Planers Reviews

I purchaced this planer based on the company and it's reviews. It does a fine job with one major irritation. The depth adjustment knob has a spiriling circle on it that takes 2 1/2 turns to complete from zero to max depth of cut. You turn the dial to get to a specific depth, the problem is that can't tell where you were from the last cut as the cone has several depths showing along the way that all align with a "set" point. I was always turning it back to zero following the spiral to the point I wanted for a specific depth. The depths were acurate once you were sure of where you were. I sold it and purchased the Dewalt. It has a pointer and 300 degree rotation from start to finish and marks at 64's of an inch increments so you know where your at all times. There is no problem fine tuning a cut with either planer, but when the pointer can't tell you what depth your about to cut, time is wasted playing with it to get where you want to be.

Powerfull and precise. Not a tool for a novice. Blades are on the blind side of the tool with no gaurd. No place for one. If you know why you need it, you'll be very satisfied with this tool. I really like the v-grove on the front plate.

I bought this set about 3 months ago. great set. It is nice to have a jig saw for those quick jobs. The planer works good for also quick jobs. if you hang doors this planer is quick for a few planes, especially if you have the porter cable battery router you can hang doors with out pulling out a elec cord. over all I like this set.

I also found this planer for a very good price, and 24 inch capicty is useful, and a great time saver because it allows you to plane 2 or more boards at once. I just wish there were more speed rates like on the powermatics, but it is good and for the price supurb. Its a very solid tool with plenty of power and well worth is especialy for rough stock, and also saves alot of money.

An amazing tool for the home shop enthusiast or professional woodworker. This device has a simple and comfortable feel to it and requires little practice to master. The easy to read and precise blade depth adjustment is one of the best features of this product. The location of the cord exit is also a nice and well thought out feature. I had to retire (begrudgingly) my Makita planer that dad passed on to me after many years and thousands of hours of trouble free use. the DeWalt name has proven itself time and time again as an industry leader in quality for professionals and new users. To prove the quality if the tool, we demonstrated the power of the planer on an 8" diameter green pine log at the hardware show here in the Twin Cities. I had many amazed looks as we accurately shaved off the bark and worked the piece down to a nice & clean square in short order. **Please do not try this with your tools at home as it is not designed for this particular use.** It was utilized as a drastic example to prove the power and functionality of the tool. You are always at your own risk with any tool. (power or otherwise) Wear all the OSHA approved safety equipment at all times. You can't buy a new set of hands, eyes or ears at any hardware store. No one stocks them yet. Enjoy all the DeWalt products, I most certainly do.
Jeffrey B. Curtis
Plymouth, MN

I have a Makita portable table saw that had an inferior fence. A friend told me about this replacement fence system that would bolt onto the Makita and replace the stock fence. I ordered the PortaMax (I think it was called Rousseau when I ordered it) and promptly installed it. What a difference! I could suddenly rip larger pieces, they were straight and I could set my measurements directly off of the fence ruler. That little saw has been a workhorse for me with the new fence.

The stand does have a few drawbacks - the system does add a lot of weight making it a less portable, the fence doesn't slide quite as nicely as the "big boy" fences and, just recently, some of the powder coating flaked off the back rail (after three years).

If you want an accurate fence on a your portable table saw, this is the product that will deliver.

Have purchased and wore out the first set of knifes. The knives are hard to find and buy. They wear out quicker than I expected. You cannot cut as deep with these spiral blades and the boards seem to stall while the lumber is feeding. Be careful that the speed control does not get stuck in the middle position as the wood will not feed and you might not know why. When the blades are sharp and the cut is not agressive the finish is top rate.
Sid Sutherland, Brush Prairie, Washington

I have had this machine for a year and I automatically charge all my custom in build cabinets and furniture a $25 dollar surcharge for blades, this planer is faboulous for about 30 board foot of lumber, a typical project. Then you can flip 'em over and do one more project. It would actually be cheaper to let my hardwood supplier surface two sides that to run this very expensive planer. Dewalt, listen up!!! You may have the DIY and weekend enthusist blinded by your fancy marketing and race cars but professionals are starting to grumble, put your house in order, include the accessories to achieve the best results!

