You are right ,Gene, it has a 13"X6" capacity,which is plenty for normal use.

 

I see where this one has an Automatic carriage lock that reduces the movement that causes snipe, must be an improvement. Mine didn't have that,if I recall.

 

http://www.homedepot.com/p/DEWALT-15-Amp-13-in-Corded-Planer-DW735/100011483

 

Herb

Edited September 21, 20178 yr by Dadio

Thanks, Gene, that's kind of what I thought it would look like.  I may see how it does right out of the box and then look at going this route.

 

Much appreciated!

David

4 hours ago, Gene Howe said:

1. Infeed

2. Outfeed

So Gene this sled just lays on the shorter in-feed/out-feed tables with the bar acting as a stop against the in-feed table?

Do you actually move the "sled" through with the material or just feed the material through on top of it? Assuming the latter, double sided tape to hold it secure??

Dave, it's stationary. No tape needed. As you surmised, the bar prevents it from moving.

In my case, the original purpose was to plane to thinner thicknesses. But, it does well in reducing snipe. Although, tweaking the table heights works, too. But, if the board is too long, it'll still snipe, the sled helps in those cases. 

Of course, you can move to the out feed and slightly lift the piece just as it approaches the end of the cut. This gets problematic when your running multiple pieces at one time.

 

On 9/20/2017 at 10:42 PM, difalkner said:

I'm not really sure what that is but it never got hot, at least that I know about. 

 

I'm picking up another load of Walnut in the morning and need to mill that so a new DeWalt 735 will be here Monday. HD had an online special for the model with extra set of blades and the infeed/outfeed tables. The normal price for that is about $650 but they have it right now for $570 with free shipping to my door, which is less than the plain model without the extras.

David

Great deal, Dave. I picked mine up from Lowe's a year or two ago and got it on sale. I managed to walk out the door for $500 tax, title and license (sales tax). It didn't come with the tables and extra blade set. I bought the tables for, I think, $42. I can always get blades in my area from either Lowe's or HD and they generally run about $52 a set. So, you are getting an excellent deal. I did add a Wixey DRO to it. The gauge really helps with the (very) accurate dimensioning of material, and was not expensive.

 

I use basically the same set-up as Gene does when needed. Although I get very little snipe just using the 735 tables. I just tilt both up just a smidge to put pressure on the stock as it feeds. Using an auxiliary table really helps with shorter pieces. This is where the DRO really shines. You can zero out the height difference of the auxiliary table and eliminate any mistakes in tare(ing) out the height difference. It eliminates a lot of problems and mistakes.

 

 

 

Thanks, Bill, that's good info.  I'm eager to see how the 735 does on snipe but it helps to know how y'all have solved this should the problem arise.  Interestingly enough, on the 733 I rarely got snipe on the leading edge but did some on the trailing edge.  I solved that by either feeding a second board right behind the target board or helping to pull it out on the outfeed side.  That simple move of pulling it eliminated snipe completely and was just so easy to do.  It's a pain if I have 20 boards and they're all 15" long, though, but still doable.

 

I can see where the DRO would be useful but I likely won't add one.  I typically do final dimensioning on my drum sander with DRO, which for me works out better.  Many of the woods I work with are highly figured or very thin (guitar sides are about 0.080" thick, backs and tops are 0..090" to 0.100") and I can't run them through the planer, or if I do I just have to be very careful and take really light passes.  Now if I were to add a helical head that would change things and I'd probably get a DRO for the planer, as well.  Most of what I work with day in and day out, though, is unsteamed Walnut and planing for those projects just requires all boards be cleaned up on each side but to no particular thickness unless it's going to the CNC and then I'll just take a quick caliper check.

 

David

One of my Shopsmiths would make a good platform for a shop made tthickness sander. A buddy made an excellent one. Soon as time permits, I gotta make one.

7 hours ago, difalkner said:

Thanks, Bill, that's good info.  I'm eager to see how the 735 does on snipe but it helps to know how y'all have solved this should the problem arise.  Interestingly enough, on the 733 I rarely got snipe on the leading edge but did some on the trailing edge.  I solved that by either feeding a second board right behind the target board or helping to pull it out on the outfeed side.  That simple move of pulling it eliminated snipe completely and was just so easy to do.  It's a pain if I have 20 boards and they're all 15" long, though, but still doable.

 

I can see where the DRO would be useful but I likely won't add one.  I typically do final dimensioning on my drum sander with DRO, which for me works out better.  Many of the woods I work with are highly figured or very thin (guitar sides are about 0.080" thick, backs and tops are 0..090" to 0.100") and I can't run them through the planer, or if I do I just have to be very careful and take really light passes.  Now if I were to add a helical head that would change things and I'd probably get a DRO for the planer, as well.  Most of what I work with day in and day out, though, is unsteamed Walnut and planing for those projects just requires all boards be cleaned up on each side but to no particular thickness unless it's going to the CNC and then I'll just take a quick caliper check.

 

David

You won't have a bit of problem with snipe if you adjust the tables. You will probably get the same or more service out of it then your old one. You will be happy with it...

 

I forgot about you building guitars...I can see you doing your final dimensioning on the drum sander, so a DRO on the planer is a waste.