Sunday afternoon and I'm planing off about 1/32 of an inch in two passes to a beautiful 8' piece of 10" wide Red Oak.  Going to take two 1/64" slow speed passes on one side, turn it over and take two more passes on the other side.  To my knowledge, the procedure is correct for this species and width of wood.  This piece is going to make a "Table Top Nativity" set.

 

First side come out beautiful

Smooth with no defects.  Time to do the other side.

First pass goes as planned.  OK - you KNOW what's coming next ! ! ! !

Second pass grinds to a stop and before I can get to the On/Off switch, the lights go out.

Reset the breaker, take the board out of the planer and here is what I see:

Hmmmmmm, not to so pretty good.  That is one heck of a gouge out of the wood.  

Time to see what the planer looks like.

Take the top off and get to the planer knives.  Hmmm, the plastic cover is broken on the right side.

Investigate a little deeper

OHHHHH, crud - - - so NOT good.  That is the stiffener sticking up in the air.  The bolt on the end is in place and the second bolt has lost its head.  I removed the rest of the bolts to see what else happened.

A better look at the stiffener and knife.

What hurts even more is that this planer is only 4 months old.  Fortunately, we have a DeWalt repair center about 10 miles from my house so I will take it down there tomorrow.  Warranty job????  IT BETTER BE.

 

Will report more when I know more.  

Ouch! Is right. That's ugly!

 

Steve

ewwwwww...

do you know why that happened???

they owe you some new material too...

Dang Fred, that smarts! Glad nothing more than the wood & breaker took the hit though.

stick - no idea what happened - board had gone through the magnetometer at my lumber store before they planed it to 4/4 so I know I didn't hit a nail or anything.  No knots there.  A real head scratcher there.

I have read that the factory bolts are fairly soft. Lots of complaints about stripped heads when trying to remove them. I wonder if that's what caused the failure??

 

I replaced all of the bolts  in my 735 with ones from Fastenal. Also used anti-seize on each one for easier removal when changing blades.

Wow, I just spent most of the afternoon planing some red oak.  Really wonder what happened to you,

Cal

Are those factory installed blades, I would presume so on such a new tool. The 735 I had went a long time before I changed blades, and they were torqued so tight I had a devil of a time getting the bolts out. I hope Dewalt isn't cutting corners on their quality after building a good name.

Herb

Dadio - had to change the blades about a month ago because I got a scratch on one of them - was making a mark along the board.  Yes, they were in tight and when I put them back in, I made sure they were again tight.

 

Lew - great thought - will probably do the same.

Don't like the looks of that.  Must be soft bolts and they broke. 

Yeah, just a grain of sand will make a tiny nick in the blade and cause a ridge or groove down a board. Sure hope it didn't do any permanent damage else where on the machine. Like the drive belts or cutter head. By looking at the board it looks like it has a divot 3-4" from the end before the big gouge. Be sure to take the board with you when you go in to show them the damage. That is really a shame, Fred, glad you weren't hurt, if it would have happened to me I probably would have to change my shorts.

Herb

this makes a good heads up for 700 series DW planer owner...

 

Interesting. Haven't seen anyone mention a failure like that. Like to know what Dewalt says, also glad things didn't some flying out of the planer and injure someone or something.

If it's a 735 that is really surprising, they usually run trouble free for years. I bought mine in '07 and it has performed flawlessly and I have only changed the blades once.

 This might be a good time for me to do some preventive maintenance.

11 hours ago, lew said:

I have read that the factory bolts are fairly soft. Lots of complaints about stripped heads when trying to remove them. I wonder if that's what caused the failure??

 

I replaced all of the bolts  in my 735 with ones from Fastenal. Also used anti-seize on each one for easier removal when changing blades.

I'm with you.  Sounds like either a fastener broke or backed out. 

Glad the only thing hurt was the wood and the planer and NOT you Fred!

11 hours ago, Dadio said:

That is really a shame, Fred, glad you weren't hurt, if it would have happened to me I probably would have to change my shorts.

And who said I didn't ? ? ? ??  Or at least say some things like "golllly" or "aw shucks"

 

5 hours ago, Fred W. Hargis, Jr said:

also glad things didn't some flying out of the planer and injure someone or something.

Fred - you got THAT right.

 

4 hours ago, DuckSoup said:

 This might be a good time for me to do some preventive maintenance.

Yep - anyone out there with a 735 might want to "just take a look" and make sure the stiffener bolts are tight.  Won't take but a few minutes.

 

4 hours ago, Joeb41 said:

If it's a 735 that is really surprising, they usually run trouble free for years. I bought mine in '07 and it has performed flawlessly and I have only changed the blades once.

That's what I had heard and THE reason I bought this machine.

 

 

Worst case of snipe I have seen...

Cal

Man that is a real bummer Fred. That is a nice planner and you got to wonder what failed.

 

Glad it didn't come flying out of the casing.