Delta 22-59 vs. Dewalt DW735 planers ... which is better?

[mywebaccts (at) PLUGcomcast.ne]

Well, "better" is often a subjective term, particularly when comparing two 13" planers that both rate as "very good" ... but certainly don't rate up there with the professional units.

Still ... Amazon has a great deal on the Delta and I'm tempted to buy it. I was holding out for the Dewalt, mostly because it has 3 blades to Delta's 2.

But if you can believe the users ratings on Amazon, the Delta scores better. And for far less money, it might be the better deal.

I know that none of these planers will give you a "glass smooth" finish like many of the user reviews claim. I understand that sanding is always going to be needed afterwards.

Looking at Popular Woodwoorking's reviews back in Feb. 2004, they rated the Dewalt just a tad bit higher than the Delta. Dewalt has that extra blade, provides 96/179 cuts/in vs. 60/90 for the Delta. The Delta pulls less amps, which can be viewed as good or bad.

ARGHHH!!!! Anyone want to throw in their two cents of sawdust? For $150 cheaper, would you take the Delta? Or hold out for the Dewalt?

Jack

[Leon]

"mywebaccts (at) PLUGcomcast.net" wrote in message news:CZqdnT9LEp_hbgfZnZ2dnUVZ [e-mail]...

Well actually the 3 blade SLOW feed planers will give you incredable results, for a little while. Then you get a nick in a blade and you are no better off. As you said, surface prep will be necessary from that point.

From what I understand you can run a hose from the DeWalt directly into a trash can to collect the saw dust. That would be a nice true advantage.

[Chris Friesen]

Can you not shift one of the blades over slightly? Or flip it to the new side?

Chros

[Tex]

I've had a Dewalt 735 for a bit over a year and couldn't be more pleased. I can't comment on the Delta, so will leave that to someone else and enjoy reading their take on that one.

I generally work with maple and have had really good results going from sawmill-type rough cut stuff to finished boards. If you do very much work with good woods, I'm convinced it'll pay for itself by letting you buy the rough stuff and surfacing them to both your satisfaction and to your thickness requirements. Prior to getting the 735 I had bought already surfaced stuff and found that their thicknesses varied 3-5 thousandths or more -- what a pain when trying to do accurate cabinetry

-- NO MORE!

[Leon]

Sure you could but what fun is that. Shift it, flip it, spin it. The adjustments to get the smooth finish will again only be short lived and you start the process over again. Really, it's a thickness planer, not a drum sander.

[Bob Moos]

I was looking at planers a couple of months ago, and trying to decide if I wanted to spend the money for the Dewalt DW735 or something considerably less expensive from Ryobi. In the end, I went with the Dewalt DW734[1] and I've been very happy with it.

I don't know about getting one of these online, but I got mine at the local Lowes for $359.

[1]:

[mywebaccts (at) PLUGcomcast.ne]

The reason I was asking is that the Delta is only $343. That's $331 minus 10% plus $49 shipping.

That's pretty cheap ... the Dewalt DW735 is $500.

Now, the DW734 is only $379 ... not much more than the Delta. I hadn't considered that unit but that might be a good option too!

Jack

Bob Moos wrote:

[brandom11]

[jd]

I have the dewalt, and i fyou want, I'll trade it flat even for a delta. I was sold on the dewalt by the 3 blades, the higher cut per inch count, and the highly rated chip collector. Only problem is htat the blades absolutley suck. and cost something like $50 a set to replace. And you *can't* shift one of them to one side when one gets nicked (they mount on fixed posts).

I repalced an early veersion of the delta 12" planer with the dewalt, and within less than 100BF of pine (sofetst stuff I use) the blades were badly chipped. (the blades on the old delta had lasted for thousands of BF before needing any adjustment). Dewalt customer servide insisted that there was no history of blade problems, but the store I bought it from said that almost all of the units they sold had come back or generated compaints about the blades. They gave me a new set, which I installed, and tried using only really light passes (like 1/8 of a turn of hte handle). Same result. after a few passes, the blades were trash.

wanna trade?

-JD

"mywebaccts (at) PLUGcomcast.net" wrote in message news:CZqdnT9LEp_hbgfZnZ2dnUVZ [e-mail]...

