Avoiding snipe with lunchbox planer?

Re: Avoiding snipe with lunchbox planer?

Dale Warder

I have used both I feed and out feed tables adjusted to the height of the planer bed to reduce/eliminate snipe. These must be shop made for each planer and carefully adjusted. They also take up considerable space and essentially make the planer stationary.

Re: Avoiding snipe with lunchbox planer?

C. John Hebert

easy...just walk over to the outfeed and lift up on your board as it comes out

Re: Avoiding snipe with lunchbox planer?

Ron in Sterling, CT

Hi Barry,

I have the same planer, and rarely have snipe issues. My planer is equipped with the infeed and outfeed tables supplied by DeWalt. Do you have these? I usually try to pick up on the end of the board at both infeed and outfeed and this seems to solve any issues I may have, especially with short pieces..

Ron

Re: Avoiding snipe with lunchbox planer?

Bruce, a MN Galoot

The most effective way is to feed a sacrificial board first and last and feed all others end to end.

Re: Avoiding snipe with lunchbox planer?

Don Stephan

In addition to adjustments, and lifting up the ends at infeed and outfeed, try setting the depth of cut to the absolute minimum. Make pencil marks on a piece of extra wood and experiment until you find the minimum depth of cut that still removes the pencil marks and leaves a good surface. On my 15" Jet, that is 1/6th turn of the depth of cut wheel.

I have the same planer and problem

Gary Smyth

Every report I've read said that snipe can be a problem with this machine. That said, for that time it was what I could afford and I bought one anyway. Truth is, I understand what can happen and work around or through it. Nothing I've tried to stop the snipe works just right all of the time. I do lift the board, I will use sacrificial boards, I run multiple boards staggered through, I practically extend the outfeed table using a roller on a stand, or do nothing at all. If I'm dealing with Poplar or Pine I just live with it if it happens. I'm not going to futz for hours with the planer to make it perfect when an extra foot of material is solving the issue and I can move on. Yes, I'm disappointed in the planer not being perfect, but I deal with it. For me planning x number of boards by hand is not going to work. Nor is spending work time testing out rollers, feed rate, clearances, knife sharpness, machine flex, or original iffy engineering. Do the best with what you got. Overcome!

If you want to build a sled, go for it, but it is more work, some cost, additional storage, and there are no guarantees. You can use comments here or use YouTube for additional ideas, but don't count on anything said here or there to solve your particular problem 100%.

Wait...Another question.....

Barry Irby

The snipe does not bother me enough to buy a new planer, but the comments about this being a problem with this particular planer made me wonder, Does snipe happen with all planers? All lunchbox planers?

As I said, I work around it, but someday there will come a time for a replacement. Which of them do best?

No

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

I have owned and/or used Delta and Powermatic 12/13" vintage planers and my current large machine and other vintage machines made of real metal and none snipe when set up right.

I would advise anyone to buy a old Delta or Powermatic for hobby shop planing.

Re: Wait...Another question.....

AZ in Colorado Springs

I have a Rigid 13" planer. It can make a little snipe if I'm not careful. I check the indeed and out feed tables about once a year to make sure everything is adjusted correctly (at the same time I double check the wings of my table saw and that the TS blade is parallel to the miter slot) and put a bit of upward pressure at the ends of the boards. Pretty much what others have said. Got to do the same thing on the 23" powermatic planer at the shop, or there's snipe there, too.

My solution

Derek Cohen (in Perth, Australia)

Barry, I used to have a Delta, and this was also succeptible to snipe.

Snipe is caused when the rollers cannot control the board from moving up or down. It is longer or heavier boards that will snipe. My solution was to build a rest for the in- and outfeed table to prevent them sagging. This is essentially the same process as a sled.

Long boards are still vulnerable if their weight is not supported. You can either use roller stands or hold them up with hands (similar to comments from thise who "lift" at the ends).

Regards from Perth

Derek

Re: Wait...Another question.....

Bruce, a MN Galoot

I have a Dewalt 735, one of the better "portable" planers out there. It snipes a little. AFAIK, it happens with all lunchbox palmers. It's caused by the cutterhead rotating as wood passes under the feed rollers from front to back.

OTOH, as Bill T says, I've not heard of snipe happening with the stationary planers like he has. You can sometimes find one of the 15" planers for the cost of a new Dewalt, but they might require some TLC.

Do NOT stagger pieces

Denis Chenard in Ottawa

All you need is to have a piece thinner or thicker than the rest, and BANG! Kickback!