I like this planer but like many other people I am very disappointed in the durability of the steel knives. Looking for an alternative I sent a knife to Leech Carbide to get a quote on having some knives made from tungsten carbide. After some negotiation, if I buy in bulk I can get the knives for $95.00 per knife, that's $285.00 for a set. This is about 5 times the cost of the steel knives but they should last 10 to 20 times longer. This is a bit of an investment but it looks like it's worth it if you use your planer with any frequency like I do. Leech Carbide has the specifications on these knives and is ready to produce them but I need other people willing to buy some of these from me. Is anyone interested? If so email me at noshots@gunnison.com Leech said they would send me a test set so I can make sure there are not problems but I need to commit.

i also had feeding problems with this machine .and blamed it on the blades,i went through three sets . then i tryed rubing candle wax on the tables ... what a difference . i havent had any feeding problems seince .just change the knives when you start to notice the finish quality getting poor and rub an old candle over the tables every ten boards or so. this machine is very well thought out .the only problem i am having is the reset button was poping out on allmost every cut (plugged directly into the 20 amp dedicated circuit normally used for the wifes garage door opener) and i had to bypass it , i have ran over 500 bd ft through it seince with no problems . i am careful not to take more than a half turn on boards over 5 inches wide and i am keeping my fingers crossed that the smoke doesent leak out of the motor :)

I bought the reconditioned planer. It was shipped in a cardboard box with no packing material whatsoever! Whoever did the reconditioning literally put it in a box, threw in the assorted pieces, and sealed it. The planer had no hope of being shipped without damage. It is disturbing that a nice tool was destroyed due to such stupidity. I returned it to Amazon, paid more, and purchased a new one. This one arrived properly boxed and in good condition.

The package had no padding whatsoever pieces were everywhere
Dewalt said that I should have told the UPS driver Who Just threw the package out of the truck while still in motion.
People like Dewalt and Ups should be banned from Nascar

Judging from some of the other reviews, I must have gotten lucky because my planer arrived in pristine condition and worked great right out of the box. The only way you could tell it was not new was by looking closely at the bed. It planes like a dream and the results are very smooth, even on the 'coarser' setting. The chip blower works well, but with the volume of chips the planer generates, it should really be hooked up to a dust collector (unless you plan to run a hose out your window and make a big pile in the yard.) This thing is heavy, so I strongly suggest building or buying a mobile stand/cart to keep and operate it on - you won't want to be lugging it around much.

I have been using my 22-540 as a serious amateur cabinet and furniture maker for about seven years. I would hesitate to guess how many feet of wood have passed through the planer but it is a lot.

The Delta 22-540 performed well over the years but a few weeks ago a project came to a sudden stop when the bearings on the cutter head overheated and seized. I found that replacements are available but after a near total disassembly, I found that I could not remove the bearings from the main frame casting. Quite a disappointment.

So now I must choose a replacement. The winner is the DeWalt DW 733 even at the additional ($$$)cost over a replacement 22-540.

The Delta 22-540 does have a nasty habit of setting creep, I control this by blocking the handle or simply holding it with one hand while the lumber is running. I trust the four-post clamp of the new models will cure this problem. I didn't stay with Delta and their 13" 22-580K because of the lock handle design and the useless two-speed feature. Thank you to all of you who wrote reviews on the various planers. And, thank you to Amazon for publishing them. The final decision was easy to make when comparing the DeWalt and the Delta side by side in our local Home Center.Will the DW 733 live up to my expectations? I will let you know in about seven years.

I recently purchased a Delta 22-540 knowing that it had been damaged. The main casting holding the cutter head was broken on one side where the adjustment screw goes through. How I repaired that does not matter since I am writing this to show how to remove the bearings.

After the unit is stripped down you will have the casting that holds the cutter head and bearings, the four holes for the guide bars and the nuts for the adjusting screws. Remove the three cap screws holding the bearing retainer on the pulley end of the cutter head. Block the casting in a vertical position, (I used a low work table) with the pulley end down. You need enough clearance for the cutter bar to move about one inch. A couple of short two by fours worked for me. Set the 2 X 4s on edge as close to the pulley as possible. This gives good support. Use a section of 1 ½ inch pipe, or a large socket if you have one to drive the bearing out. The pipe or socket should rest on the outer race of the bearing but should not bind on the casting. It is fairly easy then to drive the bearing, along with the entire cutter head out of the casting.

Alternately you can use a brass drift pin with at least a ¼ inch face to drive the bearing out. Use firm blows but avoid really hammering on it. Tap the bearing once or twice then shift a third of the way around the bearing, tap again and shift another third of the way around. Continue this until the assembly drops free. You should be able to "feel" the bearing shift but don't try shifting it too far all at once.

