Thread: Dewalt DW735...anyone own one?

Hi Carpenter,

I had been researching thicknessers for some time before I bought one of these at last years woodshow, I was impressed by the triple blades, dual speed, large platform and the ease of height adjustment (no need for locking lever). For me it was also important to have non-marring infeed rollers because I will often fine-tune the thickness of a board by only removing a mm or less at a time which can be problematic with the serrated in-feed rollers of your stationary thicknessers. The in-built fan is handy too for site work but mine is normally hooked up to dust extraction. I too read the reviews on amazon but was reassured by Dewalt that these issues had been rectified in the Australian version. I figured also that if there was a problem it would emerge within the three year warranty.

With regard to performance I've put through about 200m of jarrah and vic ash in widths between 60-200mm (mostly around 90mm). I've not had any problem with roller feeding although I do have it hooked up to a 2hp extractor. Sometimes dirty rollers can cause slipping and maybe the in-built fan is not up to the task of clearing chips fast enough on heavy cuts. I've had no breakages and its only now I'm starting to see some chips in the first set of blades and the motor laboring a bit harder suggesting some dulling of the blades. My unit came with two sets of double edged disposable blades and at this rate I won't have to fork out for a new set for some time yet. I should mention that I'm an amateur woodworker and so cannot comment how the blades would stand up to trade use. With regard to snipe you will need in-feed and out-feed support, whilst the base is quite large you will still get snipe without adequate support. In summary there are units out there that would probably provide similar quality and performance for less money (check out the new Jet 13" dual-speed) but as far as reliability and performance go I can't knock this machine. It's well built, well thought out design and with the couple unique features outlined earlier (possibly in the nice to have rather than the must have category) I'm happy with my purchase and would buy it again if I had to make the same decision again.

Cheers,
Alex.