Dewalt 734 Planer Calibration... Finally

So, I’ve been quite frustrated for some time. I would have everything square, then I would go to assembly and suddenly nothing would line up. This plagued me through two projects.

Then, I’m working on some bed posts and I noticed that my Dewalt 734 planer seemed to struggle when I moved a board to one side (trying to find a fresh spot on the knives). So I move back to the other side, and the rollers will barely grab the stock. I check for square and sure enough, out of square. So I unplug it and stick a gauge block between the knives and table and run the knives down until they just kiss the block. I run the block across to the other side… crap, one side is 1/16” high.

My problem, I just assumed that my planer knives were parallel to the table. And I’m left handed, so every time I checked thickness I always checked the left side of the board. So not only were my boards not square, they were not to dimension either.

I did my research on the interwebs and I couldn’t find anything other than, “I had that problem. They will recalibrate it if you take it into a shop.” I’m sure they would, but looking at the thing there isn’t much that can affect the “levelity” of the knives. It’s just two screws. So I flipped the planer over, and here is why I’m writing this with such enthusiasm… it’s just a chain and a couple sprockets.

So, if YOU have a Dewalt 734, and you are not getting consistent thickness across the knives, here’s the easy fix;

1. Unplug it
2. Check you clearances on either side of the knives
3. Flip it over and remove the sprocket from the driven, not the driving, screw
4. Use the height adjustment handle to adjust the driving screw appropriately
5. Re-install the driven sprocket
6. Flip it back over and recheck the clearances
7. Repeat however many times as necessary until you have it dialed in.

Hope this helps someone.