DEWALT DW7351 Folding Table for DW735
Futures
Tables for DW735 Planer;Tables are detachable or can be folded for convenience;Comes complete with easy install hardware kit;
Customer Review:
Don't own a set but lets talk snipe
I don't own these table extensions. I don't have any extensions. I don't get snipe. Why? Because I put a slight amount of upward pressure on the board as it leaves the planer. I've run 2-300BF through the planer with no snipe.
Can't Do Without Them
As has been noted by another reviewer, these table extensions for the DeWalt DW735 planer aren't really optional. The only good reason not to buy them is that you intend to build a full table for the planer. This isn't a bad idea, since it gives the woodworker the ability to set up some sled jigs for for planning bowed and twisted lumber. But if you intend to make even a pretense of having a portable planer these are required. Unless you like snipe.
Snipe, if you don't know, is the extra deep cutting that can occur at the ends of the board intil it finds (and keeps its level. Frankly, all portable (and many stationary) planers snipe. Even with these tables you will get some, just not as much or as often as without them. The added stability you get from the tables is often enough to get everything stable before the wood hits the blades instead of four inches later.
These extensions are surprisingly stable. They do fold up out of the way, but there isn't any mechanism to keep them up. I use a Velcro strap, but heavy-duty industrial rubber bands will do just fine. I wouldn't wait to discover that you need these in the middle of a battle with 8/4 hard maple. Buy them when you buy the planer and you won't ever regret it.
Required for good results
These tables are not included with the DW735 planer. Don't let that lead you to believe that they are optional. I tried to run the planer without them, and I got significant snipe. Adding the tables improved the snipe quite a bit, and as I adjust the tables to be level with the bed of the planer, the snipe keeps decreasing. If you want to get the performance you paid for with the DW735, you need these tables.
The tables should be purchased with the planer and mounted before the planer is bolted down to its final resting place. To mount the tables, the planer must be moved off of its platform just enough to get a few fingers and a wrench underneath the base. The instructions make a big deal about securing the planer during this operation, but I think their concerns are overstated. Only about 2" of the base needs to be accessible from underneath in order to mount the table, and this leaves the planer in a very stable position. Just be careful and use your own judgement.
It's true that the outfeed table does not fold up. Let's set this in perspective. This is a sign of inattentive design. It's silly, it's embarassing to DeWalt, but it doesn't reduce the usefulness of the infeed and outfeed tables. Frankly, I don't understand why it's so important that the tables fold at all. Jointers have huge cast iron infeed and outfeed tables that don't fold, and the only complaint I have heard about them is that they are never large enough. It seems to me the only point of folding tables is to perpetuate the silly notion that this is a "portable benchtop planer". I don't consider any object weighing 90 pounds to be "portable". I wonder how much more it would have cost DeWalt to have provided a non-folding cast iron bed of equivalent size. Perhaps that's coming in their next version.
Having tried the planer with and without, I am glad I bought the tables. I would recommend them to anyone with a DW735 planer.
Keywords: Saws;
Planers;
Bench-Top Planers;
(Planners);
(Plainers);
(Surface Planers);
(Portable);