Lunchbox Planer

[Von Bickley]

Thanks in advance for your input.

What kind of lunchbox planer do you have?

Pros and Cons?

Would you buy it again?

[Jerome Hanby]

Ridgid. Works great. I've planned quite a bit of material and I'm still on the initial edge of the reversible knives. I initially thought that the claim that it came with two sets of knives was referring to the fact that the blades were reversible, I later stumbled across another set stored out of sight on the planer. I get a little bit of snipe, but I haven't made any serious attempts to get rid of it. It is a little loud, but for the money, I can put up with that.

[John Hollander]

Care to share where that extra set of knives is? I wonder if mine has those too...

Ridgid. Works great. I've planned quite a bit of material and I'm still on the initial edge of the reversible knives. I initially thought that the claim that it came with two sets of knives was referring to the fact that the blades were reversible, I later stumbled across another set stored out of sight on the planer. I get a little bit of snipe, but I haven't made any serious attempts to get rid of it. It is a little loud, but for the money, I can put up with that.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Von....I have one of the original Ridgids and I'm on my first edge on the first set of knives. As Jerome stated, loud but works well.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

The tools are in the swingout panel at the end of the planer without the thickness adjustment handle.

The spare blades are in a plastic case clipped to the underside of the outfeed table.

[Bill Huber]

The new Ridgid does not come with an extra set of blades but the case is there under the outfeed tray.

I have the new 4331 and am very happy with it. I did have a little problem with the head lowering as it was used. The problem was the chain had to be tightened.

It has 3 blades and I really can not see the difference in the new one and the old one as to the cut. The new one does not have a head lock which is nice.

Yes I would buy it again.

[Jerome Hanby]

That's were mine are. Never occurred to me to look there. I didn't notice them until I was under the planer to mount it on a plywood platform with rollers and looked up.

The tools are in the swingout panel at the end of the planer without the thickness adjustment handle.

The spare blades are in a plastic case clipped to the underside of the outfeed table.

[Andrew Joiner]

I have the discontinued Ryobi ap1300. I'm amazed at the work that little thing can do. I've run about 600 bd ft of abrasive tropical hardwood thru it . Still on the original edges and I still get a surface ready for 120 grit .

[Mike Monroe]

Ryobi AP12 - 15 or so years old, don't think you'll find one in a store.

Pros: does what it's supposed to do, relatively easy to change the disposable blades, made my own dust collection hood out of a HVAC supply vent, easy to replace a burned out drive belt (there's a trick to it though)

Cons: snipe, not horrible snipe, but snipe none the less, noisy - but then all surface planers are noisy

I'd be hard pressed to estimate the hours the AP12 has run and the number of board feet that little planer has handled.

[Myk Rian]

DeWalt DW735 with a Byrd head.
Smooth cuts.
Quiet, with the Byrd.
I like the induced fan in it.
Yes, I would buy another.

[Jared McMahon]

I just recently got a DeWalt DW735. I plan to get the Byrd head for it but even with the factory blades I'm very happy with it. The extension tables were back-ordered so I don't have those yet, I have to do some manual work to keep snipe to a minimum, but that hasn't been a big issue. With all the concerns about noise level, I thought it would be much louder than it is. I use hearing protection as a matter of course but it's not near as loud as I worried it would be.

I haven't run really nasty wood through it but it's done great so far on domestic hardwoods.

NOTE: this is my first planer so I have no first-hand experience to compare it with.

[Alan Bienlein]

Von....I have one of the original Ridgids and I'm on my first edge on the first set of knives. As Jerome stated, loud but works well.

I've had mine since 2005 Ken. How did you manage to still be on the first edge of the first set of knives? I easily went thru 2 sets doing my pecan kitchen cabinets.

I have just recently installed the helical head from Accu-Head in my Ridgid TP1300. For me it's the best $250 I ever spent.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I've had mine since 2005 Ken. How did you manage to still be on the first edge of the first set of knives? I easily went thru 2 sets doing my pecan kitchen cabinets.

I have just recently installed the helical head from Accu-Head in my Ridgid TP1300. For me it's the best $250 I ever spent.

Don't use it much, obviously.

I have only used it on 2 previous furniture projects and the current entertainment center that I am building. Two of the projects were red oak and one project was cherry. I suspect your pecan is much harder than either of those woods.

BTW.....Where did you buy your Accu-head helical for your Ridgid planer? I purposely bought my new jointer with a helical and I will either convert my Ridgid planer in the future or buy one already set up.

[Mac McQuinn]

I have the 2012NB Makita which I enjoy using very much. It's quieter than most on the market and about the lightest of the current L/B planers out there. Handles are great as are fit and finish. Dust chute which is not supplied could be improved upon, better yet build your own with conventional 4" connection. Overall a very good machine although not perfect.
Mac

[Alan Bienlein]

Don't use it much, obviously.

I have only used it on 2 previous furniture projects and the current entertainment center that I am building. Two of the projects were red oak and one project was cherry. I suspect your pecan is much harder than either of those woods.

BTW.....Where did you buy your Accu-head helical for your Ridgid planer? I purposely bought my new jointer with a helical and I will either convert my Ridgid planer in the future or buy one already set up.

I bought it from www.accu-head.com. It comes with 2 sided HSS inserts but they are working on carbide inserts for it. I didn't want to wait so I found four sided carbide inserts and swapped mine out. It leaves some minor lines with the carbide inserts but no worse than a minor nick in the straight knives.