Delta planer, good deal?

[Peter Pedisich]

Hi all,

I have been presented with an opportunity to buy a several years old, unused Delta 22-540 portable planer for $100. It sat in a garage (on Long Island, near the water) for the whole time so there is some rust on one screw head, but that's it.
It does appear unused and it has a dust hood and extra knives.

Anyone have this planer?

Go for it?

Avoid it?

Thanks for any help!

[Scott Coffelt]

I don't see why not to buy, great price. I don't have that planer myself, but even so you would be hard pressed to find a better deal then that.

[Scott Loven]

I have it, and think it is a great planer. You cant lock the head on this planner like you can on some of the newer planners, but it is easily worth $100. To avoid snipe I just run each board one after the other, with a scrap board for the last piece. I have run thousands of bf through mine, and it still runs like a champ. It is very well built and was a "best buy" for the planers of its size at the time it came out.
Scott

[Bill Green]

My father-in-law has this planer. It is a good basic tool. It doesn't have the head lock or quick set knives like many newer models. It is no longer available. Delta has replaced it with the TP305. The new version sells for $200 online. Dust hood, knives and stand are extra.

You should contact Delta and see what service may be available. If you hve your heart set on bigger better, then I'd wait. If you just want to have a planner around for the occasional need then this should fill the bill.

Hope that helps.

Bill

[Andrew Ault]

Good price for a useful tool!

[Kent Cori]

Can't be beat for that price! Just make sure the roller surfaces are still okay.

[Sam Chambers]

Peter, I have one and it works just fine. As someone else already mentioned, it does'nt have a cutterhead lock, so it does tend to snipe. You can minimize that by extending the bed a bit. I followed John Lucas' suggestion on his web site, http://www.woodshopdemos.com, which involves using a 12" wide piece of melamine shelving (cheap at your local home center) as a replacement table. It helps, but doesn't completely eliminate snipe. Scott's technique - running the boards in one right after the other - definitely helps.

Also, do yourself a favor and pick up a pair of "Planer Pals" - magnetic jigs that make changing the knives very easy.

[Doug Shepard]

My uncle has that model. It's not a bad planer especially for $100. He gets pretty smooth surfaces with his, but also has the snipe problem. Basically his solution is to just leave the boards about 4-6" long on each end, then cut to length out of the middle to avoid the snipe.

[Wes Bischel]

Pete,
Think of it this way - for $100 you will have the ability to plane boards - and figure out what you might really like after using this one for a while. Then you can upgrade and sell this one!

I picked up a planer last year and I have to say it has opened up a bunch of design options that were not available to me without it.

FWIW,
Wes

[Bruce Page]

Pete, I had one, it produces a great finish but I could never get it to stop snippng - expect about 2"-3" on both ends of the board unless you "train" the boards as suggested above.

[scott spencer]

Sounds worth $100 to me. They're a proven workhorse, even though you can expect a bit more snipe than models with a cutterhead lock. Sounds like you should be able to use it for a while and easily get your money back if you decide to resell.

[Curt Harms]

As others have mentioned, it does snipe. Infeed/outfeed extensions help. So does taking a REALLY think cut on the final pass, like less than 1/8 turn of the crank. Running the piece through a second time at the same depth setting can be useful as well. Planer Pals are a good idea, the jig that comes with the planer is for entertainment purposes only. On the upside, you might be able to find a shop that can sharpen these blades. The blades that are indexed by a pin are a dream to install but can't be sharpened. Honed perhaps, but not sharpened.

Curt