WEN PL1303 15-Amp 13-Inch Three-Blade Benchtop Thickness Planer , Black

WEN products are truly fine machines. I have a number of them. Recently I purchased the WEN planer. It performed as expected, superb results. After a few weeks the feed thickness guage, made of hard plastic, broke away. I was stunned that a WEN produc would do this. One phone call to WEN and the issue resolved with a new guage sent to me. It was just of those things. WEN proved they also are completely committed to the customer. Thank you

Awesome product until you learn not to run pt through it lol

I'm very pleased with this. I was a little apprehensive about how good this would actually be, given the budget price (and Wen's reputation overall), but I'm pleasantly surprised so far. Once you get it set up it's very easy to use and I noticed only a little bit of snipe on either end of the workpiece. I even ran an end grain board though this (carefully!) and it smoothed and surfaced it quite nicely without any chipping. This has definitely been a game changer for my hobby. One ergonomic critique - the dust collector/chute is a pain to install, and when installed it blocks the outfeed tray from folding up for storage. So unless you want to take the effort to remove and reattach the cover every time you use the planer, this tool will take up more space in your shop than you might anticipate. Luckily, the tool overall is not extremely heavy so you CAN lug it around the shop if need be. The DeWalt planer is about 30-40 lbs heavier by comparison.

I’m a remodeling carpenter and I also build cabinetry, so I added this tool to my arsenal recently. Not only is this planer a little lighter weight than the Dewalt equivalent, but it works just as well if not better. The included dust shroud works very well and overall this is a very sturdy and powerful tool. It’s very easy to adjust the settings and the preset thickness depth gauge on the right side is fairly accurate. I especially like the depth gauge on the front which makes it easy to set the beginning cut depth

At this price point this is a great addition to my shop. The 3 blades ensure super smooth cuts. Highly recommend this tool!

Only had it a day, but I did some quick measurements… - Depth stops accurate to 1/32 inch, but can adjusted - Finish is like sanding with 150 or 180 grit paper, very smooth no bumps - Planer head is level to the table at least according to my calibers, any variation would be in the thousandths of an inch - Snipe is present at 2 1/4” inches from each end -Dust collection is pretty good with shop vac, but I woodwork outside, so that is a low priority Excellent performance. I will not adjust the depth stop, as that is more than suitable. Most projects will likely need light sanding starting at about 120 or 150 grit. Perhaps I will just water pop first and then sand? This finish excels. Recommendations… -For woodworking, only buy a planer with depth stops -Three knife is a better finish than spiral cutter -Spiral cutters can be swapped for carbide for 10x service life and can be replaced quickly if knicked -Spiral head and helical head are NOT the same -Wen uses a four screw design that doesn’t require a carriage lock!

I’m becoming a big fan of this company

I'm so glad I got this off Amazon because it makes returning it so much easier. The planer just stopped working after about 3 weeks and not very much use. I admit I'm a novice so I'm sure I'm making mistakes but the planer should be able to handle variable misuse without this kind of reaction. The manual says to hook it up to a dust collection system if possible, which I don't have so I've been religiously cleaning it after each use (sure does make a mess!) Today after running possibly the 20th (max!) board through the wheels stopped turning, it made a funky grinding noise and flipped the breaker to my house power. I cleaned everything, thinking maybe something got caught or who knows, but this time when I flipped it on, it just flipped the power breaker again immediately. After opening it up, spinning the blade wheel (clean) and checking once more for any stuck items and flipping it on again there was squealing and a burning smell. I've returned it for the DW734 Dewalt. I'll review that one after I've had a chance to use it some, but the lesson learned is that trying to save a buck just isn't always worth it with tools. Something that I know perfectly well but can't seem to stop myself from doing anyway.