Need new knives for my DW 735 and trying to figure out the best way to go. There hasn’t been much discussion on this in the last 10 years on this board that I’ve found. The HHS knives seem to keep an edge fairly well but I end up with so many chips that I’m spending too much time scraping off the tracks. I’m not milling used lumber and I’m going over everything with a paint scraper and shop-vac to try to run the cleanest material as I can.
I’m interested in what experience people have had with carbide edge, tungsten (if they are available) or switching to a spiral cutter head for my DeWalt 735. I don’t know if the tungsten or carbide edges would be a lot less apt to chip. That said, all the wood that went through the plainer had gone over my joiner first. It’s and an 8″ helical head and only has one chip in one insert in the same time that the plainer knives were trashed. With the jointer, if I decide the chip is a problem I can turn it up to three more times and then change that one insert. A chip in the plainer is in all three knives. You can slip them a couple of times if the chip isn’t too big. Then the only fix is a new set of knives. The carbide knives are about a third the price of a spiral cutter. After replacing the feed rollers over the weekend, it didn’t look like it would take much more to change the cutter head. I think that would be my choice if Rollie Johnson hadn’t done it about ten years ago for an article. After that Matt Kenny made a comment on STL about the old shop manager running an amp test on that plainer and I think he said was pulling around 50% or more than the stated amperage draw in the spec sheet. That might be a little too much additional load for a small machine to stand up to over the long haul. Over all I’ve been really happy with this plainer and don’t won’t want to blow the motor on a cutter head experiment.
Is anyone having chip problems in tungsten or carbide knives? Has anyone put a spiral cutter head in their 735? What brand, how long ago, how many bf are you running through it a week or month? Have you had any problems like over heating, stalling, having to take small cuts ( under 1/32″)? Let’s talk about the good, bad and ugly of all these choices.
Be safe and have fun.
Replies
I put a Lux Cut head in my DW 735 nearly two years ago. I've run maybe a couple hundred bf though it. Shelix was on backorder, or I might have bought it.
Quieter, better cuts, better dust collection.
Can't take big cuts, or likely to trip thermal overload. That has happened a couple times.
Better to have a bigger machine, I'm sure. Since I had the DW, it made sense to me. I'd do it again. Follow instructions carefully!
Too big a hurry and forgot to hit reply to a question. Please check the thread and answer if you would.
Google “helical head for DW 735” and “carbide knives for DW 735” and you’ll see dozens of videos and sites about both.
I considered this for a smaller deWalt machine, but in the end decided to sell it and buy a bigger machine with a spiral head.
In the end, that is probably your best bet.
I can't speak for carbide blades, but would worry that as soon as you do have a chip, you are stuck with a specialist sharpening service. I could significantly extend the life of my HSS blades by honing on a fine diamond stone.
Were I in your position though, if I could not afford the upgrade, I would buy the carbide blades and try them.
I would not add in a helical head to a machine not designed for it from the get-go. The cost is usually more than the difference in price between a new machine with and without the helical head, and you really do need the bigger motor. I know there are many on this forum who have done so and are happy enough, but it really only stacks up economically if you are sufficiently cash strapped that you would be better off sticking with the knives which have served well for 30+ years...
brucecolorado how small of a cut are you limited to? On my plainer a full turn is 1/16". I'll cut that much on the second and third cut of some really rough boards. After most of the saw marks are gone then I'm usually going a half turn at a time, 1/32". Then dial it in to final dimension at a quarter turn or less. Do you have to cut less than 1/32" to keep from overloading you machine?
Depends on species and width. I just now planed 1/8" off a 6" wide white oak board. If the board had been several feet long, it probably would have tripped the thermal overload. I tried 1/32 with a total of 13" wide boards: 6 of oak and 7 of mahogany. A 1/32" cut tripped the thermal switch.
So if you plane lots of wide, long boards, this might not be great. My latest project is four maple cafe chairs, with maybe 10 or so bf each. For projects like that, I'm happy. There is little or no tear out, especially with small cuts. I may never need to buy more inserts. I got 5 extras with the head, and bought 10 more at the same time. I haven't turned any of the cutters yet.
Thanks a lot for taking time to reply. That was the information I was looking for.
Be safe and have fun.
Thanks to all who replied.
I just installed the Grizzley helical head on my DW735 about two months. I have nothing but good things to say about it. Quiet, great performance, and the surface it leaves behind is very smooth. One thing I noticed is that the automatic thickness stops on the DW735 are no longer accurate. I find that they are thicker than their stated thickness by about 1/32". Not a big deal but something to monitor when using.
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