The Milwaukee M18™ 3¼” Planer

I’ve been waiting for the launch of Milwaukee’s new M18™ 3¼” Planer since giving it a try at their New Product Symposium back in June, and it’s finally here. I’ve never used my corded planer that much, long having a preference for my vintage planes. I limited my power planing to times when I needed to do wholesale stock removal, usually from framing members already in position when they interfered with sheetrock or trim. It was rare that I used it on a door edge or a cabinet scribe. There are three things about the new Milwaukee offering that made me reconsider: the cordless operation, the switchable exhaust port and the easy turning of the indexed depth adjuster. The benefits of a cordless tool are obvious. The advantage of being able to choose a left or right exhaust direction are pretty clear too. I often declined to use my 20 year old Makita because my right-handed operation covered the workbench and everything on it with shavings. Now, with the M18™ Planer, I can shoot them all to the floor or hook up a vacuum and keep the bench and the floor clear.

Switching from left to right exhaust is a simple matter of turning the knob at the front of the handle. Equally simple is the depth adjustment. The knob is clearly marked and indexed with 20 positions, there being four clicks from one 64th to the next. This allows for easily repeatable set-ups, doing away with the need to re-zero between cuts. The top of the knob is marked with an arrow for people like me who have a hard time remembering which way goes up and which way goes down. The range of adjustment and tool configuration allow for a rabbeting depth of 27/64″, or just shy of 7/16″. While I have never cut an entire rabbet with a planer, it could be useful for cleaning up slight mismatches in shiplapped boards and the like. The example I have in hand would require the use of the fence even in an existing rabbet, however, because the blades are wider than the sole(s) of the plane. The sole edges cannot be used as a guide. The front sole is able to rotate a bit in plane, not lining up with the rear. I don’t know it this is a problem, but it’s unexpected. It is also a different width than the rear.

The planer has a built-in kickstand at the rear to keep the blades from contacting the surface where the tool is placed when not in use. While not a Milwaukee exclusive, it’s a welcome feature. The stand has a small knob on one side, and the whole piece can be slid sideways to engage in a cutout to keep it in the retracted position if preferable. Good luck in keeping it there! I imagine that the pivot point of the stand determines the ease with which it swings out of the way. When this one hits the wood in the beginning of a pass, there’s a noticeable catch. I have not found any marks on the wood surface to indicate a problem, but it’s a distraction. That said, I like being able to set the tool down without having to lay it on its side.

After planing 550′ of Alaskan Yellow Cedar with the M18,  my finger got tired holding down the trigger. It seems like a minor thing, but the switch spring is pretty stout! I also found that I had to go slowly to avoid chatter marks. With two blades and a no-load speed of 14,000 RPM, is this inevitable? I can move my hand planes faster, but they are much less forgiving of the wild grain patterns of the fast-growth wood that comes into the shop these days. That brings up a point that strongly recommends a power planer; much of what I work with is poplar, and primed poplar at that. With a coat of paint hiding the grain, I can no longer choose a board with a plane in mind so I never know how well my hand planes will work. A power planer can handle that unpredictability with consistently good results.

I’ve had a bit of trouble avoiding snipe at the end of the passes, but it helps to hold my other hand on the planer body under the handle to keep the rear sole firmly on the workpiece. This is likely to be a problem only because of my lack of experience with a power planer. However, I’ve been getting snipe at the beginning of the passes too, so I will have to compare this and the Makita planer to look for physical differences in the tools. I’m wondering if the throat is wider on the Milwaukee. Those observations will be an addendum to this post.

The M18 Planer seems like a robust tool that will see a lot of use in the shop even if many of the last passes will still be done with the vintage iron. I think the planer will be a considerable time-saver as I change the way I do things and embrace the newer technology, but I remain curious about the launch of this particular iteration. Why is it not powered by a brushless motor? I was told at the New Product Symposium that the brushless motor was considered but not chosen because the planer was an intermittent-use tool and the advantage would be slight. As others have pointed out, most of the cordless tools we use are intermittent-use, yet most at this point are brushless. I can’t help but think that the dressing of the edges of 550′ of boards as I just did would have benefited. I would have liked more run time although I can’t claim that the battery swap was an inconvenience. That brings up another point; why does the kit ship with only one battery, and an obsolete REDLITHIUM™ XC battery at that? Are they depleting inventory? It makes the planer seem like a poor cousin to the premier tools in the Milwaukee lineup. In spite of these observations, I wouldn’t hesitate to add this to the arsenal. I intend to try to wear mine out.

[addendum]

I received this response from Milwaukee’s Heather Markovich to answer the questions I raised at the end of the above blog post:

Just got a chance to read your review of the M18 Planer. Glad to see you enjoyed using it.

I did want to take a moment to respond to some of the questions you had at the end.

Why is it not brushless?

You actually started to answer this in your article. When we design tools, we don’t immediately look at how to give them the most power. The decisions behind this tool’s design are based on extensive user research. Our team saw that the majority of typical users use this type of planer intermittently and not for hours at a time; whereas users of our drills, for instance, typically use them every day and for hours at a time. So, we made the decision to not make this brushless because we noticed the vast majority of our users wouldn’t necessarily notice the benefit.

Brushless isn’t just about power and runtime, too. Brushless also gives our tools extreme durability. Due to the usage patterns we saw with this type of tool, we didn’t see a direct need.

Why was it shipped with the XC battery and only one?

Again, based on user patterns we noted the tool could accomplish the majority of users’ demands with one battery. The XC battery we included is actually not obsolete; rather, it was determined this battery would provide the perfect amount of runtime for the tool.

In the end, we were able to deliver a brushed product with excellent power and runtime, at an affordable price point.

I hope this helps explain some of our decisions.

Heather Markovich

Assistant Brand Manager For Milwaukee Tool

-dvl