Bench Planer

Very impressive piece of kit from Rutland. Excellent value for money, easy to assemble the sundry parts and planes wood beautifully. This does exactly what it says in the specifications and as a DIY hobbyist I highly recommend you adding this to your tool kit

The planer was delivered the day after I'd ordered it. Setting up was easy except for the blade adjustment which is is unclear in the instruction leaflet. I contacted Rutlands regarding this and received a prompt reply which was useful. It turned out that the blade should have been set at the factory and on checking this, it had.
Other reviewers have commented on this same point and it would be useful to either make the instructions clearer in the leaflet or put this information on the web site. There also doesn't seem to be any reference to the small red button next to the main switch.

I didn't have any problems with fitting the fence - its really not difficult but an accurate square of some kind is vital. I did notice that the fence is not parallel to the bed. I don't think that this would be problematic with the planing action and it can easily be fixed.

I was surprised at how small the unit is, but having set it up and given it a trial run, it seems fine. For the price, I don't think one can complain at all. This is the second item that I've had from Rutlands and it won't be the last.

So many thanks to Rutlands for a prompt and helpful service and for products which are easy to set up (well, mostly), and more importantly do the job that they're supposed to. But please review your instructions!

None of these small bench planers are perfect, but I believe this one is far better quality and value than at least most (if not all) other brands. My last bench planer I purchased a few years ago was awful in so many ways and much more expensive than this one.

I did replace the fence with my own plywood one as it would not stay square for more than one pass (and actually very difficult to get square in the first place). Setting up the blades properly is also very tricky, but once set, the finish is worth the time spent messing around. I did know how to set the blades correctly but the small size of everything made it physically a bit of a pain to do. For anyone using one for the first time, the process of blade setting is not well explained in the instructions. Despite the fence quality issue, I now have a machine that is giving me perfectly square pieces on a range of hardwoods. I would definitely recommend to anyone needing a more compact machine who is willing to make some modifications.

Great tool, Great price, Great delivery.

I needed a small benchtop planer for the dimensioning of small parts, and this fit the bill perfectly. Incredibly powerful for its size and took minimal setup out of the box. I gave the beds a coat of machine wax and once buffed this left a lovely slick surface. Very pleased I went with this and would certainly reccomend to others looking for a less bulky, obstructive machine for the workshop.