Once free of the casting a standard wheel puller can be used to remove the bearing, either one or both. Of course, the pulley has to be removed if that bearing is the one to be replaced,

Don't have a press to reinstall the bearings. I didn't need to change the bearings but to reinstall the cutter head and bearing in the main casting I put a small amount of wheel bearing grease on the outer race of the bearing and inside the housing for the bearing in the main casting. Then I placed the cutter head in the freezer and while it was chilling down I put the main casting in the oven. With the oven at 400 deg for about 20 minutes and after the cutter head had chilled for 45 minutes, (I didn't want to take chances) I was able to slip the assembly together using a rubber mallet. Plan the hot and cold parts. Have plenty of rags, gloves ect. handy and it wouldn't hurt to have a helper to steady the casting.

This method works for all sorts of bearing instillation. I have been using it for years and even put a ring gear on a flywheel for a friend using this procedure. Just take your time and plan the , what I call hot and cold work, so there is no loss of time. No big deal if you don't get it all the way the first time. Drive it back out and do it over. Give it a try, I think you will be pleased.

I have owned my 540 for about 2 years and have run at least 2000bd ft through it. The unit has seen oak, cherry, maple, pine The planer performed well on all. The steel knives do dull fairly quick, but are reasonable to change if your careful. Snipe is a problem with the short outfeed tables but can be minimized using caution. This is not a high production machine and requires extra care, but at [asignificantly lower price] than its DeWalt counterpart, I feel it is an ideal addition to any personal woodworking shop.

I purchased the Powermatic 15S after my INCA planer/jointer combo gave up the ghost with the planer function. (The jointer still works great.) After unpacking, I went through the setup steps covered in the manual, which, by the way, is comprehensive and well written. My first dissapointment was to find that the supplied power cord is only about 5' long. You would think that with a $1600 machine they could give you at least 8' of cord! Replacing the cord was no problem, but an annoyance. (You also have to supply your own 220V plug, but that's understandable since there is a wide variety of 220V plug configurations in use.) The bed rollers seemed to be set correctly, so I fired it up and fed in a scrap piece of walnut. I have never seen a planer give so smooth a finish! And it's quiet! I don't know if the spiral blades are the reason, but I have never seen a straight blade planer perform this well. Time will tell how how long the blades stay sharp. I also planed some really curly koa; tearout was minimal and far better that I expected. Snipe was minimal, about .002"; you can feel it with your fingers but can't see it.

I did find one minor adjustment that the machine needed: when planing boards wider than about 4", the stock would creep to the left side of the bed. Nothing in the troubleshooting section covered this problem, but a phone call to the customer support number quickly solved the problem, which was to slightly reduce the feed roller pressure on the right side.

What prevented me from rating this machine with 5 stars was the digital readout. Unless you want to calibrate this device every time you turn it on, forget it. This evaluation was also stated by the customer service rep. It also measures in decimal fractions instead of 1/8, 1/16, etc. which is not the way most woodworkers think. On the other hand, the depth scale on the post is in 1/16 fractions and is dead on. I found that when using this scale I could duplicate board thickness within less than 1/64". If the choice was available, I would give it at least 4 1/2 stars!

Planer came well packed...good thing because the trucking co. tipped it over. Fit and finish is close to perfect. Once set up, which for me, was next to nothing, I only needed to reduce the feed rollers tension by 1/2 turn, to get just about snipe-free cuts. I'm talking .002" of snipe. Using Oak, all cuts were very smooth and with the digital readout, accurate to .003". I almost didn't take the plunge with this planer, but I'm glad I did. It's a solid machine and should prove to be great tool. I would highly recommend this machine.

I, too researched the product as well as I could prior to purchase. The good seemed to outweigh the negative, so I went for it.

The machine arrived undamaged and complete. Powermatic should look into hiring an American woodworker to write the technical mannuals for them. This one is composed by someone for whom english seems to be a bit of a stretch. That in mind, it contains most of the info you'll ever need if you supply the necessary adjectives and verbs-in-transitive.

Almost every adjustment on the machine needed some tweaking - knife setting, cutterhead-to-table parallelism, and the cast-iron tables needed a bit of shimming to true them up end-to-end.

I spent ? day tweaking before plugging her in, and oh my goodness...the dust collector makes more noise than the planer when she's cutting hardwood. I have been sitting on a 12" wide piece of tiger maple just to test the planer, and once I reset the lower rollers to eliminate all but about .003" of snipe (which can be reduced to .001" by applying firm hand pressure to the stock as it exits the outfeed table)the results were magnificent.

The finish cut rivals the $12,000 Martin digital planer that was in the last big shop I worked in.

The product this tool produces is worth the effort it took to fine-tune the machine after a somewhat careless assembly. I could not recommend this machine to someone who wants perfect results right out of the box, or someone who does not have digital calipers, 3' precision straight edges, or dial indicator guages about the shop. If you have some millwright blood in you, you'll do fine.

The machine is worth every cent of the purchase price to me.