This is the first planer I have ever owned or used so I don't have anything for comparison but I like it so far. Out of the box you attach the hand crank and the dust attachment and you are ready to go. There are two dust attachments one to attach a 4" hose and another (diffuser maybe?) for no hose attachment. The directions are pretty well written and easy to follow. All the adjustments and work on the unit can be done with the one included tool that drops into a holder on the top. All the controls work great and are easy to operate.First let me say again this is the first time I have ever used a planer so a lot (okay, probably all :) of the snipe I got was user error. The more boards I put through the less snipe I got. It took a little playing around with and reading to learn the correct technique for moving stock through so I did get snipe on the first bunch of passes on stock, more frequently on the end of the boards then on the front. Most of what I put through was between 3 and 6 inches wide and 2-5 feet long. I did put a couple wider ones in just to see how it handled it. On a 14in long 11in wide hard maple glue up I took off 1/16th per pass and got no snipe or tearout. Then I put through a 10in wide 4ft long oak board and did get snipe on the end but not the start. I still think it's technique because it didn't do it on every pass and when taking off 1/32 I didn't get it at all. The folding tables aren't out yet, but they will probably help even more. I'm pretty convinced once I get the proper technique down I won't get snipe anymore. I'm getting more and more snipe free boards.I can't say anything bad about the surfaces. I have had zero tearout and ultra smooth surfaces on everything I have put in no matter what I do. The most I have taken off is an 1/8in while only taking 1/32in on the longer boards. Most of the time I had it set to 1/16in. Probably 50% at 1/16, 30% at 1/8, and 20% at 1/32. I put through a pretty good mix of pine, red oak, hard maple, and ash with most of it being red oak.The crank turns easily and each turn is 1/16in. The depth stop is easy to set and is for 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, 1, and 1 1/4. The removal scale is pretty nice as well, you put the end of the board just under the edge and turn the crank. A little pointer moves on a scale to tell you how much will be taken off. It has a little chart built in showing the max that can taken off based on board width, which is nice for me because I didn't know. The thickness scale is pretty big, easy to read, and easy to set. I only ran it with my dust collector hooked up to the 4" port, but it grabbed everything. After running all the wood through, probably about 4 hours total use, there where 3 little wood chips beside the bed and that's all - the dust collector had the rest. The thing I don't like about it is the dust attachment is right in the center above the outfeed so unless you angle the hose away to the side with an elbow or suspend it somehow it gets in the way of the stock coming out. But so far that is my only gripe. This thing is really loud but I expected that, it's the loudest tool I have. All the scales and settings where dead on right out of the box. I do wish the folding tables came bundled. Overall I'm one happy camper.Okay, I finally got the folding tables. They are very easy to assemble and align. Each corner of each table can be adjusted for height. The attachment points are spring loaded so they are also easy to take off and put back on. They do help in supporting the work and seem very solid. The front table folds up out of the way and stays there. The rear table however is another story. Because the main table and the back of the moter/blade assembly are pretty much even and the pin to hold the table is set back the rear table will never fold up and stay. When the depth of cut is set around an inch and the cord is wrapped around the cord holder the rear table won't flip up more then around 20 degrees. In my opinion this is a major design flaw, the main table needs to stick out at the rear by at least an inch or two to allow the table to fold up. DEWALT DW735 13-Inch Three Knife Two Speed Thickness Planer
Being a part-time tool designer for woodturning, and a former machinist, I appreciate good tools & designs. I've used the 735 with a friend making various woodworking projects. The DeWalt 735 looked like a great design, with innovative vacuum-assist using the planer knives for an impeller-like suction. But shortly into the project, the knives quickly showed wear and the planer made much more noise than it did when the blades were untouched by the softwood we were planing. I've done a lot of planing, and have owned other brands of machines & knew there were serious problems with these blades. When I inspected the blades, I immediately noticed they were very thin with too much backrake in the edge, which probably caused premature breakage due to unsupported steel at the cutting edge. There is the probability of setting up vibrations in the thin metal further causing additional stresses on the steel, and may be a reason the machine is much louder than other brands of planers (try taking a razor blade and hack away at hardwood and see what happens.). Shortly after that, the sproket in the drive system broke. Another closer inspection revealed a very weak, low density casting with poor mechanical design & strength, especially where the keyway was broached into the already weak metal. A second replacement sproket broke in the same place, relative to the first one, further indicating a design flaw, and another set of knives went dull prematurely ( I was hoping that the first set of knives had a metallurgical flaw, were embrittled, or some other fluke). I measured the depth of cut on the 6" wide softwood board, and it was only .050" ---less than 1/16"!! There is no easy way to re-machine the knife holder to accept better knives, say from a Makita or other brand of machine. Maybe DeWalt subbed part of this machine out to a company named "Rejects "R" Us" but this machine is past it's warranty and will be sold "as is" which is an "as is" piece of junk. But if you want a noisy dust collector booster, this machine will work well, just don't plane anything harder than fresh marshmallows on it. It's truly sad that with all the other great features on this machine, and DeWalt's great reputation with the predecessor to the 735, a lack of attention to the two most important functions of the machine (cutting wood, and feeding the wood through the planer) were neglected. The local customer service was poor, at best. Get this planer a better knife design, forged steel sproket, acoustic damping (it's really loud) and this DeWalt will be as good as the Hitachi or Makita. - Benchtop Planers - Dewalt - Thickness Planer - Planer'
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