DeWalt DW735X Planer

Last updated: July 20, 2023

Overview

The Dewalt DW735X Planer is a powerful tool designed for thickness planing of wood. It features a 3-knife cutter head and two speed settings for precise and efficient material removal.

Risks

  • Serious physical injury from cutter blades
  • Kickback risk from planer ejecting stock material
  • Electrical shock hazard from damaged or frayed power cord
  • Eye injury from sawdust or flying debris
  • Hearing damage from long-term exposure to planer noise

Safety Precautions

  • Keep hands away from underside of cutterhead carriage, both when feeding in material and when removing material
  • Never plane material which is shorter than 12" (305 mm), narrower than 3/4" (19 mm), or wider than 12", (305 mm) or thinner than 1/2" (12.7 mm)
  • Stand out of the way of potential kickback, and ensure nobody else is in the kickback path
  • Do not change speeds while planing
  • Always perform maintenance or adjustments with the machine unplugged
  • Use protective equipment: eye protection, ear protection

Glossary

  • Thickness Planer: A woodworking tool used to reduce the thickness of rough lumber, producing smooth, even surfaces.
  • Cutter Head: The rotating part of the planer equipped with blades that remove material from the workpiece.
  • Kickback: The sudden, forceful backward movement of the workpiece, usually caused by improper feeding or blade contact.
  • Turret Stop: Knob on the left side that sets the minimum depth to which the carriage can travel.

Materials

The thickness planer is only intended for use on wood.

Avoid planing wood contains nails, staples, rocks, or other foreign objects which will damage the cutter head blades. Construction lumber often contains staples, and reclaimed wood often contains nails, staples, and rocks. You are responsible for replacing blades if you damage them.

Do NOT plane old painted surfaces as they may contain lead.

Avoid planing finished materials. It is preferable to sand or cut off the finish first to avoid gumming up the planer.

Procedures

Basic Operation

  1. Ensure the outfeed is adequately supported for the length of your board.
  2. Connect the dust collector to the dust ejection port. Turn the dust collector on.
  3. Set the turret stop to the desired thickness of your wood.
  4. Place the workpiece on the planare, making sure it lies flat against the tables and cutter head.
  5. Adjust the planer's depth of cut to be approximately equal to the thickest portion of the wood. Recommend only removing 1/32" per pass.
  6. Turn on the planer, adjust the speed if desired, and allow the cutter head to reach full speed before feeding the workpiece.
  7. Feed the workpiece into the planer. Keep your hands away from the cutter head using a push block if necessary.
  8. Maintain a consistent feed rate to achieve an even surface on the workpiece.
  9. Flip the board, lower the depth adjustment by 1/32" (half a rotation of the depth adjustment crank), and repeat until desired board thickness is reached.
  10. Once the entire workpiece has been planed, turn off the planer and dust collector.

Changing Cutter Blades

  1. Unplug the planer.
  2. Use attached T-Wrench to remove four top screws, and remove the top.
  3. Remove 3 wing screws in the dust shroud, and remove the dust shroud.
  4. Rotate the cutterhead as needed with scrap wood to expose each of the 3 blades. Warning: The exposed blades are very sharp.
  5. Use the T-Wrench to remove screws for a blade, and use the magnets on the T-Wrench to remove the knife clamp and knife blade.
  6. Rotate the blade if only one side is worn or damaged. Replace the blade entirely if both side are worn or damaged.
  7. Reinstall the blade, knife clamp, dust shroud, and top in reverse order of removing them.

References

Specs

Planing width
Max 13" (325mm)
Planing height
1/8" to 6" (4mm to 152mm)
Feed speeds
96 or 179 CPI
Supported materials
Wood
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