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235 of 246 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Cheap, easy, lowCPI, snipe, uTables, uLife Blades, April 29, 2005
I was looking cheap, just to clean up some rough-hewn boards. The bottom-end Lowes had was the TP-305 (12.5" vs TP-300 12.0", otherwise EXACTLY the same) for $199, so I got that.
Into and Basics
First off, the TP-305 is single speed. Fine for my purposes. As someone else said, if you're doing "fine woodworking", you'll sand with high-grit before calling it done.
Everything is metal, and the handle on top doubles as a foam covered transfer roller. It's very solid and stable, you know, for a "portable".
The belt drive is about 3/4", versus about 2" for the Hitachi and DeWalt. Conversely, the belt on the Delta is fiber reinforced black rubber, like a fan belt, rather than being clear, plain rubber.
There is supposedly a chain-drive for gear reduction, but I haven't dismantled it yet to lubricate them.
Setup
Second, it was a snap to prepare. I pulled it out of the box. It's maybe 75 or 80 pounds. OK if you lift right, or 2-person lift otherwise. It included the planer assembly, a dust chute with 2 fasteners, a hex wrench which fits in a slot on top, a magnetic blade tool, and a crank handle with hex-head fastener.
I put it on top of a table. No LRF support, and there was a little flashing on the bottom, so don't unpack this onto a nice table. Something like this should be bolted down. The deck holes are 1/4", one on each corner. I used some washers and deck screws and that was more than enough to keep it stable.
SAFETY PRECAUTIONS
You NEED earplugs. Yes, it is "quiet" compared to some shop planers/jointers, it's still loud. Earmuffs should be OK, but I opted for spongy/expanding 33db earplugs. No problem there, but I was definitely deaf to the world.
Also, goggles are a must. These two things are silly and simple, but just in case you didn't know. This might not be so important if they ever get immunology and organ cloning down, but since you're limited to one set of eyes right now, best protect them from flying debris.
If you want to reach, adjust, oil, or perform ANY maintenance, unplug your machine. "I thought I was safe but something fell and flipped the switch" wouldn't quite cut it with your friends.
ALWAYS operate with the dust chute in place. The motor blows air into it and it sends the chips out the back. Without it, A) You'll be covered in vertically launched curls, and more importantly B) The top of the cutter head will be exposed, which is very not safe.
Keep distractions and horseplay away from this machine. This is not a toy, it's an 8000 RPM spinning blade of doom. No playing. Period. OK? JUNIOR!?!?! Are you LISTENING TO ME! NO PLAYING. Ok. Good. Serious machine.
SNIPER, NO SNIPING!
As a portable planer goes, the fold-out tables are fairly small. I tried using Skill brand roller stands on each side to help hold the workpiece, but this planer loves to snipe on ingress.
Tilt your board down into the planer about 5 degrees, and don't cut deep and you'll limit it. Even so, every board has a 2-3" spot that's maybe 1/32" thinner than the rest of the length.
Egress snipe is alleviated by lifting ever so slightly on the workpiece for the final stretch. If you don't get it, you'll hear the motor change speed as it chews into the end. It's really just the design of the rollers. I think you'd probably get snipe even if you made your own full-length table flush with the input.
With 12" boards, snipe was not very noticeable, whereas with 4" boards, it was always very noticeable.
Blade Lifespan
The blades that came with it do well, but it's only 2 blades. It goes through them fairly quickly. Newer wood is fine. I made several passes on both sides of rough hewn cedar. All was well. I sent through some 12" rough cedar with 25 year crusty paint, and it wasn't really happy with that.
It's 2mm per turn and on 12" stock with fresh blades you can do that. When you get to 1/3 turn and it still drops the RPMs significantly, you're past the life of the blades.
I got to this point after removing 3/16ths from each side of 40 feet of 4" wide cedar, and about 1/8th from each side of a 6' long 12" piece of paint encrusted cedar. It seems that the wider board heats the blades more, especially the old, rubbery paint, and once they heat up, the edge fades MUCH more rapidly.
Signs your planer blades are dull
The machine emits dust and not curls.
The machine leaves roller rubber on the workpiece.
The wood peels along the grain in very thin strip.
The motor slows down, but there is no output.
The rollers stop feeding.
The workpiece becomes polished, even glassy.
The workpiece is noticeably warm to the touch.
Running the workpiece through a second time at the same setting till slows the motor.
Blade Replacements
I'm thinking I'll see if I can design the same at http://www.emachineshop.com out of something harder under heat, but you know, since I don't REALLY have the skill for that, I picked up a couple sets of spare blades when I got the planer. The spares were $26/set and made of "High Speed Steel". I don't know the specific grade, but truly, they went south REALLY quickly on the wider, painted boards.
Blade Swap procedures
The swap is fairly easy, though they are initially installed with an impact wrench. Breaking the screws the first time gave off sparks on three. Freaky. Anyway, you access the six screws by:
A) Unplug the machine. Yes, UNPLUG IT. Switches have been known to fail in this universe. Don't risk it.
