DeWalt 12.5 inch planer - a beginners guide.
Written: Dec 27 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Lots of power and smooth finish
Cons: dust shoot design and seperate purchase
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| Freundly's Full Review: DeWalt Heavy-Duty 12 1/2" Portable Thickness Plane... |
My growing interest and skills in woodworking was demanding boards in materials and thicknesses I could not buy at reasonable prices. So I decided to get a thickness planer without knowing any more than that. After some looking around and asking questions of sales people that knew less than I did. I got the DeWalt. But before we to into those details, here are some things you should know that the sales staff at your tool store won’t know or won’t tell you ( more likely the former).
If you don’t already have a jointer, think about getting one first. 'Good thing I had one - the reason is you need one flat side before you start. If your rough board has bow and/or twist what you will get out of the planer will be bowed and/or twisted only nice and smooth and of equal thickness. If the boards are too wide for my 6 inch jointer I either make them narrower or flatten them with hand planes. If you know a short cut around this please let me know.
I use lot of white oak so most of what I tell you will reflect that experience. I have found that I need to alternately plane on both sides or my nice flat board will come out nicely bowed. With other materials I have not had that problem but I’ve learned my lesson and constantly check for bow regardless.
Wrong-way grain can result in tear out. But most of the time I put the boards through either way without a problem.
Now for the DeWalt. I was guided to this model by the salesman at Woodworkers Warehouse vs the Delta based primarily on the heft of the knives. I told him that I wasn’t going to use it everyday but when I did I’d be using very hard material. To him that cinched the DeWalt and his explanation made sense.
So far it has handled all my work without complaint. After machining the surfaces show just the slightest marks which easily clean up. I have had it less than a year. Since I started using it I have machined about 100bf of white oak from a very rough 5/4 and 4/4 to to 4/4 and 3/4 no problem. I’ve yet to remove the knives for honing. For that reason I won’t be able to comment on that aspect of the machine.
Adjusting the in and out feed tables is of course critical to avoid snipe. To do that you have to adjust some screws located underneath the tables. It is an up and down trial and error deal which could and should be easier. Fortunately once done it seems to hold well. If you’re planing long heavy boards additional support both in and out is advisable. Otherwise or to be safe, leave several inches extra on each end so you can cut off any snipe. Shorter boards are no problem. The shortest length you can plane is 12" (I think). O.K. I’m pretty sure about that I just want to make sure you all read all the warnings and instructions.
The dust hood (sold separately) is essential and really should be in the box. You can not realistically use this thing without the shoot and some kind of vacuum dust extraction. A ShopVac works (the more power the better) but the vacuum hose and the dust shoot are different diameters. A trip the hardware store and some creativity will fix the problem. The dust shoot is a pain to mount so I leave it on. Unfortunately when it is on you can not fold up the out feed table-so it takes up some extra precious space when not in use. If I had the room I’d leave it set up! At close to 80 lbs it is portable only by a pretty broad definition.
Hearing protection should also come in the box. Use it with your ears unprotected only if you’re already deaf.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
Freundly
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Reviews written: 8
Trusted by: 1 member
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