Dremel PL400 XPR Planer Attachment

by Dremel

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

The new Dremel XPR planer attachment shaves approximately 1/64 inch at a time so you can control the amount of material being removed. The 2 1/4-inch cutting surface is ideal for woodworking projects, and the hardened high-speed cutter has been tested to over 500 linear feet. This great tool is designed to perform planing tasks on sticking doors, picture frames, woodworking projects, hardwood flooring, laminate countertops and much more. The long-lasting, precision-ground blade slices at speeds up to 35,000 rpm to produce a smooth surface that's free of milling marks.

Product Description

Designed exclusively to perform planing tasks on sticking doors, picture frames, woodworking projects, hardwood flooring, laminate countertops and much more. The long-lasting, precision-ground blade slices at speeds up to 35,000 RPM to produce a smooth surface free of milling marks.

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Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0002QZ1PQ
• Item model number: PL400
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,744 in Home Improvement (See Top 100 in Home Improvement)
  • #31 in Home Improvement > Power & Hand Tools > Power Tool Accessories > Rotary Tool Accessories

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Par for the course Dremel attachement, January 3, 2009

By 

Mood (MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dremel PL400 XPR Planer Attachment (Tools & Home Improvement)

Makes reasonably quick work of trimming a door edge that rubs, but doing a neat job takes some practice. Heavy touch up sanding will be required.
This Dremel attachment is like every other Dremel attachment I have been suckered into buying, it is clearly designed by bean counters. It works just good enough that I would feel bad about throwing it out. For $20, it is a nice tool to have, but I would gladly pay more for one that had a better guide and did a neater job.

A couple specific gripes:
1. The 1/64th depth isn't off by a bit, it is off by a factor of 4. It planes nearly a 1/16th off per pass. I'm still trying to figure out how they came up with the 1/64th number.
2. The guide is useless, it is up to the user to attempt to keep the tool flat on the surface. This takes some practice and will result in some gouges and uneven planed surfaces that need to be smoothed off with sanding.

31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Tends to make a mess of a door edge, March 11, 2008

By 

buddha-dog (Menlo Park, CA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Dremel PL400 XPR Planer Attachment (Tools & Home Improvement)

This tool embodies a great concept, and who wouldn't want to dispatch that sticking door problem with five minutes effort and a quick vacuuming?

But I was disappointed with the performance of the tool, mostly because of two factors.

1. The cut on each pass is fairly deep, maybe as much as 3/32".
2. The right-angle plate that's supposed to help you keep the tool square to the face of the door is way too short to be effective.

Consequently, blending the cut from one pass into the next is effectively impossible. If you make three overlapping cuts, you will get three clearly visible steps in the cut. And by visible, I mean visible when you're looking at the face of the door, not just looking up close at the edge or top.

Also, especially because of the weight of the tool pulling down on one side, it's extremely challenging to keep the cut perpendicular to the face. Expect a wavy edge that's also visible when looking at the door face.

On the positive side, it did fix the problem. I just wished when I was done that I took the time to scribe the door, take it down, and plane it. Something told me this tool would be too good to be true, but I guess hope springs eternal :).

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good attachment (for what it is), July 12, 2008

By 

John (York, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dremel PL400 XPR Planer Attachment (Tools & Home Improvement)

No, you won't be doing any fine woodworking with this Dremel XPR attachment. But for twenty bucks, it makes awfully quick work of planing the bottom of a door so that it closes. I recently did a bathroom tile project, and needed to take just a tiny bit off a section of a door. The planer attachment certainly did the job.

It does make a lot of dust/mess, and the guide is far from perfect in keeping you at 90 degrees to the door. Overall, however, it's worth the money.