DeWalt DW735 Planer - What Am I Doing Wrong?

When it gets colder, the rollers tend to grip less and are effected by dust and debris. Raise the machine and clean table and rollers, and then give it a try.

Do you have in-feed and out-feed tables? If so, are they properly adjusted?
Also wax the table.

-- Good judgement comes from experience and experience comes from poor judgement.

It seems to me that old wood gets harder and harder making it more difficult to machine.

Assuming that your rollers are turning the only corrective action I can think of is to clean the rollers and wax the table. I think rubbing alcohol works, but check your users manual first, and be careful you don’t cut yourself.

Edit: I just thought of something else I’ve heard of. Get a spray bottle and lightly spray the top surface of the board with water.

-- Joe

FWIW, I use isopropyl alcohol to clean the rollers on my 13in Ridgid planer and that helps a lot. Just remember to unplug the machine any time you are reaching in there. ;-)

-- HorizontalMike -- "Woodpeckers understand..."

Get some SlickStrips material and coat the bed of the planer with it. That will greatly reduce the friction between the lumber and the planer bed and should help a lot. I have noticed though that the lunchbox portable planers can’t effectively take a very big bite each pass.

Be Careful!

Herb

-- Herb, Florida - Here's why I close most messages with "Be Careful!" http://lumberjocks.com/HerbC/blog/17090

I also have that planer…....wax the bed!

-- In God We Trust

Ditto what Jim said.

-- Lew- Time traveler. Purveyor of the world's finest custom rolling pins!

Wax often!

-- Wood-Mizer LT15

I also purchased that model planer and I was IMPRESSED WITH ITS PERFORMANCE
HOwever it was short lived as I also am pushing tne boards through, so I took the blades and the board to the dealer and all he could see was the edge is gone of the blades !!!dah They have only done several short boards!!! All he could suggest was a new set, I think they sell the machine with very poor quality blades and as I was leaving they tryed to sell me a higher quality blade. So I will get these sharpened but \Ithink I will have to spend another $100.00 or so on good blades !!

-- Profile photo is of our big 50th celebration, What a great day that was, July 2011

Old/ reclaimed wood that is dirty will kill planer blades very quickly as the dirt is really grit just like sandpaper. I try to always wire brush and then blow clean with an air gun. A pain but it beats trashing blades. I have heard others say that the standard DeWalt planer blades were poor quality???

-- " I'll try to be nicer, if you'll try to be smarter" gfadvm

Thanks for all the quick replies! I’ll try the cleaning and wax as suggested. Does it seem strange to anyone that this common problem exists in the first place? I examined the rollers and they are 99% clean. Just very minor pieces of dust. I may have to reconsider this unit as I have very long pieces 13’ that may dirty the rollers half way through the piece. I’ll be doing more cleaning than wood working?

Clean the rollers…..that’s all there is to it. . . . . and you’ll probably have to do it again, and again…. and….

edit: one of those micro-fiber cloths work great.

Dirty rollers doesn’t sound right unless DeWalts are special. I have planed MILES of lumber with my Ridgid and never cleaned the rollers (and no problems so far).

-- " I'll try to be nicer, if you'll try to be smarter" gfadvm

The blades are reverseable, so you can flip them before buying a new set. This has only happened to me in the winter, low temp and low humidity will adversely effect the grip of the rubber. The planer should be fine.

Having long boards and a short planer bed may cause the jam. try supporting the board on the infeed past 1/2 way then switch.