Anyone using a DeWalt DW735?

[Daburner87]

Thinking of buying one, but I really wanted to know if anyone puts large boards through it like say something 2 1/2" thick, 12" wide, 8ft long?  How does it handle larger heavier boards?  I was thinking I might need some supports, but curious how it handles pulling these boards through.  

[RichTired]

I have one and I use a couple of roller support stands. 

Worked fine for me on 2" x 12" x 10' material. I mostly use it for 1" - 1 1/2" x 12" x  6' boards. 

I haven't use it on much thicker material with a length over 36 inches.

But I am very happy with it.

[Daburner87]

Thanks for the reply.  I think I'm going to go for it.  All the used planers on craigslist and what not are quite expensive and very heavy older machines, and I hate trying to troubleshoot other peoples problems.  If I need to smooth anything bigger than 13" I can get a router sled set up.  Kinda bummed I missed all the holiday deals on this machine though.

[firefighter ontheside]

I've had mine for about 4 years.  I put a helical head in it last year after all the sets of knives I got with it were bad.  It's a great planer.  Its kind of heavy for lifting up and down onto a bench.  I have mine arranged so that I never have to lift it.  It sits on a little table near my bench.  I have a little bridge that I put in so I can just roll it onto the bench.  Though the knives are not sharpenable, they do last a long time if you're not planing lots of knots.  You can make them last longer by sliding one knife over when they get a nick so that the nicks are off set.  Make sure you get it with the infeed and outfeed tables.

Like any lunchbox planer, you will have to support long, heavy boards while they are going thru.  You can support it on the infeed end by hand until its balanced and then walk to the outfeed before it tips.  The wider stuff you send thru it, the more important it is to keep the surfaces waxed so they feed ok.  Wider boards will require you to take smalller passes.  The two feed speeds make it nice when planing figured wood.  

[Brad_bb]

So I bought mine probably in 2012 or so.  It has only seen hobby use, and doesn't have that many miles on it.  It has been a frustrating experience with it.  The biggest problem is nuisance tripping of the circuit breaker.  I've replace that breaker 3 or 4 times and it's always the same.  I might be planing 1x6x6' Ash and after about 8 passes it trips.  Then 7 passes, then 6 passes, then 5 passes etc, until it's down to 2 passes.  And I'm only taking 1/32, and definitely not more than 1/16" off per pass.  I switched to the Byrd Shelix helical cutter head.  That really made the planer quieter and also made it easier to get rid of planer lines. The original knives get chips in them pretty easily.  Whatever planer you get, do not waste your money on replacement knives, buy the Byrd shelix head instead, or better yet, buy a planer with that already has it.  I have extra circuit breakers on hand, but it's a pain and I wouldn't buy this planer again because of that. I don't know if Dewalt has done anything to fix it?  Probably not.  They've gone for more than 10 years of people complaining about this problem and have not addressed it that I'm aware of.  Just do a search on the web for Dewalt 735 circuit breaker and you'll see a ton of people having this same problem. None of the "suggested" fixes have ever worked for me.
I finally just got a real planer- a cast iron 5hp, spiral head, 20" Grizzly 220V single phase.  It works great.  No snipe either.  That's another thing with the Dewalt 735, you usually have to put up pressure on the board as it exits the planer to prevent snipe on the tail side.

[TroyC]

I have one for hobby use and it works fine for me. Have had it about 3 years. It is noisy! I have the standard blades with infeed/outfeed tables. Changing the heads on mine would probably not justify the investment the way it gets used. So far I've only bought 2 extra sets of blades. They are double sided so you can turn them around. They cannot be resharpened. My neighbor has one with the helical head and he likes his also.

Mine has burned the motor brushes and I've also replaced the circuit breaker and the on/off switch. Obviously, burning the brushes was probably caused by me overloading the machine. I don't fault the machine so much as I was probably asking it to do more than it was designed to do. I was planing 40-50  10' yellow pine boards 16' long. Wider the board, the less thickness you can remove. It is not a 5 hp heavy duty 220 cast iron beast. I pick mine up and clamp it to the table saw top when I plane. I have a small shop.

[firefighter ontheside]

I had heard of people having issues with the circuit breaker tripping on these before I bought mine.  I bought mine anyway.  My father in law had one for many years before I bought mine and he had never had a problem.  I've had mine for about 4 years and use it quite a lot.  It has never tripped...knock on wood.  Either Dewalt has fixed the issue, I'm just lucky or I use mine differently than those having tripping issues.  Perhaps some folks have voltage issues due to extension cords or other wiring issues.

[Tom K]

I've had mine for probably close to 15 years? It's work load has been somewhat inconsistent, but I've probably put 3-4k bf through it in that time. It's not a production planer by any means but it's a decent value for hobby use. In my opinion the blade life isn't the best, but they are easy to change. I'm sure a spiral head would make it a decent machine, but I could never justify that cost for such a cheap machine. 

The only things I've had to replace on mine have been the impeller & impeller house (wore a hole through) and the interior dust chute (knot broke loose and broke it.) I also have had the circuit breaker on the machine trip every once in awhile, really no rime or reason why. I run mine on it's own circuit with a short heavy cord. It can trip a 20a breaker if worked hard, so I recommend a dedicated circuit if possible.

