Delta Power Tools 22-590 Portable Planer

My old planer was the usual 2 knife unit - a little age on it - but it did OK, because I learned to work with its shortcomings. I had been looking for something better for a while - knowing that the real answer is a 5 horsepower, 20" machine that weighs 450 pounds. However, I really need a portable machine due to the pro side of my woodworking (boats), where I just have to take the machine to the job. I accept that all of the portable machines will be limited in power, since they must plug into a 15 amp, 115 volt outlet.I finally decided to pony up the money for the new Delta 22-590. I was pleasantly surprised to find it set up perfectly, right out of the box - infeed and outfeed tables adjusted, depth scale spot on, etc. The 3 knife cutterhead does indeed give a visibly smoother finish than what I expected - AND LITTLE OR NO SNIPE! I don't know how they do it, and I don't care - you stick a piece in and it comes out the same width end to end --- kudos to the product development team at Delta! The dust chute is very efficient - with a 4" vacuum hose attached, there is almost nothing in the machine when you shut it down. Also included is a dust chute that allows the use without a dust collector - it just deposits the shavings onto the board - to be cleaned up after the fact. Nice job on this. The cutter head lock is jack simple - just tighten or loosen as needed. The raising/lowering screw is a noticeably finer thread, meaning that it takes more turns to raise or lower, BUT --- it also means that making a fine adjustment is a snap. The quick set repeat feature also makes it easy to return to any previous setting under and inch or so, simplifying those times when you need to go back and make another piece. Like all the others in its class - it sings pretty loudly - wear your ear protection!It is still somewhat new to me - but after a couple months of use - this is the best machine I know about - within the limits of portability.

So I owned this planer for all of 2 weeks.First off, let's talk about amazon and how many items it had in stock. Amazon had 0 in stock. It took 2-3 weeks for amazon to get it in stock. When the planer died(I will explain later how) amazon said they would have it back in stock in a month, and that's just not acceptable. I have projects to do.Let's talk about how it died. So the first thing I noticed, the planer started to make a really weird whining sound, it started off subtle and got way worse. It definitely did not sound like the machine I got day one. I showed it to my roomate and turned it on, he said yeah that's not the sound it should be making. I tried to plane one board as I have been, and that's when the machine would not feed at all, I checked and the rollers were clean. I was literally shoving the board into the planer and I should not have to do that at all, that's the rollers job. Anyways now the planer is totally useless. Luckily I'm within the window.It's really unfortunate that this machine decided to stop working 2 weeks after receiving. I'm glad amazon was able to take the return and that's why it has one star instead of 0 (I don't think 0 stars is a thing, but it should be). When it was working properly, I would have given it 5 stars, but since it died in less then a month with light to normal use it gets 1 star.

This planer is definitely a step up from the old Craftsman 2 blade planer. The 3 blade system provides a spot on finish that requires only a very little amount of additional sanding with a 220 grit. The amount of snipe is controlled very well by the locking mechanism. Easy and accurate adjustment of thickness and the out of the box factory adjustments were spot-on.One of very few tools that I've purchase where I couldn't see any significant areas of improvement.Only few gripes I could come up with (but nothing to decresase the 5 star rating:The dust collection cover must be removed to store the unit. It would be nice if this had a quick change mechanism.The table ends could use some support. They are free standing and supported on only one end by the unit. Some flex is noted when a heavy piece is fed in.Benchtop use is an option, but much more flexible if its on the floor in terms of support.Bob M

Excellent planer! The three blade cutter does a great job of moving material with little to no snipe leaving a high quality smooth output. This is very evident on boards 4 ft and shorter. On longer boards a sled is needed, otherwise there will be a little snipe. I find the controls very easy to use and and the measurements on the adjuster and on planer are easy read ( I wear glasses). From a usability and quality of output perspective the I think the machine is perfect. There is only one thing to note. If you put the dust collection hood on the planer, then the shelf on that side will not be able to fold up. I highly recommend this machine!

so far so good. barely had it out of the box. but if you want a review. It worked when I turned it on. Check back in a year, then I can give you a more accurate review.

I got this planer after trying to use a hand planer on chainsaw lumber mill wood I got from trees I had to cut down. (Drought).Wow! I put this toy through the wringer on 10 pieces of 13 inch x 2.5 inch x 8 feet wood (bark on the sides and all). The wood came out like glass and really impressed my wife on the look of the planks I made. She thought I had bought it.Very impressed and though I have only used it on this one project so far, think it is easily one of my favorite wood working toys!One problem...portable? Hah hah. OK I can move it but wouldn't recommend it for someone with a bad back! 2 people can with little difficulty. I built a roller bench for it and it works great.Enjoy!