portable thickness planers

jeep jake

jeep jake

Member
Joined
Aug 12, 2012
Messages
247
I'am thinking about picking up one. I've beeo borrowing friends here and there. Can anybody recommend one? Thanks guys.
 
I own the Dewalt 735 13" thickness planer. I'm very pleased with it but its darn heavy to really be portable by one man. Mine basically stays in the shop.

Bob
 
I've owned the smaller 12"? Dewalt and currently the makita, same-ish size. Makita is more solid (in that size, the D735 is a beast), both are good.
 
My first portable unit was the Delta 22-580.  No longer made since Stanley/DeWalt/Black & Decker had bought them out, but now they no longer own Delta.  Anyway, I had great results planing most wood with that unit.  No snipe, at all after I set it up properly and properly fed the wood through.  Sometimes under powered on really thick material and anything that had a finish on it just stalled upon entry (and got chewed up).  Sold it and bought the DeWalt DW735.  Loved how the shavings get blown out the exhaust, but too much snipe.  Added the accessory tables to the infeed and outfeed.  They didn't help.  Tried every possible adjustment to them.  Still excessive snipe on entry and exit.  Brought it to the DeWalt factory service center.  They kept it for a couple of weeks and replaced almost everything, yet barely improved the snipe condition.  Sick of it/sold it.

If you can afford it, get the Hammer/Felder A3 31 and you won't be unhappy.  I have read better reviews of the DeWalt DW734 over the DW735.
 
You might check into the Steel City portable planer.  2 years ago I had some Brazilian cherry/jotoba to plane and my older Delta planer could not even take a bite out of it because it was so hard.  The Steel City planer handled many linear feet of the jojoba with ease.  The surface is good, no problems.  It is big and heavy and works great.  It cost a little more but, like Festool, has been worth every penny.

Joe
 
I have been around several of these over the years in my capacity as a part-time sales associate.  I won't specify a specific brand as being my favorite as they all can do some things very well, but they all have their limitations:
1.  You get what you pay for, i.e. a $700 unit is better than a $300 unit.  And a $3000 unit is better yet, but hardly portable.
2.  Be realistic, one guy was burning out 2 or 3 units a year.  He was taking them out with a 6 man crew to remote sites, running them intensively with 50 foot cords (voltage drop).  These things are not industrial units.  They won't last with this much use.
3.  Do not have unrealistic expectations.  They are what they are for the price.  Notice that they are not named Festool.  You are not going to have Festool performance and reliability in a $300 to $700 unit.  But you can still do alot of work.  Most people love the things because they are realistic.
4.  Weirdest use -- I throw this in for humor, not for your application -- plane a 20 foot long beam that was 8" by 8".  They supported the beam, placed the planer over it and let the planer walk itself up and down the beam!  They claimed it work well and I don't doubt them.  But, why not haul the thing to lumber vendor equipped with an industrial planer?  Some things are better hired done.
 
RDMuller said:
I have been around several of these over the years in my capacity as a part-time sales associate.  I won't specify a specific brand as being my favorite as they all can do some things very well, but they all have their limitations:
1.  You get what you pay for, i.e. a $700 unit is better than a $300 unit.  And a $3000 unit is better yet, but hardly portable.
2.  Be realistic, one guy was burning out 2 or 3 units a year.  He was taking them out with a 6 man crew to remote sites, running them intensively with 50 foot cords (voltage drop).  These things are not industrial units.  They won't last with this much use.
3.  Do not have unrealistic expectations.  They are what they are for the price.   Notice that they are not named Festool.  You are not going to have Festool performance and reliability in a $300 to $700 unit.  But you can still do alot of work.  Most people love the things because they are realistic.
4.  Weirdest use -- I throw this in for humor, not for your application -- plane a 20 foot long beam that was 8" by 8".   They supported the beam, placed the planer over it and let the planer walk itself up and down the beam!  They claimed it work well and I don't doubt them.  But, why not haul the thing to lumber vendor equipped with an industrial planer?  Some things are better hired done.
Click to expand...

MINT!  lol  Might try that myself just for fun!!!
 
JMB, I see that ffx.co.uk has the best price for the Metabo DH330 thicknesser at the moment at £383 - do you know if this eTailer is a reputable one? (DW733 isn't too bad either at £455)

Does the Metabo have any sort of fine adjustment scales on the depth adjustment or can you dial thicknesses easily just by looking at the front depth gauge?

Are replacement blades easy to come by and are there carbide blades available for this machine? How long do the blades last and have you tried sharpening them?
 
jeep jake said:
I'am thinking about picking up one. I've beeo borrowing friends here and there. Can anybody recommend one? Thanks guys.
Click to expand...

Jake,

I own the Dewalt 735 and have been very happy with it. However, I watched a review of the new Steel City that now has carbide insert helix cutter head and I was impressed. At $499 it looks like a lot of bang for the buck. The review is at the Highland website check it out.

Jack
 
Reiska said:
JMB, I see that ffx.co.uk has the best price for the Metabo DH330 thicknesser at the moment at £383 - do you know if this eTailer is a reputable one? (DW733 isn't too bad either at £455)

Does the Metabo have any sort of fine adjustment scales on the depth adjustment or can you dial thicknesses easily just by looking at the front depth gauge?

Are replacement blades easy to come by and are there carbide blades available for this machine? How long do the blades last and have you tried sharpening them?
Click to expand...

I have used ffx.co.uk a couple of times, they are very good. Normally next day delivery

John...
 
Reiska said:
JMB, I see that ffx.co.uk has the best price for the Metabo DH330 thicknesser at the moment at £383 - do you know if this eTailer is a reputable one? (DW733 isn't too bad either at £455)

Does the Metabo have any sort of fine adjustment scales on the depth adjustment or can you dial thicknesses easily just by looking at the front depth gauge?

Are replacement blades easy to come by and are there carbide blades available for this machine? How long do the blades last and have you tried sharpening them?
Click to expand...

The inbuilt scales aren't brilliant, but each wind of the handles is 2mm I think. I fitted a Wixey digital readout to mine which was spot on (to 1/10th of a mm)
 
Regarding the 8x8 20' beam, would you place the planer upside down or right-side up?

Seems like letting it ride upside down would be the best bet??

JT
 
Julian Tracy said:
Regarding the 8x8 20' beam, would you place the planer upside down or right-side up?

Seems like letting it ride upside down would be the best bet??

JT
Click to expand...

I would say you would have to stick it upside down otherwhise you wouldn't be able to control the amount it takes off.

Jmb

 
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