New Toy

[ozwood]

Hi all,

A bit of relief from the heavy threads !

I had a faithful Makita thicknesser for years, it was as tough as nails, the blades where cheap, but it sniped like a bitch and had been known to wood chip anything even slightly resembling curly grain, Tim spittle described the feed rate as "terrifying".

So I started researching alternatives, I have a fairly compact workshop , so a bit Like my Laguna saw I was hoping to find something small, but hardworking, after tossing it all over , I decided on the Dewalt DW735 which is nice and squat and will still slide away under my bench , had a two speed feed gearbox, and a chip extractor/blower , which is something to behold , a gauge that indicated how much material will be removed regardless or where you feed in, and a preset thickness dial .

The only negative was that, reportedly the blades had a tendency to dull when used with really hardwoods, but part of the decision making process was that, it was one of the thicknessers that had the Shelix upgrade available for it.

So the plan was to use the 3 sets of double sided cutters that where included as part of the deal when I purchased it at the timber show, until they where blunt and then upgrade it to the Shelix cutter, but due to a comedy of errors, I manged to commit to buying the Shelix cutter in a botched attempt to ascertain the exchange rate and shipping................ for anyone else who decides to compare, trust me just buy it from Carroll's, same price , you will get it quicker.

I digress, all worked out well though, and fitting the Shelix with the supplied instructions was a snack.

The results are truly amazing, quiet, will thickness pretty much anything without any tear out and leaves a beautiful finish, with no snipe, once you tweak the in and out feed tables.

I did need to calibrate the thickness presets , the cutting gauge and the thickness indicator , but that was pretty straight forward.

Anyway , if your considering an upgrade this maybe worth considering.

Cheers,

[Steve.Toscano]

Will it woodchip tiger myrtle and give you a hug afterwards?

- Steve

[Wayde Christie]

Will it woodchip tiger myrtle and give you a hug afterwards

I've heard that story several times, and I still enjoy hearing it. Especially the hug bit

[simso]

Nice tidy unit, and neat idea re the slips away into the cupboard

Steve

[ozwood]

Well ...... umm not that particular unit, but one just like it LOL.

I see Peta was on "The Voice" , very compassionate and empathetic girl.

There was another mishap involving a plane and a bench caused by Peta , but that's another story.

Cheers,

[Nick]

If it's anything like the Dewalt cordless drill I bought for work, you've got a gem on your hands For an 18V drill I've never known anything with so much Torque! And it's a long time between drinks when you look at battery recharges. Great buy Paul and hope you get many long faithful years of service!

[Lex]

Plug her in and put the kettle on Paul. Nice bit of kit mate.

Cheers Tod

[jeffhigh]

I've got a few rough edges and bulges, can you smooth me out on Sunday?

[charangohabsburg]

The results are truly amazing, quiet, [...]

... which means "no sound sample".
Nice tool, congrats!

[Mark Fogleman]

I've had my DW735 for ~12 years and it's still humming.

One thing you will see using straight blades is a small ridge when you get a small chip in the edge. Because the DW735 blades are indexed, you can loosen 2 blades and slide one to the right and the other to the left ~4mm. This takes ~3 minutes and cancels the chip. I extend my blade life by only planing rough cut parts instead of long boards. The blades don't get as hot and dull.

A good way to get a 13" jointer is to use the leftover straight blade head in a diy jointer:




youtu.be/

[ozwood]

Thanks Mark , all good Info.

My mate also purchased one at the same time, but has not opted for the shelix, I'll pass on you tip.

Cheers,