DW735 Planer Tripping 20 Amp Circuit on Start Up

[Mike Chalmers]

Bought the planer used. I installed Shelix head (much easier than upgrading my 20" 4 post).
Planer was tripping normal 15amp circuit. Would do it under load and at start up. Breaker on planer never tripped.
Put 120V, 20 Amp breaker in the Panel. Ran 12 guage copper to planer, about 20'. Now, breaker continues to trip, but only at start up (unless I try to take off way too much), and only occasionally. No rhyme or reason I can discern as to why.
Thoughts?

[Todd Mason-Darnell]

Obviously on start up you are pulling a load that is popping the breaker. Either the one on the machine is bypassed or the load is transient enough that the breaker on the machine is not catching it.

Was it tripping before changing the head out?

You either have a bad bearing or an issue in the coil on the motor--I am betting a bearing.

[Thomas Canfield]

Have you checked that there is not something else running on same circuit like a vacuum cleaner, heater, etc. I had a problem once with router and shop vac both running on same circuit when I had also running a small space heater. Definitely overload and not equipment issue then.

[Mike Chalmers]

Todd. Breaker on the machine could be bypassed, I do not know. Wouldn't identify the problem though. I thought of the bearing. I have had it stripped down a couple of times to try and identify just such a problem. No indicators found. Bearings do not seem to be overheating. Could be a bad coil. I'm thinking that I shall probably have to take it in to the repair depot.
Thomas - 20' of 12 gauge copper that I noted I ran is dedicated, as is the breaker, to the planer. Definitely not overload due to other machines.

[Richard Coers]

Did you check the brushes?

[Doug Garson]

Does the motor have a start capacitor? Maybe it is failing and causing the breaker to trip.

[Dom Garafalo]

I would try a different 20 amp breaker before taking it to a repair shop.

[Julie Moriarty]

I had a 735 on a dedicated 20A circuit. While running 12" wide pecky Bolivian walnut through it, it first tripped the overload. Next time it tripped the panel breaker. As an electrician, I know breakers can be finicky but this one was brand new. I replaced it anyway because I had a few new ones laying around. Next trip was the overload on the machine. Then the overload again, even though I was taking about 1/100" cut. Then the panel breaker tripped again.

The 735 was less than a year old so rather than taking the time to try to resolve the problem myself, I sent it back to Dewalt for warranty repair.

The DW735 replaced a 20 year old Delta 22-540. In all those years I had maybe one breaker trip and no machine overload trips. I was pretty disappointed in the 735. Besides tripping, the head would also drop requiring me to jam a wood wedge between the hand wheel and case of the machine.

Many here rave about the 735 but I had had it with that planer. Maybe there's a small percent of these that leave the factory with problems and I got one of them. Dewalt lost my machine and after they sent me a new one, I sold it.

There's no good reason it should be tripping a 20A breaker unless you are taking cuts the machine wasn't designed to handle. And no way it should trip a breaker when not under heavy load.

[David Utterback]

When having this problem, I replaced the breaker but you are past that point. As someone above asked, did this problem occur before changing the cutter head?

[Randy Heinemann]

As someone else suggested, check the brushes. If they are worn, I believe it could cause the breaker to trip. Since it was used, it could have had a lot of use no matter how good it looked. I will hate the day I have change my brushes on the 735 though because one of them appears to be buried way inside the planer. I have never had my 735 trip a 20 amp breaker in over 10 years. While I am careful to plug only the planer into an outlet with nothing else running on it, I have, on occasion, had another tool running on the same circuit; still did no trip the breaker.

[Michael Costa]

My thoughts exactly. ... run it somewhere else. Set it up in the kitchen or something and turn it on. Obviously don't put woof thru it. Find out which outlets are wired to 20amp and try it at different locations.

The small harbor freight furniture dolly ($10) would be perfect for pushing that 90lb tool around the house.

[Mike Chalmers]

Thanks everyone for your contributions. If I ever find the answer, I shall be sure to post it. Long story short, I have tried almost all proposed solutions that make any sense. Problem happens rarely enough that I shall probably just live with it until the planer dies completely and then trash it.

[scott vroom]

Did you check to make sure you don't have a loose wire at the breaker? That will cause premature tripping.