WEN PL1326 15-Amp 13-Inch Spiral Benchtop Thickness Planer

My wife and I recently bought a CNC woodworking router and have started a part time business with it. We bought a lot of pine slab wood from an Amish saw mill and were using a heavy duty sander to finish the boards. This planer has made that job SO much easier. It leaves very little effort and leaves the wood very smooth so it takes very little finish sanding. You do get snipe near both ends of the wood, so either have to leave the boards long enough to cut the snipe off or use scrap boards of the same thickness in front and behind so the snipe is left on those boards. The directions say you can adjust the feed trays to stop this but I haven't really tried that. There is also a lot of sawdust scrap, so it really must be hooked up to a shop vac, which works very well. This planer is a little wider than a lot of them and even though 13 inches is kind of limiting, wider planers are MUCH more expensive. We've used it quite a bit over the last few months and it's still going as strong as when we got it without having to change blades yet. Very happy with it.

I'm a finish carpnter and woodworker living in Los Angeles Ca, since 1968. Been using the Dewalt 735 series planers for a very long time, thouht I'd switch it up and give this one a shot. Only used it about a dozen times so far on walnut, white oak and vertical grain douglas fir. And am very pleased with the results. It's quieter, lighter, cheaper and easier to operate than the 735. Might also have better chip collection. if these results continue it will pretty much be a great deal. So, very impressed with the performance of this tool to date. BTW chipped blades are easier and cheaper to fix than with the 735.

I have a fairly well equipped shop with most all stationary, bench and power tools for a homeowner. I am pretty picky about the tools I buy balancing quality with cost. I had never had a WEN product before until I bought their 12 inch variable speed drill press last year. I was hesitant because the cost was low but it had all the features I wanted. What an awesome machine. It exceeded my expectations. So when it came time to buy a planer I thought I would give WEN a try again. I compared all the brands. Everyone raves about DeWalt all the time. I'm sure its a great machine, but I was thinking 'do I really need that for the cost?'. The WEN is very well built. Most all reviews for a WEN planer are for the straight blade version but I bought the spiral cutter head for a little extra cost. It cuts extremely clean, is fairly quiet for a planer and easy to use. Although I work in my shop all the time, I haven't used a planer since shop class in high school almost 40 years ago. When I first got it I wasn't sure how everything operated. After a couple passes it was as easy as pie. Even let the wife do a couple passes and she loved it too. Great results and highly recommended.

For an entry level planer, I was quite impressed with the functionality and build quality of this unit. I have not seen WEN with two speeds, so that was a very welcomed addition to the planer when purchasing. It is heavy, so it's best to mount it to a mobile cart to move it about the shop. The cutter head being a spiral cut is a step up from the stock Dewalt's and others that ship with straight blades. The 13" cut is also another great feature to it for planing cutting boards or other material of varying sizes. It says in the manual that the wings are adjusted from the factory, but I had to adjust them after receiving the unit to remove snipe. After doing a very slight adjustment, leveling the infeed and outfeeds to being level instead of the "v" adjustment, I have had no issues. Dust collection on the unit could be better as the shroud does not seal very well and blows a lot of the chips/dust out onto the feed table and around it. Great size unit for 13 inch and very competitive with the more expensive brands.

I recently purchased my first products from Wen. I was initially concerned about quality and functionality, when compared to brands that I consider premium…like Dewalt or Makita. No more. This is a very good thickness planer that includes some premium features like input & output tray extensions, a spiral cutting head and decent dust collection port. I was similarly impressed with my recent purchase of a Wen drill press. Seems like Wen is a serious provider of affordable and quality tools!

I would like to say it's a good planer for the money. This little jewel would be a good planer for twice the money. if set up properly absolutely no snipe. when taking 1\16 in cuts the wood looks as if it has been sanded no milling marks at all. I've done pine and oak. I have been wood working for over 40 years and owned four planers and operated many. for a bench top planer it cuts with the best for light cuts. the only draw back I see is the extraction system. it is not forced like the Dewalt and must be connected to a stand alone system like a shop vac I run my knife planers separate from my shop dust evac system. because of the size and amount of shavings. Although these shavings are considerably smaller, you could probably run it with a shop extraction system. Another reason I don't hook it to my shop evac system is I already have five dedicated ports on one trunk. I have only used it a few times so I have no idea how the reliability will be. I guess time and usage will tell that. I don't think you can go wrong with this planer as long as you maintain it properly and don't abuse it.

good planner.mine does not need adjustment out of the box.not much noise - compared to dewalt DW735the non-standard 60mm exhaust connection.I found somebody selling adapter on eBay - solve my problem connecting to 1-1/4 hose