Planers are essential power tools for woodworkers; they are used to transform unusable, rough, old, and worn-out woods into smooth wood pieces to ease the work process. There are various types of planers, but the general one every woodworker should own is the benchtop planer.
What is a Benchtop Planer used for?
If you know about thickness planers, it is the same as benchtops, only in a portable size. The thickness planers are large and heavy, and too expensive to be afforded by average hobbyists and DIYers.
Also, Hand planers also served as useful tools for the same purpose, but they have now been replaced by their effective benchtop counterpart, which faster than the one hand planer. They are lighter when needed to be moved and more affordable to be suited for DIY projects than the full-size planers.
The benchtop planers do not only clean up the wood and smoothen rough surfaces; it also used to reduce the thickness of the stock and make sides parallel.
What makes a good Benchtop Planer?
One of the qualities that makes a good benchtop planer is the portability. The machine has a not so heavyweight to ease moving it from the trunk of the car to the worksite.
The power of a good benchtop planer should be at least 8000 RPM to be capable enough to make cutting depths of 1/8 inches. The cutting depths determine the planer’s capabilities.
Some other features to look for in a model of good benchtop planer is the self-indexing double-edged knives, dust collection and, the automatic cutter head lock that keeps the head from rotating when you are removing the bolts and knives.
To avoid taking too large a bit off the board or a deeper snipe, a good planer would have gauges and stops to indicate how much wood will be removed from the board at each pass and prevent the user from planing the board beyond the target thickness.
Dewalt DW734 vs DW735 – Comparison Table & Specs
Review and Comparison
The thing with purchasing machines is getting the one that is not only satisfying but also suits the projects you are carrying out. We understand the difficulty with deciding on a power tool, and this is why we would review two of our favorite Benchtop planners – DEWALT DW734 and DEWALT DW735. We would write product reviews and comparisons, including the pros and cons of both Benchtop planners.
DEWALT DW734 REVIEW
What’s Good?
- Smooth and accurate cuts
- Great quality
- Extra-long infeed and outfeed tables
- Reversible, disposable knives for convenience
- Added features
What’s NOT so Good?
- Loud motor
- Dust collection chute is fragile
Click Here for Pricing, Pictures and Reviews on Amazon.com
Benchtop planners are prominent machines used for dimensioning and cutting a wide range of tough hardwoods. Power tools like DEWALT DW734 are solid long term investments mainly for woodworks furniture projects. It is powered by a remarkable 15 amp motor, delivering 10,000 rpm to make 96 cuts per inch.
The Benchtop planer makes quick and accurate cuts and features a three-knife cutter head, precise depth adjustment to create deep, clean and custom stock, and also extra-long feed tables to support the material you are working on.
To increase the convenience of the DW734 Planner, the reversible and disposable knives are sharp and easy to replace. It can last 30 percent longer than other traditional ones which help to save time on the cost of resharpening.
Each pass is accurate with the material removal gauge and extra thickness scale of this DEWALT machine. Also, the planer has a four column carriage lock to drastically reduce the movement that causes snipes or damages the board when planning near the end of the material.
In addition, the DW734 has an extra-long infeed and outfeed tables to give support to 33-1/2 inches of materials, with a turret depth stop that saves time on setting the power tool at commonly used depths.
For effective management and collection of chips and debris, the DW734 has a dust hood attached to a standing dust collector or shop vacuum. The planer weighs only about 80 pounds, giving a possibility to moving it, offers a maximum cut of 1/8 inch with a depth capacity of 6 inches and width capacity of 12.5, and comes with a Three-knife Cutterhead and dust hood.
DEWALT DW735 REVIEW
What’s Good?
- Large capacity
- Smooth and accurate cuts
- Portable and light
- Reversible, disposable knives for convenience
- Fan assisted chip ejection
What’s NOT so Good?
