Planer Dilemma: Ridgid R4330 vs. Dewalt 735

[ergeek]

Well, I'm not expecting any kind of revelation from you guys, but sometimes I just need to share the dilemma I'm in. I have decided it's time to upgrade from my 10" Ryobi lunchbox planer to a real planer, and had kinda settled on the Dewalt 735 13" planer. It has lots of nice features and many good reviews. I like the dual speed, and the fact that according to FWW it has significantly less snipe and smoother final finish than most of the competition. Then along comes HD and offers the Ridgid 13" planer for $300, a full $200 under the best price I can get on the Dewalt. Any opinions out there???

[MG]

I have no experience with either but if you're going from a 10" Ryobi to either of those you are upgrading. Will saving $200 make you happy with the Ridgid? If the $200 is not enough to avoid the regret of not getting the 735...

[OttawaP]

Well ....I'm never one to be without an opinion...What do you expect to see from the 735 that is worth $200 more?? I own a 734 and it's a fine little planer. Personnally there is not much difference in any of the 15 amp lunchbox planers from the major brand names. None of these will last a lifetime with serious use, they are all SCREAMING LOUD, some have better chip ejection than others, and ALL do a good enough job. Unless you are willing to spend $1500 to $3500 for a real 3 hp planer that can eat wood all day 24/7, then save the $200 and buy some nice figured wood.
I think the 735 is a nice planer but expensive as a lunchbox planer and too wimpy to be considered a real planer....and it's certainly not "portable".

[Brian52]

I had the same problem, and opted for the R4330, 2 weeks ago. I just couldn't justify the cost difference. No regrets, this is a nice planer. So far I've planed butternut, red oak & hard maple, with absolutely no issues. Easy chip collection, and virtually no snipe.
Well worth the money IMHO!

[stevem]

i just replaced my mastercraft with the dewalt 735

its not portable but none of them are

its loud, but they all are

chip ejection is about 20 feet and the bag fills up way too fast!! but it works, i hooked mine up to my DC

it works great, no snipe, nice smooth cut

never used the ridgid

watch the prices on the 735, they vary hugely

[Bob R., Ottawa]

Snipe is the biggest difference between these planers. Read reviews on that topic but I doubt you'll find as many reviews on the Ridgid. The 735 has maaaaaany reviews and I've hardly read anything bad about it. I bought the 734 because of my budget at the time and I couldn't be happier. If I'd do it over I'd get the 735 and wait for a deal at HD.

Sometimes you can combine it with say, a $25 off $100 or more coupon and a 10% off your first purchase promotion. Or wait for 20% off Dewalt promo.

[Ryan in Edmonton]

I'll just say that having never used the Ridgid, and being a proud owner of the Dewalt 735 for about a year, I would HIGHLY recommend the 735.
Is it worth the extra money. To me it definitely was, I'm at the point in WWing that I want to only buy the best tools I can get. The 3 blades, chip ejection, and 2 speeds are well worth it IMO.
I added the extension tables, and when well set up I get NO SNIPE. None.
On the lower feed rate (more cuts per inch) I regularly plane Birdseye maple with absolutely NO TEAROUT. None. And using that speed results in such smooth boards that a quick sanding with 220 grit is all I ever do before finishing them.

Like I said, I can't say definitively that the Ridgid won't have the same results, but I'd highly doubt it.

Maybe you can ask around and find some people near you that own each of those planers and bring some boards over to try it out? If you're in Edmonton I'd be more than happy to let you run a few boards thru my 735.

Ryan

[Lloyd in Mississauga]

I have the older Rigid planer with 2 blades, I think the newer one has 3 like the Dewalt. In it's day, it compared well to the other planers in the category. I see no reason why they still would not fall in there now.

As was pointed out, all the lunchbox planers are load, they are not industrial work horses and chip collection may be an issue. For the hobbiest though, with a bit of time in the set-up, you can even get the crappy tire planer to do a good job.

For snipe issues, take lighter cuts in the final passes, and maybe add a bed extension. I just lay a piece of 3/4" malimine coated met about 4' long in the planer as a new bed. The scale is then off, but with the extra length the snipe is a bit less.

For the chip clearing, you need the air flow and capacity to hold the chips. A shopvac will catch most of the smaller chips of a light cut, but will fill quickly if you are making heavier cuts. None of the planers should be asked to hog off the full 1/8" cut that the label says they can do. The motor and you wood will thank you for the lighter cuts.

