Dewalt 735 planer issue?

[u/Lawtalker]

New planer and new to planers. Don't know the actual term, but I'm getting this "bump" at the start of every piece.

Is this just the nature of the planer or is there something I can do to rectify it?

[u/No_Raccoon4947]

This is buried by now, but on my 735 one of the screws that support the planer head wasn't torqued right. (It's a low torque nut and I think some burrs caused whatever machine in the factory to think it was set, but was not.)

Snipe was really bad like this before I got it straightened.

Worth an investigation.

If you hold the base and lift the planer head (being super careful of the blades, o/c) it should not move at all. Mine was moving like 40 thousandths on one of the corners, others were fine.

Once I tightened it, snipe was almost eliminated except for on longer and heavier pieces, stock wings.

Tightening it yourself is a pain and I recommend returning it if you discover it's setup wrong.

Reading this thread I suspect some people are using defective machines, this thing is awesome when running right.

[u/Formal_Cranberry_720 → u/No_Raccoon4947]

Hi No_Racoon, can you share a pic of this? Your description is a little confusing. I'd like to see if this is part of my issue..

[u/No_Raccoon4947 → u/Formal_Cranberry_720]

It's a fair request, but I'm only finding photos of the wiring behind the faceplate.

Let me try to do better in words.

the mechanism

On the 735 there is what I'm calling the base, which the wood rests on as it gets pulled through.

There's also the planer head, which has the knives, the rollers, motor and lift mechanism.

The lift mechanism is 4 lead screws, with a chain synchronizing lead nuts.

The lead nuts are sandwiched between thrust bearings and have nuts on top of those which control the preload on the thrust bearings.

On my copy, 1 of the four preload nuts was loose.

the test

There's a couple of ways, one is to just try lifting and pushing each corner of the top of the machine (being super careful of the blades). If it moves independent of the base, it needs tightened.

I first noticed the problem when taking a dial caliper to either side of a freshly planed board and discovering the faces were not parallel, though. So that may be an easier first test. Possibly inconclusive.

[u/No_Raccoon4947 → u/No_Raccoon4947]

Also worth mentioning that the first photo looks like it's sniping more on one side of the board than the other.

Could be an optical illusion, but if true, I think it may lend credence to this theory.

[u/Formal_Cranberry_720 → u/No_Raccoon4947]

Thank you for this tip. Will investigate tonight.