No longer King of the Hill
Written: Apr 03 '07 (Updated Apr 04 '07)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Ergonomics, controls, smooth finish
Cons: Vibration, Snipe Lock, Durability, runs hot, blade changes
The Bottom Line: An outdated design, there are plenty of other planers on the market that outperform it for the money.
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| kelvinm's Full Review: DeWalt Heavy-Duty 12 1/2" Portable Thickness Plane... |
Back in '98 I bought this planer to replace my rapidly disintegrating Delta.
Portable planers have advanced leaps and bounds since the early 90s, but keep in mind that back in 1996 this was considered an exceptional machine for the money... and it really was!
Since 2002, I moved onto a Makita 2012NB (see my other reviews), and it's apparent that the old DeWalt DW733 is no longer a competitive machine with the more modern designs. If I had written this review in 1997, then I probably would've given it a higher rating.
The Good Stuff:
-Smooth controls (initially), decently machined parts (for the time period)
-Optional dust hood works as it should. Hook it up to a decent dust collector and forget about chips.
-Included blades are a decent HSS metal. They're re-sharpenable which was a bonus at the time. Read on though..
-Flat top for resting boards on, and the crank handle is user friendly.
-The slide out handles work as advertised but seem like an afterthought.
-With a sharp blade, the finish on planed wood is excellent, but this is the case with all the planers out there. I'm not a big worrier about snipe, but it was well controlled with this unit.
What needs improvement:
-Longevity and durability aren't that great. To put things in perspective, I probably wouldn't be saying this if I currently didn't own a Makita 2012NB. At the time, it was far better than my Delta at the time (that Delta has long been discontinued). DeWalt had raised the bar in the mid 90s. Unfortunately, they haven't kept up the tradition.
-Vibration seems excessive, as the top was just a stamped piece of metal. Everything on this planer just seemed to humm at a high frequency. Shoving a piece of wood in, just made the planer complain even more. You need ear protection.
-That beloved snipe lock, that DeWalt continually trumpted, was what I found to be the biggest engineering flaw.
If you plane a significant amount of wood that is in the 1"-2" size, then the cutter head will spend most of it's life at the bottom of the planer. The snipe lock consists of friction pads (near the top of the head). When you engage them, the friction pads force themselves out against the vertical support rods. Rather than "clamping" the rods, they merely push themselves onto the rod. This forces the rods into bending action.
What makes the problem worse, is that the snipe lock bends the rods at their weakest point - right in the middle. Repeated use of the snipe lock in the 0.5" to 3" position keeps nicely bowing out the rods.
After about a year of use on the jobsite, it became extremely difficult to crank the planer in this range. Once you get the cutting head past the 3" height, it moved smoothly. The bent vertical support rods were bowed so much that the cutter head assembly would seriously bind on it in that region. The only fix is to replace the vertical support rods. Using the planer became very cumbersome.
What's worse, is that the snipe lock losses it's effectiveness as the rods bow out. Less pressure gets exerted as they bow and move away from the friction pads.
Flawed design from the start.
The DeWalt service center claimed that it was my fault that all this happened. Apparently you're supposed to disengage the snipe lock after each use. Leaving the snipe lock engaged over long periods of time is not advised. What?!?!
It doesn't seem practical having to stop and baby the machine each time you shut it off. Perhaps I didn't give the DeWalt enough hugs and kisses at the end of the day. See my Makita 2012NB review.
-The re-sharpenable steel blades are a pain to change and sharpen. After using the new carbide disposable system from Makita I can't see any reason to use the DeWalt system. It's cumbersome (requiring little jigs), slow, and requires a second set of blades to be kept on hand. Once again, in the early 90s, this was considered the norm.
-The motor gets very hot under continuous operation (you can feel the heat coming off of it). I'm not sure if it's the motor or the drive design causing all the heat, but I've had to replace the belt after the second year of use. If you plane wide boards (10"-12") then take it easy with this machine. The fan cooling seems barely adequate.
-The cutterhead is made from aluminum. You have to use the included small wrenches to change the knives or else you will strip the bolts. Don't use vise grips, or a socket set! Aside from the knives being difficult to adjust and change (relative to the Makita), I had no real problems with the aluminum head. I have heard reports from other users about aggravation from accidentally striping the threads. So beware. As a side note, the Makita 2012NB uses a metal head, just another example of the DW733 being outclassed.
-The depth gauge for depth of cut is useless on this machine. The excessive vibration causes the pointer to jump up and down, making it impossible to read while in use. Nice idea, poorly implemented. Once again, today's newer planers have implemented it better.
-The depth stop system isn't really 100% repeatable. Neither is it on the Makita 2012NB. I doubt these things are really designed to work properly. They're just there to impress on the showroom.
Cut to the chase:
The DeWalt DW733 is no longer competitive in today's crowded portable planer market. You can buy better performing machines for the same or even less money.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
kelvinm
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Reviews written: 16
Trusted by: 2 members
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