I've looked at this thing forever....pulled the trigger the other day. Just now getting around to opening it up. I'll be sending some wood through it when it warms up a tad. It's about 5* here right now lol

 

 

 

Make certain you connect the exhaust port to your dust collector first. Don’t ask how I know….

Congratulations Aaron on the new addition to the family. Love the smell of a new tool first thing in the □morning or □evening; check one.

That's a great planer Aaron, one of if not thee best benchtop planer out there, IMHO.

26 minutes ago, John Morris said:

That's a great planer Aaron, one of if not thee best benchtop planer out there, IMHO.

 

 

Thats great to hear, I'll be feeding it some maple and cherry when I get me some better weather. 

You will love it.  Somewhere down the road consider springing for a spiral cutter head.  Pricey but well worth the money if you plane a lot.

13 minutes ago, Ron Dudelston said:

You will love it.  Somewhere down the road consider springing for a spiral cutter head.  Pricey but well worth the money if you plane a lot.

 

 

Will do, thank you.

I replaced the blades with the spiral cutter head. While it eliminated the need to change out full blades, it does come with some unique maintenance necessities. One must keep a close eye on the quality of the cut. When you notice a ridge on one side or other of your material, that means one (or more) of the cutters is under performing. Most likely cause is dust build up under a blade or two. Cleaning the seats for those little blades is an arduous and time consuming task. I can't ever locate the offending blade, so I end up cleaning and rotating them all. 

I did learn a costly lesson, though. ALWAYS use the manual screwdriver. To save a little time, I chucked up the bit in a drill to reinsert the screws holding the blades. Believe me, you can overtighten them. Removal is a biotch,!

 

 

Edited January 22, 20251 yr by Gene Howe

It’s a great portable planer as I’ve heard over the years..

Here is the thing about warming up tools. If you run heat all night it helps, I’m warming my shop up today to about 73, but the  tools will remain at 50 unless I leave heat on all night.

 

Worked a lot of places that  run the heat down low, yet crank it in the  mornings when we get there. Tools are still cold, glues stiff. 
 

When I worked commercial from 2003-2010. He would turn tye heat off completely. I would freeze in there till lunch. One day I cranked the  edge bender up and let it run till it was warm, but the brass glue pot was still cold along wit( the glue around the shaft. Snapped the brass fitting and cost him $300 for the parts labor but not counting the down time..

 

Edited January 22, 20251 yr by BillyJack

I am really looking forward to reading your review of this planer. I don't think I have ever read a bad one. And yes, I'll admit it, I'm jealous.

1 hour ago, Gene Howe said:

I replaced the blades with the spiral cutter head. While it eliminated the need to change out full blades, it does come with some unique maintenance necessities. One must keep a close eye on the quality of the cut. When you notice a ridge on one side or other of your material, that means one (or more) of the cutters is under performing. Most likely cause is dust build up under a blade or two. Cleaning the seats for those little blades is an arduous and time consuming task. I can't ever locate the offending blade, so I end up cleaning and rotating them all. 

I did learn a costly lesson, though. ALWAYS use the manual screwdriver. To save a little time, I chucked up the bit in a drill to reinsert the screws holding the blades. Believe me, you can overtighten them. Removal is a biotch,!

 

 

Every January (getting ready to do it now), I spend a few hours rotating the carbide in my Dewalt.  One thing I learned in industry is remove the carbide, lightly stone the seat, wipe it with lacquer thinner, rotate the insert and then reinstall it by shaking it in.  Don’t over tighten it either.

One thing I did do, on the first blade change, was to replace the blade holder hex head screws with a better quality screw and used anti-seize on the threads. Maybe DeWalt has upgraded the screws over the years, but, early on, stripped heads were a big complaint.

On 1/21/2025 at 8:23 PM, lew said:

Make certain you connect the exhaust port to your dust collector first. Don’t ask how I know….

 

 

This is the piece it came with and I attached it yesterday..Not really any length to it but it's on. 

 

 

 

I gave it a once over today, thought I was supposed to install the cutters but they came ready to go and mounted. The package I ordered with the stand came with an extra set. I attached and leveled my in and out feeds. Wiped off excess factory lube from blade and spindle area, I saw on youtube as previously stated here that a wipe down with lacquer thinner here is prudent, I'll do that in a few days. Screws appear to be solid. I checked all for securement and broke a few loose to see and they actually were on super tight. I didn't strip any but could see where it would happen with soft heads. Also added some paste wax to table and feeds. Only thing that seems on the "toyish" is the stop adjustment on the left hand side, but doesn't really matter it does it's job and isn't under pressure etc. Fired it up for a few seconds and she runs Really like the feel of the height adjustment. It's chain driven and really smooth. 

 

I'll be running a few practice pieces through then cutting some length off my cherry and maple boards to send through. I'll be using them for some euro projects for myself and some friends.

 

 

 

I didn't like the way the chip collector hose adapter came straight out over the outfeed table. Materials were always catching on the hose. Turned a wooded adapter and used a 90° elbow to change the way the hose positioned.

 

 

On 1/21/2025 at 9:23 PM, lew said:

Make certain you connect the exhaust port to your dust collector first. Don’t ask how I know….

I've had one for a couple years and really like it.  Does the job.

 

As for dust collection,  you don't to hook up something.  It will use the large Shopsmith dust collection system.   The floor.

18 hours ago, lew said:

I didn't like the way the chip collector hose adapter came straight out over the outfeed table. Materials were always catching on the hose. Turned a wooded adapter and used a 90° elbow to change the way the hose positioned.

Had the same concerns when I first got mine. Solved the problem!

I don’t know why I always overthink everything. I like the 45 better than the 90

I'll be doing my cutting outside