B) remove the two thumbscrews on the top.
C) Remove the dust chute
D) Turn the head with "the tool" such that you an access one side of the head. Adjust the machine height, or rotate the head such that the tool clears the handle/rollerbar.
E) Loosten the screws such that the black plate ALMOST comes loose. Test one screw for proper sizing. I think this is about a 16th of an inch.
F) Use the little split magnet tool to scoop under the blade, lift up off of the retaining pins, and pull out.
WARNING The blade may be hot if it's recently been used, especially if it's really dull.
G) spin the blade.
WARNING The sharp side of the blade is SHARP! I know this seems like an idiot thing to say, but if you aren't careful, I will mock you for your bloodletting experience. Yes, I'm secretly watching you.
H) Slid in, align such that it drops down properly (ie, the retaining pins are in the holes).
I) Tighten the screws, starting with the ends and working your way in. In generaly, thumb-tighten all of them, then torque them down afterward to make sure alignment is good.
J) Repeat for the other side of the head. (ie. always swap/replace BOTH blades at the same time).
Miscellaneous
Check your belt shroud, a burgundy curve of plastic on the top right of the machine. Mine had too much flashing in the channels and didn't seat properly. I didn't notice until it had been carved/sanded away severely.
The deck plate is polished steel. You can see the cutter head and rollers clearly in it. It's really cool, and might come in handy should something jam or clog. REMEMBER NOT TO TOUCH THE HEAD WITH YOUR FINGERS UNLESS YOU WANT TO BE CUT.
Yes, I used first and second person in a review.
Despite the warning that this is not a toy, etc., it's VERY fun, or at least satisfying, to see what a machine like this can do.
SUMMARY
This is cheap. Snipe will happen. Rollers, an assistant, or a full-sized and aligned table are greatly helpful. Blades dull quickly on older wood with old rubbery paint.
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57 of 57 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very nice Planer, but there are some set up steps they forgot, February 6, 2006
Got delivery of the planer & performance of the unit is as the other reviews said. But the Detla owneres manual left off two set up steps that should be performed before operation.
1. The unit was covered in a lot of grease. Normally, this is a good thing and was probably beneficial to protect it in transist from China, but grease + sawdust = sticky mess on your wood. Cleaning off the excess around the height adjuster & on the cutterhead & chains, and then lubing the chains and adjuster with a dry chain lube helped.
2. Make sure to check the cutter head height from side to side across the table. When I pulled mine from the box, I cranked it down all the way to the lowest height and it started to jam up at about 3/4". That's when I cranked it back up to a mid height and checked the height of the cutterhead to the table on the LH, center & RH edges. It was set at over 1/8" off from side to side, causing the unit to jam on lower heights & would create trapezoid pieces if left that way.
To adjust, you will need two 1-1/16" wrenches or a socket & a wrench, ruler, and a phillips screwdriver. First, remove the LH side cover as shown in the book on how to acess the chain drive for lubrication. This will expose the height adjustment mechanism (Black in color) Place one of the wrenches on the bottom nut to hold the adjuster (bottom of cutterhead frame)& loosen the top lock nut (On top of cutterhead frame). If you are lucky & your unit wasn't tighened by a 800 lb panda, it should losen and then you can turn the lower nut to adjust the height of the cutterhead. Make sure to hold this nut when tightening.
If your lock nut was tightened by a 800 lb panda like mine was, you will either need a torque multiplier (say a piece of pipe) and the machine securely clamped down on the bench, or an impact gun and a 1-1/16" socket. Mine was on so tight the impact was the only way to get it off. To gain access, you will need to take the top cover off with a 4MM hex key & remove the two screws. Those two screws were loose on mine. You can wiggle the cover off if you take it slow without having to loosen the RH side. Make sure the cutterhead is in a lowered position to allow the rods some flex. Once off, raise the cutterhead up & then you can drive off the nut & perform the adjustment.
Even with these extra steps, I was able to have this up and running in about an hour and cutting very true. Some suggestions:
Purchase an outfeed roller stand of some type. The outfeed tables are too short for work longer than 24" and it will make it go faster.
If you are running narrow stock & want to avoid sniping, start one piece, then when it is 1/2 way through, start the next piece. And then repeat with a third one. I found that second board will come out perfect the full length & the third has very little tail snipe.
Hope this helps.
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54 of 55 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good planer, but it is a sniper, February 26, 2005
This is a nice 12.5 inch planer for less $$$ than the 12 inch models. It is my first planer so keep that in mind.
I have run a 12" X 20" X 2" maple cutting board with excellent results. It seems to have more snip with narrower stock. 1"x4" ash, red oak, and pine seem to have excess, easily visible snipe for about 3" on each end. It is best to run long boards, then cut them to size and discard the ends.
I like the carry handle, but this unit is heavy and awkward to carry. Minor assembly needed upon receipt was a breeze. With $25 off coupon and free shipping, it is easily the best deal on the net. BTW: the free shipping was FedEx 3 day!!!!!!
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