I would take the rigid and if the 200$ was still available, the treat yourself to so nice lumber or better yet impress the misses with a night on the town. She'll appreciate the fact that you got what you wanted and then put the extra towards her.

Lloyd

[ric snudden]

Got the 735 and very happy with it..
Busy bee runs them on sale time to time for $525 with the dewalt mobil stand,($200) value.It just went off after Christmas, Call them and see if they can still do it, or when?
PS: There was one the other day on kijjij or craigs list??? said it was never used with the stand,,$400

[Wish Upon A Saw Inc.]

I was recently in this dilemma myself. Time will tell if it was the right decision but I went with the 734 on sale at BB for approx $335. In my opinion the extra $35 was worth the name upgrade from ridgid alone. Never heard a bad thing about the 734 or 735 in my life (however the belt blew in the first week, dewalt gave me an over the counter exchange belt and we were back in business, you'll never get that service at HD) All I could think the whole time is that how could an extra theoretical half inch cost $200 more? I realize that there are some significant design upgrades from the 734 but I'm still not convinced. My 2c, stay away from ridgid whenever possible. Spend the extra $35 but save the overall 165. I've found if you "take the missus" for a night on the town (or even a nice supper) every time you make a significant tool purchase, the scowling and general "unhappiness" goes away. At least for a little while.

[mreza]

They are both great machines and get good reviews.
If they were about the same price I'd go with 735.
Look at the current flyer of KMS tools, you can get the 735 for $449 (2 day sale) but then again with this machine you'll most likely have to spend more to buy the infeed/outfeed tables, something that is standard with Ridgid (I think).

[Bob R., Ottawa]

You might want to consider the Dewalt 734, it's $339 at busy bee. You wont notice the 1/2 inch difference.

[ergeek]

Well, I bit the bullet and bought the 735 today. Tried it on VERY gnarly reversing grain mahogany and some quilted maple and both came out great. Very happy. There is appreciable snipe though, which I should be able to reduce with some adjustment.

Thanks for all the replies!

[ArtMulder]

I find it curious how only some people report snipe issues with the 735. You see, I also have a dw735, and did not get infeed/outfeed tables with it. But I really don't find much snipe at all. (In fact, like you, I went from a Ryobi 10" planer to this beast.) Usually if it does snipe on one pass, I can just adjust how I feed it in on the next pass and get better results.

I am curiuos to know how the in/outfeed tables would affect my own experience. Hmm.

Congrats on the purchase, you'll enjoy it. A wise many I know said: Buy once, Cry once. (Hi Gord!)
Now wax the bed!

[stevem]

as i said before i have a 735, and with no extension tables and no snipe at all even with larger pieces

i think the largest was a 6/4 6 inch oak piece maybe 5 feet long, fed it carefully, supported by hand on the outfeed side, measured with calipers afterward and zero snipe

[ergeek]

Is there an adjustment I can make? Don't have the manual with me.

[GSP]

I am having the same dilemma, but one thing that I can't clearly understand is how the dust collection/ chip collection works.

From what I see of the Rigid, it looks like it has a dust port that you can hook up directly to a DC. I don't any such sort of hook-up on the DW734 or DW735.

Can someone clarify how they use their DC with the Dewalts, or how they handle DC with these planers?

Thanks.
Gary

[Grillzy]

I had one and found that if I skewed the board then I would get less snipe but the lesser snpie was on an angle.
Grillzy

[Bob R., Ottawa]

There's a large black dust hookup on the back. It's a 4 inch output but this guy's got a reducer connector going to his shop vac.
I stole this picture from the web:

I am having the same dilemma, but one thing that I can't clearly understand is how the dust collection/ chip collection works.

From what I see of the Rigid, it looks like it has a dust port that you can hook up directly to a DC. I don't any such sort of hook-up on the DW734 or DW735.

Can someone clarify how they use their DC with the Dewalts, or how they handle DC with these planers?

Thanks.
Gary

[Ryan in Edmonton]

I don't see why it's so difficult to figure out. If you are getting snipe, it's because the tailing end of the board is lifting into the blades at the last few inches of board. That means that the leading end is falling lower. Properly support the entire board thru the entire cut, and you will have no snipe. Plain and simple.
I've planed 9 and 10 foot long 8/4 maple of various widths and gotten no snipe when I properly supprt the board on the last few passes.
If my board is long enough I'll use roller stands. If it's a shorter board (less than 6 ft) I'll just apply downward pressure on the board as its still on the outfeed table, and upward pressure on the end of the board thats already past the outfeed table.

Ryan