Customer Reviews

DELTA TP400LS Shopmaster 15 Amp 12-1/2-Inch Benchtop Planer with Stand

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

If I had prior experience with this piece of equipment, I would not have purchased it and instead would have considered and saved for either a Grizzly or Yorkcraft 15" induction motor powered planer. I have run masses of wood through this planer since I purchased it over a year ago and have a lot to say about it. I am going to (unfairly) review it as a permanent fixture in a woodworking shop, as this is the experience I have with it and I believe most folks purchase this unit for this purpose, even though I know it is intended by the manufacturer to be a portable, on-the-job unit.
Before purchasing this planer, consider the following:

Price:
The price of this unit is reasonable compared to similar manufacturer's products, but for an extra couple hundred bucks (or more), you could do substantially better.

Usage:
Are you going to use it occasionally, or will you need to plane more than 50 or 60 board feet of lumber a week? When I say 50 or 60 board feet, I mean 50 or 60 surface feet that comes in contact with the planer blades; i.e. 20 bft. of lumber run through the planer 3 times would equal 60 bft. planed. I would recommend no more stress than that on this machine if you want to use it for the long haul. I would also not recommend planing anything over 7 or 8 inches wide or longer than 10 feet - you will have power and/or stability problems.

Performance:
I'm not sure what the horsepower rating on this universal motor is, but it bogs down noticeably on regular cuts with any stock over 7 or 8 inches wide. The sharper the blades, of course, the less of a problem this is. With anything wider, I would recommend very, very shallow passes.
I have an issue with the belt drive that operates the cutter head. The nut that holds the flange keeps coming loose and I have to tighten it occasionally. There is no good way to lock the cutterhead to get good torque on the nut. Torquing too hard (which is not very difficult to do) results in the cutter head safety device suddenly disengaging. This loosening of the flange nut has shredded the belt (I have a new one waiting in the wings - a $16 replacement) and causes a grinding sound like the unit is going to fly apart at any time.
The other issue I have had with it is the cutter head locking mechanism that is intended to prevent snipe. The cutter head is raised or lowered by a threaded rod that has a handle that extends to the top of the unit. Spin it one way to raise, the other to lower. The cutter head lock tightens down to prevent the cutter head from moving up or down and minimize snipe somehow. I'm not sure exactly how this works. The other thing it does, incidentally, is keep the cutter head from vibrating the threaded rod and causing the cutter head to rise as the threaded raise/lower rod spins loose. I began to notice that after planing say, 8 or 9 boards, the thickness of the last board as it came out of the planer was greater than the thickness of the first board that went through. After checking it out, I noticed that even with the cutter head lock cranked down as hard as I could get it, I could still somewhat raise or lower the cutter head with the raise/lower handle. I disassembled the cutter head lock and saw that there are flat bars that run up and down that the lock clamps onto (2 on each side of the unit). I took some 100 grit sandpaper and roughed up the bars. Now I can't raise or lower the head with the lock cranked down - good.
The finish this planer leaves on the wood is respectable. With sharp blades, it is difficult to detect milling marks. There is some snipe, sometimes less, sometimes more. Supporting the end of the board level with the infeed and outfeed table minimizes snipe noticeably.
One other thing you should know about this planer, especially if you purchase the optional dust collection hood (anyone in their right mind would use a planer or jointer without dust collection must have made a hobby out of sweeping and breathing dust), is that this unit is LOUD. I mean VERY LOUD. Do not operate this machine without hearing protection. It is twice as loud as running the flat side of a board over a jointer. For some reason, it is significantly louder with the dust collector running.

Construction:
I am not very impressed with the construction of this machine. For the money, it's not bad. The main frame of the unit appears to be cast iron, but everything else is, unfortunately, either plastic or stamped steel, which includes the infeed and outfeed tables, the bearing surface that the lumber slides across, legs, handles, and other latches and mechanisms. This should be expected for this price point, but not suited for anyone more active than the weekend hobbyist.
The infeed and outfeed tables are short and feel (and look) rather flimsy. They do little to support anything over 3 feet in length. I use a portable roller stand on the outfeed side for long stock and support the end of the board on the infeed side by hand. The unit itself is quite light in comparison to the other machines in the shop, and I think that this is by design, as this unit is intended to be ported from job site to job site. As a result, the stand it came with is kind of unsteady as there is not enough weight to anchor all four feet to the ground. I have shimmed up one of the feet to prevent it from rocking. Vibration would seem to interfere with the cut quality, but I have not seen any evidence of this. The surface the machine leaves, as I said earlier, very good.

Other points:
Blade changing is easy. Undo some screws, pop out and replace or spin blade around (both sides are sharpened), pop back in, tighten, and go. No adjustments. The downside is, the blades are unsharpenable. Once both sides are dull, toss it out. I have attempted to sharpen the blades with one of those handheld deals that you slide back and forth across the blade, but this does nothing. They are not intended to be sharpened. The cost of replacements is probably what you would have to pay a sharpener for sharpenable blades, so this is not so big a deal.
The carrying handle doubles as a return roller, which means if you have to run a piece through the planer more than once, you can set it on top of the handle and roll it back ot the infeed side. Small feature, but I use it quite a bit for long stock.