- Quite expensive
- Suitable for only semi-professional users
Click Here for Pricing, Pictures and Reviews on Amazon.com
The DEWALT DW735 is a three-knife cutter head benchtop planer with a powerful 15 amp motor able to deliver 20,000 rpm. This portable planer is designed to make creating clean custom stock so easy on heavy-duty projects.
With a two-speed gearbox, the user can dimension the material with 96 cuts per inch and make the finer finish with 179 cuts per inch. It offers a quick and accurate depth adjustment with knives that are reversible and disposable for the convenience of the user.
The power of the DW735 can easily handle deep cuts in sturdy hardwoods. Other features of the DW735 include disposable, reversible and long lasting knives that are easy to change, and a large capacity of 6 inches depth and 13 inches width with smooth and accurate depth adjustment.
The DW735 has a unique fan-assisted chip ejection system feature with a motorized fan to break down and blow the debris into one of the two dust shrouds. For effective dust management, one of the shroud functions to collect the dispersed chips and release them on the floor of the workplace, while the other gathers sand disperse it through a vacuum hose or dust collector hose through a connection.
The planer weighs about 92 pounds and comes with a three-year limited warranty, one-year free service contract, and 90-day money-back guarantee. The DEWALT DW735 benchtop planer is packed with a three-knife cutter head, dust-ejection chute, and dust-hose adapter.
DW734 vs. DW735 – Which one is Best Benchtop Planer?
With a bit of background knowledge on both the DEWALT DW734 and DW735 Benchtop planers, we would now discuss both machines based on their differences, performance, design, durability, and price.
So, what is the difference?
DEWALT Company is known to manufacture the best power tools, so there is absolutely no doubt that both the popular DW734 and DW735 planers are well-built machines.
Although both benchtop planers are closely related, they vary in terms of features, cutting ability and size. A noticeable difference is the width of cut with DW734 using 12.5 inches knives and DW735 using 13 inches knives. From your perspective, a half inch may not seem like a big deal, but that extra length can become crucial for woodworks if you translate it to cut depth and surface flattening quality.
The carriage lock is an essential component for reducing the effect of snipe, and the carriage lock mechanism phenomenon of both power tools also differs. The DW734 feature a four-column carriage lock, where the user turns the lever severally to lock the board in place. The DW735, on the other hand, uses an automatic carriage lock which removes the need to set the lever manually.
Performance
When it comes to judging both machines based on their ability to perform on the job, we would have to give it to DW735. To arrive at this conclusion, we have to consider the thickness and width of the stock, the depth of cut, feed rate, and the horsepower of the motor.
Both benchtop planers can handle stock of up to 6 inches thickness, and they come with a powerful 15 amps, 120 VAC belt drive motors. But the DW735 excels when it comes to the width size (13 inches compared to its 12.5 inches neighbor). Since it can handle broader stocks and offers dual speed of 96 and 179 cuts per inch, which is efficient for fine finishes on harder and rougher materials, DW735 performs better.
Design
Looking at the overall superior design of both planers, the DW735 has a better design with an easy to read depth gauge, larger depth adjustment handle, automatic carriage lock for extra safety and two extraction hoods (one for fan-assisted chip ejection and the other for dust).
Durability
Planning is a quick job, most times running at least 10,000 RPM and generates lots of vibrations. Now, comparing the two planers according to their strength, the DW734 weighs lighter with only 80 pounds, while the DW735 has a brawnier front line, weighs 92 pounds with a substantial cast aluminum base. Once again, the DW735 is more durable.
Price
The DW734 has lesser features and is way cheaper than the DW753. Depending on your budget and need, you can decide to go for the DW734 with a lower price tag. It all boils down to the determining factor for you, but if you want to pay less, the DW734 wins with a price.
Wrap Up
Both are capable tools, but DW734 is quite cheaper, so if you are weekend DIYer, a professional carpenter or you do not plan on very regular use, it should do your jobs.
DW735, on the other hand, has a more robust build, better controls, and is a better choice for regular planning of a wide variety of materials – suitable for contractors or advanced DIYers. It can produce smooth finishes from rough sawn hardwoods.