My DW735 tried to kill me

[Bob Daniel]

So this was weird... my DW735 planer just choked on a piece of wood, shot it out at me with a loud BANG , along with a 2" black plastic knurled knob with a small chunk out of it. Hit me in the pinky finger, and it REALLY hurt. For a couple of minutes. I'll be fine...

The weird part is, after taking apart everything I dared to, basically just the cover and dust shroud, I can see no evidence of where this knob came from, and the planer still works fine. WTF?

[Mike Cruz]

How long have you had the planer? If it is new, maybe the fine folks at Dewalt were just being nice and included an extra knob....kinda like the "secret toy surprise in the pack" of a box of Cracker Jacks.

[glenn bradley]

Could we see a pic of the knob? My dad has a 735 and I'd like to know what to look for. Depth stop maybe?

[Bob Vallaster]

Foreign object damage.
You asked the right question (where does the knob belong?). The parts diagram will show whether the machine has knobs. Mine (different brand) has little wingnuts to secure the dust chute---they'd make a melluvahess if they got loose.
If not native, then you need to reflect: taken anything apart lately?
Consider others with access to the shop. Does your housemate regard any flat surface as available parking space? Do you have little people who are fascinated by Gepetto's workshop?
Check for damage before firing it up again, especially if the knob had a metal insert.

BobV

[Les Heinen]

My 735 is about 4-5 years old and about 2 months ago a small screw fell out while I was using it. A week or two later it dropped another. Took it all apart and after spending several hours couldn't find any lonely screw holes. It has worked just fine since. Suppose they were laying loose inside somewhere and just took a couple of years to work themselves out.

[Jeff Monson]

That really sounds like the plastic wingnuts that hold the dust chute on.

[Bob Daniel]

The broken plastic knob doesn't belong to the planer at all... the ejected workpiece smacked into my jointer (after ricocheting off my finger) and THAT'S where the knob broke off... it's under the outfeed bed so I didn't notice it yesterday... sorry about that, and thanks for your responses...

[Myk Rian]

It might be a good idea to clean the rollers. Sounds like they have sawdust on them and aren't gripping.

[Mike Cruz]

Thanks for the great laugh. I was going to ask you if it maybe came from a different machine but thought that might be too obvious. Glad you found the answer.

[Jules Dominguez]

So the knob was a red herring, but you really need to find out why the kickback occurred so you can avoid it in the future. Maybe the board had a high spot in it and maybe the rollers also needed cleaning at the same time.
If it was a high spot, you should have identified it and set the cutter height to accommodate it. I've had my 735 trip on overload for that reason, but I've never had a kickback with it.

[Bob Daniel]

Ya, um, the kickback was my fault, I was getting cute... I had some small box pieces, too small to run through on their own, so I carpet taped two of them to a larger board. Just needed to take off a sixteenth or so, and I was doing it about a sixty-fourth at a time... first three passes worked like a charm... "just one more should do it" I sez to myself... then the aforementioned BANG and you know the rest...

Is there a safe way to run small pieces through?

[Jeff Bratt]

Ya, um, the kickback was my fault, I was getting cute... I had some small box pieces, too small to run through on their own, so I carpet taped two of them to a larger board.

Is there a safe way to run small pieces through?

What do you mean by "too small" - thin or short? The feed rollers on this planer are 6" apart, pieces MUST bridge both rollers to plane safely - I think the manual says 12" minimum, but you can go somewhat shorter. If the piece is too thin, then the planer knives will tend to lift up the leading edge, also not a good situation.

[Bob Daniel]

What do you mean by "too small" - thin or short?

Well I was aiming for 3/8 " thick, which I think is kosher, but ya, the pieces were only about 4" long along the grain, about 6" wide, which is why I butted two together and taped them down, hoping they'd act as one piece... worked for a while, at least, but just bad planning on my part...or bad planing...

[Rich Engelhardt]

Hello,

Well I was aiming for 3/8 " thick, which I think is kosher, but ya, the pieces were only about 4" long along the grain, about 6" wide, which is why I butted two together and taped them down, hoping they'd act as one piece... worked for a while, at least, but just bad planning on my part...or bad planing...

Tape isn't strong enough.

What I learned some 35 years ago in shop class was to glue extensions on short pieces using white Elmer's glue and a piece of newspaper in between the wood.

The pieces can be seperated later w/out a whole lot of effort.
Excess Elmer's can be blotted off using a damp cloth.

I don't recall seeing that method mentioned anywhere in recent times & haven't tried it myself in 35 plus years.

[Rod Sheridan]

Rich, for split wood turnings, I glue two pieces of wood together with a piece of brown paper between them.

They turn just fine, and separate easily afterwards.

That method also works for planers, I glue them to a backer board with the paper in between.....Rod