Just got a planer... Anything I should know?

[Puckdropper]

I just purchased the DeWalt 735 planer last night, and read over the manual. Operation seems easy enough, and in practice has been. I managed to get some snipe on a board and then almost eliminate it by supporting the board more.

Is there anything I should know before I get going too far? I've never used a planer before, and while operation seems simple enough, I don't want to miss something important.

It's amazing what comes out of the planer. This nasty looking piece of wood goes in, and something beautiful comes out.

Puckdropper

[Ed Pawlowski]

"Puckdropper" wrote

Plane only clean wood with not nails, brads, or screws in it. They can nick the blades. Or so I'm told, I'd never do that, of course, but a guy that lives on my street missed a nail once.

[C & S]

I'll add to that.. no paint or finishes either... You wouldn't think it but it will completely dull your plades ina couple of passes.

-Steve

[C & S]

When they say those blase are disposable.. don't beleive them. They can be honed for reuse several times of they just dull and not severely chipped.

Build a jig to hold the blade at a microbevel and they can be "scary sharpened".

-Steve

[GarageWoodworks]

Never plane anything less than 12" long. I learned the hard way.

[Lew Hodgett]

-------------------------------------------- First congratulations, enjoy your new toy.

2nd, if you don't already have one, now is the time to pick up a 6" dial caliper.

I never trusted the thickness gage that comes on the planer.

3rd, take light cuts, 1/16" max with your last cut being 1/64" which is about 0.015". 4th, machine ALL the stock for the job at one time including about 5% spares.

NEVER try to plane off a coat of paint or machine reclaimed wood that hasn't been checked for bits of metal,

Have fun, you just got a VERY useful tool.

Lew

[Neil Brooks]

Either get the DeWalt in/outfeed tables or build your own.

In recent testing, that was the ONE shortcoming in an otherwise GREAT planer.

Once PROPERLY supported, the 735 took Best of Breed.

So ... congratulations on a great purchase !!

[Puckdropper]

Neil Brooks wrote in news: [e-mail]:

How does infeed/outfeed table length affect the size of what can be planed? If I extend the table, say 12", does that mean I can handle a board 18" longer without fear of snipe?

I've got some melamine covered MDF that's waiting to be made in to feed tables.

Puckdropper

[Puckdropper]

"C & S" wrote in news:hqjwn.149000$ [e-mail]:

I didn't think about the finishes. It makes sense, though. After seeing how fast some of the sand paper gummed up cleaning polyurethane, I'd hate to have something similiar happen to the knives.

Thanks!

Puckdropper

[Leon]

Don't be suprised when you start to see ridges in the out put results. That is normal and your planer has settled into being a thicknesser as opposed to a short lived thicknesser and finisher. You need to sand afterwards anyway.

[Puckdropper]

Thanks for the suggestions Lew. It looks like the gauges are pretty close to right on out of the box, but when doing things where thickness is critical the calipers would be essential.

I tried taking a 3/32 pass last night (just to see what the planer could do), and it left a somewhat rough surface and bogged down quite a bit. I'll definitely stick to lighter cuts.

Puckdropper

[Neil Brooks]

[e-mail]:

a) Snipe isn't something to be feared. It's simply a force to be reckoned with;

b) Without getting a $20,000 planer, some degree of snipe is a virtual certainty;

c) The in/outfeed tables just give you a better way to level the incoming and outgoing board, REDUCING snipe;

d) By way of BLATANT copyright infringement, I am reproducing -- without permission -- the results of the recent benchtop planer test, showing you how the 735 stacks up, and -- most specifically -- the difference between its snipe WITH and WITHOUT auxiliary in/out tables:

[dpb]

Puckdropper wrote: ...

...

Other than heavy coats of enamel or other hard finishes it'll make little difference--varnishes, etc., are much softer than the wood itself and don't abrade the surface to create heat, etc., in the way the friction of sandpaper does.

That said, large volumes of surfaced material will make some difference but other than the old paint, not so much as to be such a major issue.

But, as a matter of course, if I have old material to clean up (and I reuse a tremendous amount of recycled/reclaimed material) I keep an old set of knives for the purpose as opposed to a finish set for fine work.

--

[dpb]

dpb wrote: ...

... Dangit, that was supposed to read "...and [planer knives cut rather than] abrade the surface ..."

but somehow lost my intended edit... :(

--

[Neil Brooks]

Even when I cheat -- like, last night -- and carpet tape shorter pieces onto a carrier board -- every ONCE in a great while ... you WILL get an exploding short board.

It's not cool.

Nuh-uh. Not cool at all :-O

[dpb]

"Trick" is to follow the shorter piece immediately w/ a longer piece of same thickness so the infeed roller doesn't fall of the end of the short one...still, shouldn't ever be shorter than distance between outfeed and infeed.

--

[Neil Brooks]

I did that, even.

It was weird.

I had them carpet taped, front and back, too.

Sides and ends to a jewelry box. Laid them out in alternating order, atop a long piece of oak. Ends were touching, board to board.

Brrrrrrr.... BANG!

Don't you HATE it when that happens ??

[Mark Whittingham]

Don't try to run an end-grain butcher block through it.

[dpb]

...

I certainly would if it ever did...maybe I'm not pushing the envelope enough, but in 40-yrs never had it happen.

I've never used the tape for the purpose but I'd wonder if the tape wouldn't be a potential culprit--if it didn't go entire length perhaps would compress an end or perhaps might compress, anyway, not sure...

I also can't address whether the lunchbox guys are more or less prone to the problem than an old industrial as I've never had anything less...

--

[BobS]

One idea I haven't read here yet is for figured woods. Birds eye, squirrely grained wood or any wood where you see a lot of tearout.

Wet (dampen) the surface of the wood with a sponge and let it sit for a minute. Now when you plane it, the tearout will be minimized or be totally gone. Don't make a second pass without re-dampening the wood first.

After you're done, unplug and wipe down the bed and rollers just in case you used to much water. Try it on some scraps, you'll get a feel for how much water and how long to let it sit before running it thru.

There are a lot more tips and hints and most can be found via Google and search back thru the forums.

Bob S.