Well, my shop reduction is progressing. The Inca planer/jointer was picked up on Saturday, the 16/32 sander was gone before that. In their place is a Dewalt DW734 planer that I still have to make mobile.
The first thing I'd like to say is that it isn't nearly as loud as I thought it would be. It is only moderately louder than my Inca (which had an induction motor). It is a higher (universal motor, router-like) pitch. I wear ear protection anyhow, but from reading the reviews I thought it would be a helluva lot louder.
I've read the manual but have a question:
The DW734 has a cutterhead lock. With it locked, there is zero snipe. Is there any problem with not engaging the lock except for the final pass or so? If I don't lock it, I do get a bit of snipe. But it seems like it would be a pain in the rear to lock/unlock it for each pass. And one pass w/ the cutterhead locked is all it takes to clean-up any snipe that was there from the pass before.
Any other tips or techniques I should be aware of?