I currently connect a DW735 to a 4" drop from my DC - a 2HP Oneida. It actually reduces even more into the planer to only 2.5".

This seems less than ideal.

So I'd like to open it up to accommodate a 5" or 6" connection and I'd like to hear from anyone that may have done similar. How did you do it and how did it work out?

A couple questions:
Thoughts on removing the blower completely and just go in through the existing hole on the back? Or cut in through the top?

Did you fabricate a shroud around the cutter head inside the unit? Or somehow modify the existing shroud around the cutterhead? I wonder how effective it would be to just vent the whole box without much of a shroud, or just a basic deflector.

Any issues? Overheating? Accumulation of chips inside the planer?

Comments are appreciated.