# Dewalt 733 Thickness Planer Head Lock Lever Use Of



## Gaia (Feb 20, 2010)

The use of the head lock in practice is unclear to me and from what I can see in the user manual ( Depth Adjustment ) doesn't really explain.
Depth Adjustment. 1-5 Thats fine I follow that OK. When I'm thicknessing a board 1-5. 

1= unlock lever 5 = lock lever.

What isn't clear to me, do I do this , locking, unlocking each time I adjust the depth adjustment handle?
I'm thinking if I do that each time puts a lot of stress on that part of the mechanism and might be prone to fail through repeated use than other parts of the machine.
Thanks.


----------



## sunnybob (Apr 3, 2015)

All adjustments are made with the locking lever OFF, Every time.
Once you are ready to pass wood through the machine, put the locking lever ON. This will stop the plane head from tilting and producing poor start and stop cuts on the wood. This is known as "snipe".
The sole purpose of the locking lever is to prevent snipe.


----------



## smitty10101 (Oct 15, 2004)

I have a suspicion that you are locking the head down each pass while you are bringing the board down to final thickness.???
I've found that to be unnecessary and a PITA. Not locking the head will indeed introduce snipe---but when you come down to within about a 1/16" to 1/32" of the final dimension and then start locking the head it will give you enough "meat" to plane out the snipe. Assuming you're not into sanding it out.

As for wear & tear on the locking mechanism ---- I've had mine for about 20+ years (?) and it still functions like new. So i think your concerns are not really well founded. 

smitty


----------



## Gaia (Feb 20, 2010)

OK thanks.


----------



## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

smitty10101 said:


> I have a suspicion that you are locking the head down each pass while you are bringing the board down to final thickness.???
> I've found that to be unnecessary and a PITA. Not locking the head will indeed introduce snipe---but when you come down to within about a 1/16" to 1/32" of the final dimension and then start locking the head it will give you enough "meat" to plane out the snipe. Assuming you're not into sanding it out.
> 
> As for wear & tear on the locking mechanism ---- I've had mine for about 20+ years (?) and it still functions like new. So i think your concerns are not really well founded.
> ...


That's exactly the way I used my 733 for 20 years until the motor finally gave up the ghost in 2016. Matter of fact, there were plenty of times when I didn't even use the lock and the result was just fine. It is definitely better to lock the head, though, on final passes.

David


----------



## Garyk (Dec 29, 2011)

I asked the question of Dewalt about the reset breaker on the 733 and have not received a reply. The question is CAN the new style breaker for the Type 2 machine be used in an old type 1. I need the part and would rather go with the updated version if possible. I can see no electrical reason or space reason that it would not work. It is the same machine with just a few mid product model changes. (shipping is more than the part). Thought about just plugging it into a GFCI or AFCI and leaving the part off. I've completely torn the machine down and rebuilt it otherwise and it works fine with the breaker bypassed. (briefly of course)


----------

