RIKON 13-in planer 25-130H with Helical Head...any thoughts?

[Toolinator]

I am on the hunt for a great, but compact first planer. The dewalt 735 is expensive to upgrade to helical, and this has it included.

I am trying to decide between this and the Dewalt 734 (735 doesn't seem worth it)

Any thoughts? I can't find a single review on the ricon planer so that doesn't make me feel confident in it.

 

[yworkcb]

http://lumberjocks.com/topics/92570 , http://www.woodcraftmagazine.com/posts.php?id=111 .Nothing in depth yet .

 

[ckofahl]

I would like to know if it is a true helical head. From the manual, it looks more like it is segmented, not helical

 

[Cheese]

[member=43292]Toolinator[/member]
I owned the 734 for many years before I purchased the 735. Other than better knife life with the 734, the 735 is the better planer in all other areas. The 734 also has a manual cutter lock that has to be engaged and disengaged every time you change the planer removal height. PITA...I'd never go back to a 734.
[2cents]

 

[jbasen]

I have a dw735 with a Shelix cutterhead.  Looking at the specs for the Rikon there are a couple of things that jump out at me

1) the Rikon uses HSS cutters and the Shelix are Carbide
2) the cutters on the Rikon are only 2 sided while the Shelix cutters are 4 sided.

Based on the above youl will get much more life out of the cutter on the Shelix head than you will out of the cutters installed in the Rikon. This at least accounts for part of the difference between the 2 units

 

[Kev]

All of my research has concluded that the DW735 + spiral cutter head is good option.

I don't know the Rikon, but typically you get exactly what you pay for!

 

[Cheese]

I have a dw735 with a Shelix cutterhead.  Looking at the specs for the Rikon there are a couple of things that jump out at me

1) the Rikon uses HSS cutters and the Shelix are Carbide
2) the cutters on the Rikon are only 2 sided while the Shelix cutters are 4 sided.

Based on the above youl will get much more life out of the cutter on the Shelix head than you will out of the cutters installed in the Rikon. This at least accounts for part of the difference between the 2 units

Good eyeball...that's a huge difference. Why would they even bother using HSS inserts? And then 2-sided on top of that [eek]. Small carbide inserts are usually in the $3-$4 range and with 40-50 inserts per unit you've got a couple of hundred dollars just in inserts.

 

[bkharman]

I recently started looking into this again and found that the Rikon is not a spiral cutter.  It is just flat with 26 inserts.  Not sure you get any added benefit (noise, cut, etc.) for that setup.

Still debating on a small lunchbox, or a combo machine for quite a bit more.

Cheers.  Bryan

 

[Kev]

I recently started looking into this again and found that the Rikon is not a spiral cutter.  It is just flat with 26 inserts.  Not sure you get any added benefit (noise, cut, etc.) for that setup.

Still debating on a small lunchbox, or a combo machine for quite a bit more.

Cheers.  Bryan

I've been looking into the various cutter technologies lately .. Felder/Hammer have a very pronounced spiral and corresponding deep channel for "improved DC". Others I've seen seem to have less of a "twist" .. but I haven't seen a version of a supposedly spiral/helical cutter head that has zero twist ... I'd like to see that out of interest - certainly would buy that!

Do they just call it a "segmented blade" cutter head?

[member=21412]bkharman[/member]

 

[bkharman]

I've been looking into the various cutter technologies lately .. Felder/Hammer have a very pronounced spiral and corresponding deep channel for "improved DC". Others I've seen seem to have less of a "twist" .. but I haven't seen a version of a supposedly spiral/helical cutter head that has zero twist ... I'd like to see that out of interest - certainly would buy that!

Do they just call it a "segmented blade" cutter head?

[member=21412]bkharman[/member]

Hey [member=13058]Kev[/member]

Here is a picture I found of the cutter head. 

http://www.highlandwoodworking.com/productimages/stationarytools/Rikon/191167-2d.jpg

On this particular model, i didnt like the layout plus the fact that it had only 2 sides to rotate through as well as they were not carbide.  For 550.00 USD, I would rather put that money elsewhere.  A DW735 with Shelix cutter would put me in at 2x that cost so I might as well look at Jet and other combo machines.  If I am spending THAT much, I might as well look at a Hammer... strike that... a Felder!

oh how it gets out of hand.... i guess i will stick with my HL850!  (to be continued...)

cheers.  Bryan.

 

[Kev]

... If I am spending THAT much, I might as well look at a Hammer... strike that... a Felder!

oh how it gets out of hand.... i guess i will stick with my HL850!  (to be continued...)

cheers.  Bryan.

[member=21412]bkharman[/member]

We need a special word in the English language for this [embarassed]

 

[blaszcsj]

I picked up my dw735 on Craigslist for 300 with two sets of blades from a guy in Dayton. And I picked up the stand for 100. I am very pleased so you could go that route. I plan on upgrading the head to the shelix soon.

 

[Toolinator]

Just to close this out, I went with a used Dewalt 735x. I bought new carbide straight knives and a Wixie digital gauge. This thing is awesome, loud, and I love the precision of milling multiple parts to the same dimension.

My only complaint is that the rollers are rubber, and on big components or stubborn boards the rubber doesn't have enough traction and will give little rubber eraser marks.

To avoid snipe, lift the infeed and outfeed boards ever so slightly above the table (but only if the board is say 36"+ length)

 

[suds]

i'm in the same boat.  My old Ridgid gave up and I'm looking at various lunchbox planers.  Even considering the Hammer Combo!  I see Cutech has a planer out with spiral head cutter.  Did you look into that before purchasing the 735?  Price point $399