[shinola9]

I have had the Delta for about 2 years. I am very happy with the finish that it produces. It is easy to use and has plenty of balls for aggressive thicknessing. It isn't perfect though. One problem that I have (and have read that this is common), the wood feed system is VERY finicky. If everything isn't 100% perfect, the wood will stop feeding and you have to manually push it until it starts feeding again. You have to keep all the metal parts on the bottom very clean and waxed plus clean the feed rollers all the time and even then, it might just quit feeding anyway. Adjusting the feed rollers is very difficult and the paragraph and illustration in the manual about making the adjustment just plain suck. I got the optional dust collector hood and hook it up to a strong shop vac. It clogs regularly (every 5 -10 minutes of steady planing) and must be dismantled to clean (about 5 minutes work). This gets to be a drag so I usually abandon the collector, let the chips fly and then clean it up later.

If I knew the DeWalt would produce the same finish and not have these two pain in the ass problems, I would probaly pay the extra money for the DeWalt. Besides, the DeWalt is cooler looking anyway.

Chuck

[BB]

A shop vac does not have enough CFM to get all of the chips - I had the same problem - it went away when hooked up to a good dust collector system. The shop vac has high velocity but low cfm versus the low velocity high CFM of the cust collector.

BB

[Alurker]

[e-mail] wrote in news:1151069978.107040.242310 @i40g2000cwc.googlegroups.com:

the wood will stop feeding

I've had the Dewalt 735 for quite a while now and really pushed it hard. I finally changed the knives recently, a real cinch! Knives are on Ebay at like half list price. Yes, I've had to clean the feed rollers maybe twice in hundred of feet of planing. A little rubbing alcohol on a paper towel solves the problem. The bed is waxed but so are all my machines, maybe 30 sec every few months ... wax on - wax off. Although I am now setting up dust collection for the entire shop, the 735 has been functioning for years with an old vac hose into an burnt out Sears shop vac tub with the filter in place but the vac motor removed. It gets probably 90% of debris. Only time I have clogged it was planing HDPE (little sticky curlies and a real poor idea!) and if a knot or defect breaks free and jams in the blower. That takes maybe 3 minutes to fix and only happens when you are working with poor quality wood to start with.

I am not a big Dewalt fan, but I've been extremely happy with this planer. It is great with sharp blades, but still OK with dull ones except on figured and reversing grain. The nicks come off with a scraper swipe or a quick sanding rub. The self storing tool fits all the various screws on the machine and has a magnet to pick out the knives. A well thought out product. If I had more money and space I'd get a big 15" heavy duty planer and use the 735 for the final passes.

Jerry

[Tex]

My 735 does, very occasionally, stop feeding a board but a slight push/tug gets it moving again. Note, that this is a rare occurrence and hasn't been anywhere near a problem. In a year and a half I haven't had to adjust feed rollers, so don't know how big a chore that would be.

I bought the unit with the dust collection hood -- actually, jut a piece of fabric that you could tie over a trash can. I only used it for a very short period of time and trashed it -- it's really a jinky, at best, solution. I got a real dust collector shortly thereafter (needed for TS and router table, anyway). I don't have any problems with chips/dust clogging.

BTW, I bought from Amazon.com when they had some kind of sales promotional going ($35 off). I got free shipping and no sales tax (8.5%). Net cost $464, delivered to my door with no problems.

tex

[CW]

I also have a Delta. Had it for about 4 years. Planed piles of wood with it plus a fair amount of plastic. Only time I ever have had a feed problem was on something that was very tapered. Have never cleaned the feed rollers and have only waxed the table once. Have it hooked up to a dust collector. Works well and has never clogged.

[noshots]

[noshots]

I like this planer but like many other people I am very disappointed in the durability of the steel knives. Looking for an alternative I sent a knife to Leech Carbide to get a quote on having some knives made from tungsten carbide. After some negotiation, if I buy in bulk I can get the knives for $95.00 per knife, that's $285.00 for a set. This is about 5 times the cost of the steel knives but they should last 10 to

20 times longer. This is a bit of an investment but it looks like it's worth it if you use your planer with any frequency like I do. Leech Carbide has the specifications on these knives and is ready to produce them but I need other people willing to buy some of these from me. Is anyone interested? If so email me at [e-mail] Leech said they would send me a test set so I can make sure there are not problems but I need to commit.