As long as you don't expect to hog a lot of material with it all day long it's not a bad machine. I do plan on upgrading to a heavier 18-20" machine with a spiral head in the near future.

[Andries]

My thoughts are in line with TroyC, reply #5 above. Rule of thumb: wood going through a planer needs to weigh less than the weight of the planer, just sayin'. 😂
I've owned one of these planers for about 10 years and like it a lot. It'll produce lumber that is baby bottom smooth. The only issue I have with it is the dust collection. Even though I have a 5 hp Oneida dust collector attached to the factory outlet, plenty of sawdust collects inside the machine, above the plastic moulding that shrouds the blade to the blower impeller. It builds up and needs to be cleaned out periodically.
My son noticed me cleaning up under the hood (again) and mentioned that he had seen a solution on Instagram, so I tracked it down - a guy in Texas has developed and sells a 3D printed mod. that looks like a winner. Google "Explosive Workshop" for his info and pictures of the products he makes for the 735 planer. I'll be ordering the hood in the next while, after I get some WM sharpening equipment tamed. One thing at a time!

[Tom K]

Andries - Have you made sure you don't have a hole in the impeller house? I fought that same issue for awhile, then I finally realized the impeller house was wore through. Since I fixed that I haven't has a problem. I couldn't see the hole until I pulled the housing off.

[Andries]

Well, I think something like that would be easy to spot, but maybe my eyes need to be checked. 😉
got the shop woodstove on, I'll check after lunch and see. So, yours wore through at the impeller housing? I'll hold it up to a bright light and double chek 

[Tom K]

Correct, wore through the house. It was right at the seam between the two halves of the housing, not easy to see unless you take the impeller off. I don't remember if it was the back or front half. If your shroud isn't broken there really isn't anywhere for the wood chips to escape except for the impeller housing and outlet socket.

[TroyC]

I run mine sometimes with a direct hose to the outside when I'm at the camp. The machine will blow shavings thru the 12' long hose with no problem. When home, I connect it to a dust collector, no problems there. Make sure you have a 20 amp circuit, it likes the current!

After I planed all the pine for my room paneling, I cleaned the planer. It was in need of cleaning! Yellow pine will stick to the insides.

The planer has a high/low feed rate. Sometimes I slow the feed rate if I see the cut is pulling fibers. Usually flipping board end to end will fix it but not always.

It does cut smooth and I have almost no problems with snipe. I'll occasionally clean the rollers and blades (very carefully) with denatured alcohol and polishing the table keeps it feeding nicely.

Since I transport mine between 2 places a really big machine would not be practical.

[Daburner87]

Picked up the planer just a few days ago, currently reorganizing my workshop so I probably won't use it for a few weeks but the sale price was decent.  I've seen the dust chute mod in a YouTube video, $65 seems a bit steep for plastic but time will tell.   I'm working on a dust deputy cyclone build and looking into getting the Wen air filtration system as well.   Problem is I probably will have problems with the electric, although I do run my jointer and shop vac at the same time, the table saw some time trips it alone...

[Brad_bb]

I'll say it again, I could have had the Byrd Shelix head for what I used in replacement blades, and it didn't take that much work to use that many blades.  Kicking myself for not getting it right off the bat. It also makes the planer a lot quieter, and it will not cause tear out like stright knives can in figured wood/changing grain direction around knots.

[Daburner87]

$700 though.... costs more than the machine.  Is that crazy? Am I wrong?

Might as well get a different planer from the get go.

[Brad_bb]

For Dewalt replacement blades, they are $52 a set.  So $700/$52 = 13.5 sets.  There seems to be other brand replacements available now, which I'm not sure there were when I was buying them.  Also it was $500 for the Byrd Shelix head then, but replacement blades were $50.  So 10 sets would pay for the head.  I had purchased 10 sets by the time I decided to buy the Byrd Shelix, making me regret wasting money on the blades when I could have had the head without spending a dime more than I had to that point.  I knew the benefits of the head were quieter, and better for figured wood and less tear out.  Everybody had to make their own decision, I just regret mine-not buying from the start.   Why Dewalt doesn't work with them to use their head.... that's a big company for you.  They don't want to have to license it.  The shame is, if they did, it would be cheaper with economies of scale.

[Daburner87]

I would love that upgrade, but I only payed $449 for the planer at Lowes. If they have a really good sale I would consider it but Amazon lists it at $699 right now. Inflation...

[firefighter ontheside]

I put the Sheartak helical head in mine.  It comes from Canada and costs about $450 with shipping.

[Tom K]

To be honest if you don't have any intentions of getting anything bigger then the planer you have, Brad's probably right about the spiral head being worth the upgrade. The cost of the throw away blades does add up over time.

Shelix heads also has a head listed for that planer for around $450+/-

[Stephen1]

$700 though.... costs more than the machine.  Is that crazy? Am I wrong?

Might as well get a different planer from the get go.

It might be crazy, but a different planer with the spiral head will be way more money. 
I had the 735 when they 1st came out, (15-20 years ago) and sold it, as the project I used it on was finished. At the time I didn't like the idea I had to buy new replacement blades instead of resharpening. I regret selling that machine as I have only ever used lunch box planers and by far it was way better than anything else I have used In that size.