Overall impression:
The machine is good for the occasional user, but if you are getting to the point where you are surfacing a great deal of rough lumber or working with heavy, long, or wide stock, you may want to consider a "real" planer, like a Yorkcraft YC15P ($800 + shipping) or Grizzly G0551 ($750 + shipping). If your budget won't allow it, look at the Dewalt 13" portable. It looks SOLID and I've heard a great many good things about this unit. I think it goes for around $500.

This is my second Delta 12.5" planer. The first one lasted about 2 years with moderate home shop use before the cutter head bearing assembly failed as I was preparing to insert a board. A spectacular array of metal and plastic shrapnel flew around the shop, and some into me, before I could cut power. Although Delta Factory Service agreed it was most likely a manufacturing defect, alas, it was a month out of warranty and the cost of repairs would far exceed the purchase cost of a new one. Oh yes! And the knife retention screws were so tight it broke my hex wrench, rounded the inside of the screws, and 6 of them ultimately had to be professionally extracted.

But I have a mostly Delta shop, already had the dust collection chute, and so I bought another one figuring some design and manufacturing improvements had been made. Not. Same experience with the knife retention screws this time breaking the tool provided by Delta to remove those screws. The hex heads are so rounded off on the inside I don't dare put them back in. I had to haul it in to have 4 screws professionally extracted. Those screws, incidentally, apparently aren't covered under warranty and charged out at[money amount] each at the Delta Factory Service Center. And the motor is making a suspicious growling sound -- after 12 hours of use! I'll live with my purchase mistake, and wince every time I turn it on, for the duration of what I'm expecting will be a remarkably short lifetime for this planer.

Buy something else. I should have...

A very well made Machine ; easy to use less snipe than many others. Be careful , First time blade change can be frustrating
because of( factory Set Torque ). on blade retaining screws! Hope your hex wrench
is stronger than mine .

I've used this little planer for over 3 years now. I've ran dozens of different types of wood through it and really have not had a lick of trouble from the machine except that when trying to run the heavy, dense woods through, it sometimes requires a helping hand to push through. I've never had any problems with burning or snipe. Everything was aligned and adjusted out of the box, just unpack, plug in and go. If this machines dies tomorrow, I feel like I've gotten my money's worth from it. But, it's still going strong and is working as well as the day I brought it home. I would recommend it and I would buy it again after 3 years of regular use. I probably would rate this machine at 4 and a half stars, not 5 because of having to help with the infeed of heavier woods...not a big deal at all, just know about.

This planer is excellent. It requires virtually no set-up or calibration. It is practically ready to go out of the box. The performance is is outstanding and it is easy to use.

This is my first planer - so I really have nothing to compare it with. Set up was very easy, most time consuming part was assembly of the stand - took about 20 minutes (even at my normal slow pace). The planer itself was a snap - just install the knobs and remove some packing material and you are ready to go.

I ran some maple and walnut throught it and was impressed with the finish, smooth as glass. I used a digital caliper to check thickness in several spots on the boards and they were pretty much dead on. The only thing I wish this machine had was some sort of "final cut" mechanism, so that you could preset your final dimension and not go any further with the plaining. I guess that is something you would expect on a much more expensive machine. I highly recommedn this planer to any home woodworker.

I purchased the Delta 12 1/2" thickness planer with stand and am very pleased with its performance. Having previously rebuilt a DeWalt unit, I was reluctant to try an unfamiliar unit but relied on Delta's reputation. Warning! Be very careful in changing the cutter blades the first few times as they are very sharp and a bit small to handle at first. The settings and accuracy of the unit are excellent with depth cuts of no more than 3/64" which will not overwork the unit or dull the cutter blades. After planing some 35 board feet of maple, popular, and birch, I am still on the original blade edges. You won't go wrong with this unit.

I bought this planer to prepare maple and birch dimensioned lumber for the cabinets I am making for my kitchen remodel. The two primary uses are making the face frame pieces identical in thickness and drawer conponents being squared up as I am making all dovetail drawers. I am quite satisfied with the machines overall quality. The only criticism is the feeding of the material into the planer could be better. With fir, redwood, and pine the feed works perfect. However with the very hard maple and birch it tends to slip and needs a helping hand. I would recommend this product to any of my friends as a very good value. I also have reviews for a makita router, porter cable dovetail jig, Kreg pocket screw jig, and porter cable brad nailer. John Papetti

I bought this in mar 2003 and have used it exstensively with
nothing less than exellent results. The finish quality,easy
setup,and outstanding power for such a small machine is nothing
less than you can expect from delta.For the smallshop,or inbetween shop,this powerhouse is a must! Buy it you won't be sorry. Also get the dusthood acc. with an elbow and use the suction part acc. of your leaf blower and you will have 0 yes I mean 0 woodchips & dust works excellent!

After usuing this product for just over a month, I can safely say that this was an excellent purchase. Setup was fairly simple, (The stand took the longest) and the planer was all adjusted properly. After a month of use, everything is still in excellent conditon, and its still running strong. Overall, another quality product from Delta. Highly reccomended for a small shop or the do-it-yourselfer.