# Stuck cutter head on Dewalt 735 planer



## El Guapo (Oct 21, 2020)

Long version:
Well, I am two nights into my first woodworking project strictly for fun in more than two years and my planer starts giving me issues. It ran last night without any problems (I probably ran it for about ten or fifteen minutes surfacing curly maple). Tonight I started it up and everything seemed fine, but nothing would feed through. The DW735 has two speeds, 179 cuts/inch for finishing and 96 cuts for dimensioning. When I attempted to switch from finishing to dimensioning, the selector got stuck. I eventually got the selector to switch over to dimensioning, but that still didn't fix the issue. I took the cover off and attempted to rotate the cutterhead by hand (carefully), but even with the

Short version:
The cutterhead on my DW735 surfacing planer is stuck (I can wiggle it some, but it should spin freely with the stop disengaged). The cut speed selector is also stuck between the two settings, but before it got stuck between the two settings, the cutterhead was still stuck.

Has anyone encountered this? Know the solution?


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## El Guapo (Oct 21, 2020)

Not sure if this belongs here or in Power Tools.


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## El Guapo (Oct 21, 2020)




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## Mike1950 (Oct 21, 2020)

dumb question- did you switch while running. I had same machine- it hated it when you screwed up and switched while off

Reactions: Like 1


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## Tom Smart (Oct 21, 2020)

I don’t have the answer for you, but I recently replaced the blades on my machine with a helical head from Grizzly. The Grizzly site has a “how to” video for disassembly and removing the cutter head. Looking at that might help. I recall something about having the selector switch in a certain position for it all to go back together properly. Maybe some clues there for you.

Reactions: Like 2


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## Mike1950 (Oct 21, 2020)

I say that because it appears to be caught between gears

Reactions: Like 1


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## Dmcoffman (Oct 21, 2020)

Check the drive belt. My 734 (only single speed) when the gear belt failed it wadded up and the cutter head acted in a similar fashion.

Reactions: Like 1


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## El Guapo (Oct 21, 2020)

@Mike1950 I am always careful to only switch speeds while running. I know that can cause issues if you do it when the planet is not running.


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## El Guapo (Oct 21, 2020)

Dmcoffman said:


> Check the drive belt. My 734 (only single speed) when the gear belt failed it wadded up and the cutter head acted in a similar fashion.


I am trying to get down to where I can see a belt. I’m going to see if I can find a disassembly video on YouTube before going any further... I’ve taken it down as far as I do when changing blades, but it isn’t obvious [to me] where to go from here.


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## Wildthings (Oct 21, 2020)

You did push down on the safety tab on the cutter head when try to turn it? Top of the picture in the 2nd picture


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## El Guapo (Oct 21, 2020)

@Wildthings Yes I pushed the release down. there is give in the cutter head, but it won’t actually rotate.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Wildthings (Oct 21, 2020)

the belt is on the side with the height adjustment wheel. take that cover off to check the belt. Looking at the infeed side belt's to the right

Reactions: Like 1


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## El Guapo (Oct 21, 2020)

Wildthings said:


> the belt is on the side with the height adjustment wheel. take that cover off to check the belt. Looking at the infeed side belt's to the right


I’ll give that a try first thing when I get home from work tomorrow. I’m calling it a night, a bruised and defeated man!

Reactions: Sincere 2


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## El Guapo (Oct 21, 2020)

El Guapo said:


> I’ll give that a try first thing when I get home from work tomorrow. I’m calling it a night, a bruised and defeated man!


Scratch that @Wildthings . I won't be able to go to sleep until I take a look at the belt.

Reactions: Sincere 1


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## El Guapo (Oct 21, 2020)

@Wildthings , That's what the belt is supposed to look like, right?

Thanks man, I'll order a replacement belt and hopefully be back at it next week!

Reactions: Like 2 | Funny 1 | Way Cool 2 | +Karma 1


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## El Guapo (Oct 21, 2020)

Yowzer, almost $60 for a new OEM belt. Still a bargain compared to a new planer!

Reactions: Like 1 | Agree 2


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## Gdurfey (Oct 21, 2020)

I call that a good team effort.......and I am with you Andrew, I could not have gone to bed without looking. Glad it is this “simple”......

Reactions: Agree 1


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## Wildthings (Oct 21, 2020)

El Guapo said:


> @Wildthings , That's what the belt is supposed to look like, right?
> 
> Thanks man, I'll order a replacement belt and hopefully be back at it next week!
> 
> View attachment 194956


Uhhh I think that chain needs a little TLC also. Uhhh yeah that belt is toast!!

Reactions: Agree 1


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## Wildthings (Oct 21, 2020)

El Guapo said:


> Yowzer, almost $60 for a new OEM belt. Still a bargain compared to a new planer!


Where are you looking? I see them all over the web for $20 for a 2 pack


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## Wildthings (Oct 21, 2020)

Here's how to replace it

Reactions: Informative 1


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## Tony (Oct 22, 2020)

The moths probably ate it while it sat unused for so long......

Reactions: Agree 1 | Funny 4


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## El Guapo (Oct 22, 2020)

From what I read online, go with oem... supposedly the cheap belt break very quickly.


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## El Guapo (Oct 22, 2020)

Tony said:


> The moths probably ate it while it sat unused for so long......


You ain’t lying!

Reactions: Like 1 | Funny 1


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## Tony (Oct 22, 2020)

Andrew, call me when you get a minute.


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## El Guapo (Oct 27, 2020)

Got the belt in the mail tonight and should have everything fixed. Dewalt does NOT make it easy to change that belt... there is almost zero give! Cleaned the chains, lubricated everything, vacuumed what I could, flipped the blades, and put it all back together. This is the first time I’ve changed or flipped the blades and not donated blood to the task.

Reactions: Like 3 | Great Post 2 | Way Cool 1


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## Wildthings (Oct 27, 2020)

Wildthings said:


> Here's how to replace it


I watched another one that didn't pull the pulley and he just walked it on with a short stick of wood to coax it

@El Guapo which way did you go? and did you see my thread about the DRO for it


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## El Guapo (Oct 27, 2020)

Wildthings said:


> I watched another one that didn't pull the pulley and he just walked it on with a short stick of wood to coax it
> 
> @El Guapo which way did you go? and did you see my thread about the DRO for it


The 2/$20 belts on amazon have enough stretch that you can force the belt over the pulley without removing the pulley. I bought the OEM replacement and it has almost no give, so I had to remove the pulley, which must be put back on in extremely specific alignment with an indexed key. Oh well, got it done and tomorrow I hope to get back to work.

what is DRO?

Reactions: Like 1


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## Wildthings (Oct 27, 2020)

Digital Read Out Wixey Digital read out THREAD

Reactions: Like 1


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## El Guapo (Oct 28, 2020)

Wildthings said:


> Digital Read Out Wixey Digital read out THREAD


Looks like I’ve got something else to put on my Christmas list!

Reactions: Like 1 | Agree 1 | +Karma 1


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## Wildthings (Oct 28, 2020)

The cutting board section I'm making needs 2 mm removed from each side! No sweat easy peasy. Gitcha one! LOL

Reactions: Like 2


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