Planer comparison

[Jack Schmidling]

I have a love/hate relationship with my 12.5" Delta planer which I bought because it was a few bucks cheaper.

It works fine for awhile and then gets grumpy as hell and refuses to feed properly. I replace the blades, adjust the roller height and it works for awhile but long before I am ready, it gets grumpy again. The height adjustment is a real joke and is more mucking than adjusting.

I replaced the entire cutting head because the bearings went out and I am really getting tired of this.

I was on my way to buy a DeWalt but I thought I would get some opinions before plunging again.

What are the thoughts on these two planers?

js

PHOTO OF THE WEEK:

Beer, Cheese, Gems, Sausage,

[aswr]

Dear Jack: I am sorry to hear that you are having problems with your planer. I have sold hundreds of this unit as well as 100's of the Dewalts. Never had any service problems with either. Which ever one was on sale or had the best value such as a "free dust hood".... was the one I would recomend to my customer. Both are very equal. Keeping the tables clean and waxed is very important. If you are wearing out this small bench top hobby planer perhaps you need to consider a larger floor model. These small planers are designed as a project planer: run a few boards and then work several weeks on your project till you need a planer again....they are certainly not made to run several boards through at one time. How old is your planer....Delta has a great warranty and will always try to help. Good luck, Mike from American Sycamore

[ahoffmann]

I bought a DW735 this past christmas and have used it several times to run boards through - up to 11.5" - for a bookcase. It performed flawlessly. I did buy at the same time their stand as well as their chip collector.

AH

[TDUP]

I too have a Delta planer,22-580 and am not happy with it's performance. The height preset adjustment is hard to keep working. The dust collection clogs easily and chips are thrown back towards the operator. I have it hooked up to a dust collector but the chips still clog the machine even on small passes. The finish is good if the chips are not clogging.

Tim

Jack Schmidl> I have a love/hate relationship with my 12.5" Delta planer which I

[jack]

Can't say I ever waxed it but keeping it clear of chips easier said than done as about as many come out the rear as the front.

Problem is that I am wearing it out in a hobby mode of use. Admitedly,

90% of what I use it for is white ash that I cut and mill from my own woods.

One of the other reasons I bought it was for the extra half inch that was not then available on the DeWalt but reality quickly set in and I don't even try to plain glued up boards. Typical with is about 3".

I have had it for about 5 years but as a point of interest, I also purchased a Delta joiner and the only good news is that I can still struggle through with the original blade. Some gorilla in China put this thing on and it is impossible to loosen the hold down screws. I already stripped the hex head on one of them and gave up. They want several hundred dollars for a new cutting head.... nice warranty.

BTW, only the back feed roller is adjustable on the Delta is adjustable. Is this true of the DeWald?

js

-- PHOTO OF THE WEEK:

Beer, Cheese, Gems, Sausage,

[Larry Jaques]

On 25 Jan 2005 04:57:08 -0800, the inscrutable [e-mail] spake:

Here ya go: all -new-, money saved, and NO MORE UGLY GRAY PAINT!

or G8794.