Purchased this planer back in October 2010. At the time the stand was part of a rebate program and was completely free. The planer is very sturdy yet mobile and affixes to the stand perfectly. The fit and finish are very nice and there is just enough steel in the right places to make everything feel strong. The cutter lock works easily and the repeat cut adjustable from 1/8" to 1 1/4" is very nice. The 4 post design works very well to raise and lower the cutter head and can be reached for future maintenance when enough dust and chips cling to the threads. The length of infeed and outfeed tables add to stability and snipe reduction. Laying a straight edge across all surfaces one can easily adjust the stop nuts underneath the tables to raise or lower if need be. I affixed the included dust chute. When the dust chute is installed the rear outfeed table cannot be folded up. For a shop this does not really matter, but if you are accustomed to taking a planer to sites with you it may be a nuisance. I attached the dust chute to a shop vac cyclone and was surprised at the efficiency of pickup. I would say 90% of chips were picked up with 165cfm shop vac so I imagine a real dust collector would only make it better.
Anyway, after checking blade alignment(which was spot on from factory) I sent 20 BF of Dalmation wood through the planer. Dalmation is a very hard wood and sharp tools are a requirement. After a couple passes of 1/64" I marked up a couple sides with chalk to see how even the blades cut across the pieces of wood. It looked great and the finish was very nice. You would still have to sand some machine marks out of the wood but this could be accomplished with a light scuff of 180 or even 220 grit, or a couple passes with a bench plane, and not he aggressive working many other planers leave you with.
Overall, I am very happy with this purchase. I think this is an exceptional tool for the serious hobbyist and will last a long time. It feels substantial for a benchtop and should compete very well with the popular Dewalt models. When I purchased this I could not find one review online so I hope this helps future consumers. As a big fan and owner of Jet Tools, I am happy to add my first piece of Delta Machinery. This thing looks great in the shop too!
Wilton Marburger
[...] Delta 22-590 13-in Thickness 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.
The planer works very well. I have a shop dust collector that collects nearly all of the shavings from the planer. I have had one issue, that of sniping. I have made some adjustments to the in-feed and out-feed tables, but have not tested it since. This planer should last a long time, if it is used as a hobbyist's planer. You should make very small cuts, like 1/16-1/8 inch at each pass. The cutting comes out very smooth, but still needs sanding as you would expect. It is not a replacement for a stationary planer. It also doesn't cost anywhere near as much as a stationary planer. Good device for the price! - New Delta Thickness Planer'
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