Bench top planers

[mocountryboy]

Which bench top planer do you think is the best. Ridgid R4331 or the DeWalt 734. Both about the same price. The new edition of Fine WoodWorking rated the Ridgid as best value. Thanks for your opinions.

 

[petebucy4638]

Based on my experience with Dewalt and Ridgid tools, I would lean toward the Dewalt planer. Ridgid tools have traditionally not been as accurate or as well-built as Dewalt equipment. Home Depot used to offer a lifetime warranty on Ridgid tools, which adds some value to them, especially battery powered tools. In the construction market, you are going to see a lot tools made by Dewalt than Ridgid.

 

[JackLeg]

Buy a 735 Dewalt. You won't regret it. It's one tough little machine! JM2CW!

 

[Flute Maker]

I bought the Dewalt 735 too! My first planer and I havent even changed blades yet and it has been a good one!

 

[cstandi1]

Spend the extra money on the Dewalt 735, it is well worth the increased price.

I have started to move away from Ridgid somewhat. While they have a warranty it is all but useless if you don't mail in the registration plus jump through a few more hoops. Even then you can't just take it to Home Depot, it has to be sent to a repair depot at your expense. I have also heard a significant number of horror stories from those who Ridgid ran around the bush with their warranties.

 

[allisnut]

I can't add much to the discussion between the dewalt 734 and the rigid, but I will share my experience today. I have a delta 22-540 (old lunch box planer, similar to these) that I recently ordered the dust collection accessory cover for. Previously, planing involved opening the garage door on my shop and setting everything up in the doorway. After planing a few boards, I would have a wheel barrow full of shavings in the floor, in the driveway, all over me, and everywhere else. I went out tonight and planed 25 old pine barn boards, ranging from 3" to 8" wide and 5-7' long. Each board made about 4 passes. When all was said and done, my dust collector bag had about 16 more inches of shavings in it, and the was less than one handful of sawdust on the table under the planer.

So, whatever you buy, make sure it has a dust collection port. It makes a huge difference, assuming you have a dust collector to hook to it.

 

[Jeremy Scuteri]

I had a DeWalt DW734 for years and it worked without any issues. I upgraded the planer to get a spiral cutterhead more than anything.

 

[smallboat]

AS Adam said- whatever you get make sure you have the dust collector chute for it. My lunchbox is a discontinued Jet 12 1/2" but I was able to get the accessory chute for the same size Grizzly. Bolted right on and results were as Adam described.

 

[jgpncll]

I have been happy with my Dewalt DW734. The 734 comes with a dust/shavings chute with 4" port and also comes with the 2.5" reducer. It is a loud machine that gets the job done.

 

[golfdad]

just my 2 cents worth. I have a 735 and it has been great. There is something to be said for 2 speeds and 3 cutters

 

[danmart77]

Buy a 735 Dewalt. You won't regret it. It's one tough little machine! JM2CW!

I have the same one and its been great. I posted a repair I did on the plastic shroud that cracked but that was a bolt on repair in less than an hour. Like Reggie said, this is a tough little planer that out performs the lunchbox planers. If you have the extra dollars, its well worth the cost.

No experience with the Rigid stuff

Dan

 

[MarkE]

I had the Ridgid R4330 a few years back. Knowing what I know now, I would not buy it again.

The dust collection adapter came with it. You can put a 4" hose on it or a 2-1/2" hose from a shop vac, but the opening is only 2-1/2". Dust collection was only ok.
Because the dust collection wasn't great the wood chips would get embedded in the feed rollers, leaving some shallow dings in the planed wood.
The feed rollers also collected sawdust and would start to slip, so they would have to be wiped down with mineral spirits or something similar on a fairly regular basis.
It has a three knife cutterhead with reversible, disposable blades. It left a good surface when the blades are sharp, but they didn't seem to stay sharp very long. A set of three blades is about $30 on Amazon.

The final straw for me was the blade holding system. Like most of the lunch box planers, the blades are held down via a steel plate that screwed down to the cutterhead. The first time I had to adjust the blades, the heads on 2 of the screws holding the metal plate broke off. I had to use vice grips to get them out. Also, one of the hold down plates was warped and had to be replaced.

I would not consider the R4330 to be a 'heavy duty' machine. Go with the Dewalt.

 

[wolfden]

Buy a 735 Dewalt. You won't regret it. It's one tough little machine! JM2CW!

+1

I have used mine for several years. It has seen many board feet of wood from purpleheart to poplar. Nary a problem. Recently upgraded to a spiral head. Expensive but well worth the time to replace and money!

 

[danmart77]

Andy I was wondering which head you bought, where, how involved is the change over type stuff. I'm not ready to pull the trigger this month but its in the cards.

I just wrestled in a 650 small milling machine and it was a bear. Needs some rebuilding but it will really cut back on some of the long hours filing parts for rifles.

I made up this lock and botched the half moon cavity (gap is killing me) with files. Maybe I can get a tighter fit on the next one. Had to go back and weld in some bulk and file again. Hours.

 

[wolfden]

Andy I was wondering which head you bought, where, how involved is the change over type stuff. I'm not ready to pull the trigger this month but its in the cards.

I got the Byrd head. I got it directly from the manufacturer several years ago. It took me about 1 hour to make the swap. It was not difficult. Their directions were OK but I found that YouTube directions were better. They say you can insert the head without removing all 40 cutters but I found that not to be the case. You will need some E-ring pliers to remove one ring. This was not mentioned in the directions.

 

[Raymond]

Take a look at the Rikon 25-130H - it is priced similarly to the Dewalt 735 but comes with a helical head. I do not own one but my neighbor has one and he loves it. No matter which one you end up choosing, make sure you have a good chip/dust collection system for it.

http://www.rikontools.com/productpage_25-130H.html

 

[sawman101]

I had a Ridgid 2 knife planer. It worked ok, but you couldn't take a very deep cut, more like 1/16" on narrower stock, and less on wider stock. The dust collection with a shop vac was insufficient, and the dust hood would frequently plug. I have a Jet now, and had to finally set up my dust collection system, with the used HF dust collector with 2 hp motor. Wow, does that work great, well, except for the blast gate for the Jet lathe, which I must have gotten cement on. If I were looking for a bench top planer, my choice would definetly be the DW735, with the package that includes infeed tables and extra set of knives.

 

[CDPeters]

Take a look at the Rikon 25-130H - it is priced similarly to the Dewalt 735 but comes with a helical head. I do not own one but my neighbor has one and he loves it. No matter which one you end up choosing, make sure you have a good chip/dust collection system for it.

http://www.rikontools.com/productpage_25-130H.html

Just be aware that the Rikon has HSS inserts, not carbide! And they are not set truly helical, they are set straight so you don't get the shearing action that a Byrd gives you.