starter thickness planer

[kclark]

WOW what a LOOOOOONNNNGGGGGG post you made ehpoole.

kommon_sense I have a 3 car garage and I use the very last bay as my workshop. It is about 15 X 22. I have the dust collector from rockler coming, it should be here Thursday. I got it because I can hook it up to my planer, table saw and router table and use it to suck up anything else. I am sure it will work for me especially since it hangs on the wall and gets it out of my way. I also have a 22' long hose coming with it so I can go anyway in my work area to clean. If it doesn't get everything that will be okay, I will just continue to do what I have always done at the end of my daily cleanup. Get out my blower and blow it onto my driveway into the road across the street and into the woods. Sending the sawdust back from which it came.

 

[dr50]

You might want to consider taking the receipt back to the store and discussing it with someone. It is Lowe's policy to do the 10%. Thats not something that they get to pick and choose. Were you trying to use some other offer at the same time like a 10% coupon, or % back on a store card, etc.? In that case, they don't have to combine offers.

If they say yes, you get back $50. If they say no, you still got a good planer for a reasonable price.

As for the table, I got mine from www.amazon.com .

No, I just took the 12 months w/o interest. I think I will do that and see what happens. Nothing to loose.

 

[kclark]

No, I just took the 12 months w/o interest. I think I will do that and see what happens. Nothing to loose.

It should have been 18 months w/o interest.

 

[kommon_sense]

ehpoole - Thanks for the info! I'm still getting my small workshop together, so I don't know that I can justify a full blown DC just yet, but I'll definitely start a new thread when the time comes. The small amount of dust/chips that I make now are enough to kick off my allergies. For the time being, looks like I'll still be using my shop-vac with a hepa filter and my 3m respirator.

kclark - I'm jealous. My *ENTIRE* 2 car garage is only 20x20 and I don't have a shed. So I have to get very creative with how I store things. I'd love to hear how you like the rockler dc setup. RIght now I have the planer hooked directly to my shop vac and its funny because the planer blows enough air to make the top of my shop vac lift

 

[merrill77]

I take it everyone is talking about this porter cable stand setup?

http://www.amazon.com/Porter-Cable-...SZFC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1315331588&sr=8-1

I think that I'm going to try my hand at building a cart. A few bucks cheaper, and I think I can add chip collection and get a smaller footprint within my tiny 2 car garage... Could also be a fun project... I'll try to post up pics. If you don't see any updates, then the project did not go well

I built a mobile base for my planer and am happy I did. I really like having long, flat infeed/outfeed tables on the planer - it allows me to use sleds (for planing thin stock or face jointing) with ease. They are long enough that I can feed an 8' board and it doesn't fall off the table. Mine is kinda big, but still smaller than the original when counting the triple-rollers that it came with - and I even managed to get a little storage in it. It is very mobile and the tables fold in/out in seconds. Follow the link above for more details - maybe it will inspire your design.

 

[CDPeters]

Hey Chris -

Nice planer workstation! Is that a Woodtek 15"er? What do you think of it?

C.

 

[merrill77]

Hey Chris -

Nice planer workstation! Is that a Woodtek 15"er? What do you think of it?

Thanks.
Yes it is.

It seems to b the same as every other Delta 15" planer clone. I had another one, much older, that I bought heavily used and had for about 6 years. Sold it for this newer one with fewer miles. It does the job and it'll probably outlive me. I like that the motor/cutterhead moves, instead of the tables. Otherwise, those infeed/outfeed tables would have been a lot trickier! I'd like to get a helical cutterhead for it, but neither Woodtek nor Byrd can tell me if there is one that fits

 

[kclark]

I thought that I would continue this thread by saying that I got my in feed and outfeed tables and got those installed in a couple of minutes, and got the wixey meter installed, but I am sometimes getting negative readings. Anybody else get those?

 

[kommon_sense]

Are you in ABS or INC mode? You typically want to be in ABS mode. Also did you follow the calibration procedure?

Just an FYI, my dewalt factory stops are all off. the 1/2" is 0.545. The 1-1/4" is nearly 1.3, etc.

 

[kclark]

I figured it out after I read my hand thru the planer to test for thickness

 

[ehpoole]

Just an FYI, my dewalt factory stops are all off. the 1/2" is 0.545. The 1-1/4" is nearly 1.3, etc.

I use my Wixey to set all my thicknesses, but if you wish to use the builtin depth stops then there is an adjustment that can be easily made. You can not adjust each depth individually, but you can easily adjust the bolt/stop that serves as the reference for the built-in depth stops. Just loosen the nut, give the bolt a fraction of a turn, retighten the nut and test the depth again.

From your numbers, an adjustment of -0.045" will result in your depth stops falling within +/- 0.005" of their target (within the Wixey's limits). I'm not certain what the thread pitch is on the calibration bolt, but that is probably close to a full turn of the bolt lower (assuming 1/4"-20).

Remarkebly, the depth stop on my DW735 was amazingly close to accurate from the factory, usually no more than 0.01" off. I've never bothered to adjust it, though I also never use it.

 

[Joe Lyddon]

I too got a DW-735... Like it!

I went to eBay and found one that a really CRAPPY picture... asked questions... they said it looked unused and the picture was just bad...

I got it... looked Brand New... has worked like a charm... $375 delivered to my door!
I lucked out!

So, you can get a good BUY on eBay... Just keep watching... CL too... (as you mentioned)...

I got spare blades on eBay too!

I bought the Dust Bag that connects to a Drum... works like a charm!
... was able to get a FREE fiber drum from a Mfr'g company that just threw them away...

Yes on the End table Pieces... a must...

 

[kommon_sense]

I use my Wixey to set all my thicknesses, but if you wish to use the builtin depth stops then there is an adjustment that can be easily made. You can not adjust each depth individually, but you can easily adjust the bolt/stop that serves as the reference for the built-in depth stops. Just loosen the nut, give the bolt a fraction of a turn, retighten the nut and test the depth again.

I've already got a wixey bolted onto it I ordered it the same day I purchased the planer. I was just surprised that the factory stops were off. Its consistently off, but thats nearly 10% on a 1/2" board.

The wixey is so nice and cheap ($37 on amazon), that I'm surprised that these lunchbox planers don't come with DRO from the factory

 

[ehpoole]

The wixey is so nice and cheap ($37 on amazon), that I'm surprised that these lunchbox planers don't come with DRO from the factory

So far as I am aware, there is (or was, I don't know if it is still available) only one portable thickness planer model that ships from the factory with digital readout. It is/was Sears' top-of-the-line model -- and I would rather invest in the DW735 and add the Wixey as I just did not know enough about the Sears model ant it cost as much or more than I spent for my DW735 at the time ($450+tax for the DW735, ~$50 for the earlier Wixey model DRO). The Sears planer did get some positive reviews though and the reviewers liked the top-side height crank. Personally, I rather prefer the side-mounted depth crank on the DW735 although DeWalt seems takes a lot of knocks for it in the reviews.