Thicknesser Planer - DeWalt DW733

The Thicknesser is a tool designed to make wood a uniform thickness: it requires one of the faces of the wood to already be square for it to work as intended.

Please look after the blades. A single nail in this machine will cost the Hackspace £40, that's how much it costs to replace the blades.

• NO Nails
• NO old wood that has previously had nails in it. (including no pallets, no matter how carefully you think you got the nails out.)
• NO scaffold boards or dirty wood. (Cement, dirt and grit will damage and blunt the blades.)

• Always use the wall mounted dust extraction system.
• This video provides a comprehensive tutorial on how to use the thicknesser:

• Planer Thicknessers make a lot of wood chips, Vacuum and clean the machine to remove all dust.
• Sweep and vacuum the floor.
• Check if the extractor system bag is full, and empty if necessary.
• Grease the slides and lead screws if they are getting stiff (tutorial below).
• If you have used the machine a substantial amount and blunted the blades, please replace the blades and sharpen them.

Always leave the Hackspace in a better condition than you found it.

This tutorial explains how to replace the blades.

The blades can be sharpened using the Pro-edge Sharpener

John H's advice:

The leading edge is sharpened at 42 degrees and the second angle or trailing angle is 38 degrees.  
Grind the blades with smooth strokes taking equal time along the whole length of the blade (don’t focus on the nail gouges otherwise you’ll never get the blades straight again).   
Using smooth strokes means keeping them on the grinding wheel for a long stroke so it’s a good idea to do a few blades at once moving between blades to give them time to cool.

Replacement Blades are £40 each, they are 733 Type 1 (There is also a Type 2 version of this machine, it has a different blade design).

DW733 Manual English