DW735 Planer – Dents caused by knife screws
loykd
| Posted in General Discussion on
I can’t be the first one with this problem…
I have a DW735 planer, using Infinity knives. I’ve noticed small indentations in the wood recently, and I flipped the blades around to the fresh cutting edge.
Through the process, I discovered that several of the heads of the screws which hold down the knives are causing the dents. The beds of the cutting head are clean. No debris under the knives. I completely cleaned the rollers and checked for play in the cutting head bearings.
Not sure why the screw heads are suddenly doing this. I’m thinking that I can ground down the screw heads, but I sure would like to know the root cause.
Has anyone else experienced this?
Thanks!
Replies
If that indeed are the screw heads, stop using the machine. Something is seriously wrong, and possibly dangerous. Sorry, I have no solution.
I looked at the DW735 manual. No way I see for the screws to make contact.
Then I looked up the infinity (carbide) knives... they are thicker than the OEM knives, so those screws are projecting further out from the cutter head.
I would NOT grind on the bolt heads, heating them could weaken them. You might find a suitable replacement with a lower profile head. Make sure you get them rated to match what came with the machine in terms of strength, shearing one off would make for a bad day.
My first call would be to Infinity, they probably have the answer already.
"My first call would be to Infinity, they probably have the answer already."
Ding, ding, ding.
My bad. They're not dents, but actually ridges. I can't imagine that it's caused by nicks in the knives because I've replaced them to fresh sides, I don't see any nicks in any of the edges, and they've been moved around many times as I've put them on-off several in the last week. The screw heads which appear to be associated with the ridges have a tiny bit of sawdust on them.
The spacing of the ridges is the same as the screw spacing, and it doesn't occur on all of them.
I've had Infinity knives on before, and I haven't noticed the problem.
Any other thoughts on things I should do to troubleshoot?
I have the same issue with my Shelix head on my DW735. Tried everything to no avail.
I would take a real close look at the knives. Ridges are usually caused by nicks in the knives. I'm not familiar with the Dewalt but it could be caused by just one knife if they are not set the exact same distance to the bed. If they are the self registering type then probably all the knives are nicked in the same places.
I think the advice to contact Infinity is good. During the time I owned my Dewalt 735 I never used any knives except for Dewalt knives exactly because I have seen similar problems over the 10+ years I owned the planer. I never had any issues with the 735. Maybe the knives didn't last as long as Infinity and certainly not as long as the Shelix cutters. However, I have always believed that woodworking machines are designed with the components used at the factory in mind. Given the various problems that I have seen reported online for after market knives and Shelix heads, it isn't a given that using non-Dewalt knives is OK. Anyway, I recently sold my 735 and replaced it with the Oliver 12 1/2" bench top which is factory equipped with a true Shelix head. It performs great and it was designed for the carbide insert spiral head so there have been no issues.
Given that the Infinity knives are thicker than the original knives, I think it's definitely possible that a spec was exceeded in manufacture resulting in the problem. They should be the best resource.