Setting Cutting Depth On DeWalt 735 Planer

[Wiley's Woodworks]

I ran across and lost a hack for ultra-accurate setting of the stock thickness/depth of cut on the 735 planer. It has to do with either cranking down past the desired thickness and then backing off or setting the depth of cut shallower than desired and then cranking down to the working piece. The hack is a method for compensating for or eliminating the minute slack that is in the planer's chain drive on 4 screw pillars mechanism. Can someone either tell me what the hack is or direct me to a YouTube that shows how to set the depth to the tightest tolerances?

 

[mdbuntyn]

That sounds similar to taking up the backlash in the adjustment knob of a hand plane.

 

[Mike Davis]

I have 733 but same adjustment I think.

I always crank in same direction as I plane, always down. About 1/4 turn each time through.
Check with micrometer as I get close.

 

[jfynyson]

I ran across and lost a hack for ultra-accurate setting of the stock thickness/depth of cut on the 735 planer. It has to do with either cranking down past the desired thickness and then backing off or setting the depth of cut shallower than desired and then cranking down to the working piece. The hack is a method for compensating for or eliminating the minute slack that is in the planer's chain drive on 4 screw pillars mechanism. Can someone either tell me what the hack is or direct me to a YouTube that shows how to set the depth to the tightest tolerances?

I was wondering the same thing. Does the Wixey gauge that a lot of folks now use on these machines do that with enough resolution ?

 

[Wiley's Woodworks]

I was wondering the same thing. Does the Wixey gauge that a lot of folks now use on these machines do that with enough resolution ?

I looked into the Wixey gauge and rejected it because it measures the board thickness after it has run through the planer. Sometimes that's too late. I'm sticking with measuring board thickness with a micrometer and making tiny adjustments to planer depth.

 

[creasman]

Interesting that you are seeing this problem. I have the DeWalt 735. There doesn't seem to be any play in the adjustment wheel that I can measure in the thickness. I go by the gauge on the front and it seems to always come out right. I suspect if you resharpened the blades that might throw it off by 1/64" or so.

 

[Wiley's Woodworks]

That sounds similar to taking up the backlash in the adjustment knob of a hand plane.

Yea, it's exactly like a hand plane. There is some mechanical slop in the design of the screw posts, and this hack was a way to eliminate it so when you run a board through the cutter carriage doesn't ride up some .000s of an inch. I just can't visualize whether I should over tighten when setting the board thickness or under tighten and then make a tiny adjustment.

 

[Wiley's Woodworks]

Interesting that you are seeing this problem. I have the DeWalt 735. There doesn't seem to be any play in the adjustment wheel that I can measure in the thickness. I go by the gauge on the front and it seems to always come out right. I suspect if you resharpened the blades that might throw it off by 1/64" or so.

The slop has to do with the threads on the 4 posts. When you lower the cutter carriage, it is resting on the top of the thread it is riding on. When you feed a board into the cutter, it pushes the carriage up against the thread above it. This causes the board to come out the other end slightly thicker than the planer was set to cut. How do I eliminate this play in the screw threads?

 

[Mike Davis]

Use the carriage lock.

 

[jfynyson]

Use the carriage lock.

The DeWalt 735 has no carriage lock as they say the 4 post system eliminates the movement. However, I'm unsure on what they mean by eliminates the movement (are they saying if it's 0.01" then that's negligible ?) vs Wiley is trying to get 0.001" max movement for example.

@Wiley I'd suggest using the calipers as you state to determine if turning the wheel up vs down what that yields for deviations and you'll have your answer on which direction to turn it or if no turns is "negligible". Keep in mind you'll still likely be sanding the pieces a bit and that may be more difference that the movement the 735 sees but I'm not sure. I believe consistency board to board in thickness is what matters most, then it's just a matter of taking relative measurements of the boards for your project build.

 

[creasman]

I'm not seeing the slop you describe on mine. If I set it for 3/4" the board comes out that thickness when I measure with calipers. I will say that I don't usually take off more than 1/32" in a pass, sometimes less if the board is wide, hard or gnarly. For pine I might go up to 1/16".