Ridgid R4331 13" planer

[Cochese]

I'm in HD fairly often and I always browse the tools. But today I noticed that they had two Ridgid planers on display, and the one I had never seen before was a R4331 with a cutterhead lock.

When did this come out? Rudimentary searches reveal it's sometime within the last six months, but this is the first I've seen in-store.

[dbhost]

Never seen one exactly like that, but it sure looks familiar...

[cwsmith]

As you may already know, the older Ridgid thickness planer R1300 model was very well thought of, having been around for a number or years. It had the cutter head lock.

When they introduced the new model (R4330) about three years ago, it was somewhat redesigned, with supposedly a better chip/dust collection chute and now with a 3-blade cutter head. That design, however, no longer had the "cutter head lock" of the older "1300". Alledgedly, the new four-screw design was such that it relieved that need.

But, in these last couple of years there have been several reports of the cutter head actually changing during its use! While not highly prevalent, it apparently was enough to have the designers take another look.

I recall reading about this some three or four months ago, and I don't know exactly when this new 4331 model was released. I do believe it is described on the Ridgid website, but that site is often behind in its posting of new products. Furthermore, Home Depot (at least some stores/regions) are not particularly honest in thier presentation of "current" products. All too often, a store/region may decide to keep an existing item on display even though a new replacement model may have been "in the back room" for several weeks or months. I'm not sure what drives this or even how wide spread it is, but I do know first-hand, that the situation exists.

In any case, the R4331 design seems to have addressed the issue of cutter head movement and hopefully this problem with the R4330 has been adequately addressed.

I hope this helps,

CWS

[bullethead1964]

I have had the new 4331 planer for about 2 months now. To me, it is a huge upgrade over the 4330. The cutterhead lock works great. Snipe is now minimal to none. Also, this machine is just bigger and seems much more stout than the 4330.

It has a dust port for a the Ridgid shop vac, but in my use, my shop vac can't keep up as well as my DC. Have to get a 4 inch adapter though.

Anothe r big upgrade to me is having the head elevation handle on the top of the unit. Super easy to use.

All in all I LOVE the 4331.

[Cochese]

Sounds like I should be considering this when it comes time to upgrade from the Ryobi.