DAMHIKT...

DC

Pretty much snipe free on a Delta 22-580

has anyone ever seen kickback on a planer

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

I have fed tens of thousand bdft of lumber into our machines ranging from 12 to 18". I always stagger when feeding multiple pieces; that is the advantage of having a wide machine. If a board is too loose in the machine it just vibrates some and chews up the surface a bit. I have never had a piece fly back.

Powermatic invented the segmented infeed roll to accommodate staggered lumber. Never saw a need for it. But others must have or they would not have invented it. Avoid it. It chews up lumber edges.

Re: Design issue!

Larry Clinton At Frankfort, (Central) Indiana

Due to the Lunchbox design the feed / pressure rollers are only a few (less than 4~5 inches) from the cutterhead. It is almost impossible to hold a board down straight and level as it enters the cutterhead with this design. The things that do help are to hold the end of the board level as it enters and exits the planer, either by hand or with additional feed / exit tables. I never completely eliminated the issue with my old Dewalt planer, so always added a few inches to the work-piece and cut it off after planing.

I now have a 20" stationary with Byrd head (don't think the Byrd head has any advantage to eliminating the problem), but the feed / pressure rollers are at least double the distance from the cutterhead and also have more pressure holding the board down. The planer also has extended cast iron feed and exit tables which also help eliminate the problem. I still have to hold up long stock both when entering and exiting the planer but the extended beds help me see when the board is level, I try to "lift" the end of the board so it just clears the edge of the feed / exit tables. I still leave 4" or so of stock on each end although it is rare I have any measurable snipe now.

Re: has anyone ever seen kickback on a planer

Larry Clinton At Frankfort, (Central) Indiana

Nope, I do the same as you, and always stagger all the boards when planing, I have never had any issue with kickback.

Re: has anyone ever seen kickback on a planer

Barry Irby

I was thinking about that. I can not remember anything I would call kick back. I have fed hundreds of "shorts" through my planer. As I reduce rough stock I start with the thickest pieces and gradually add in the others. Most of my lumber was sawn on a band mill and is not precise in thickness. My Dewalt planer does not take a big bite so the first step is to get them uniform. I have fed in thinner pieces in my eagerness to get on with it. No kickback. I also have fed in pieces that had a thick spot in them due to blade drift in the bandmill. If you start too thin they will jamb. If you start thicker, you may have to shove the piece in until the hump gets to the feed rollers. (I know, I know, I should joint them first, but sometimes I start with the flat side down. Shoot me) even with those pieces, no kickback.

Probably will happen today.

Re: Wait...Another question.....

Kneale Brownson

My Delta 18-inch planer requires a bit of upward pressure on infeed and outfeed to prevent snipe. I apply that while feeding, use a roller stand on the outfeed. My Ridgid lunchbox gets basically the same treatment and does not snipe.

Yes, once

Steve Elliott

About 30 years ago I was working in a shop where one of my co-workers was hit by a workpiece that was kicked back by a planer. He was feeding multiple pieces of 1/4" stock through. He wasn't seriously injured but it was painful.

I still feed multiple pieces through but try to make sure they are very close in thickness, not that I'm sure that helps. I try to avoid standing behind the planer the same as I would a table saw or shaper.

good to know it can happen

Re: has anyone ever seen kickback on a planer

John McGaw

Yes, I've had a kickback with my Robland but it was my fault. I had to 'take off a hair' from a piece of hard maple maybe 4" wide and a couple of feet long and set the initial table height really wrong and the cutter was able to catch the leading edge but there was no pressure on the feed roller (like I said, it was my fault) and it launched it across the shop where it hit the lathe stand. No injuries but it did rattle me a bit.

Re: has anyone ever seen kickback on a planer

TM Stock

Ditto - never.

IIRC, the woodworking shop's foreman (we had wood and metal shops - one of the spin-off boatyards in Annapolis when Trumpy folded...all gone by the time I got off active duty and back in the area in the mid-1980's) insisted us kids get the first pass done through the huge Oliver (30"???) planer prior to going to staggered feed...probably less concerned with any kickback than screwing up a piece of expensive mahogany. After than, we pushed the stuff through with 3-4 sticks abreast and staggered to keep any snip to a minimum from careless technique (I was 16...and a slow learner).

Saw a horrible joiner accident there and lots of stupidity on tableaus, but cannot recall a planer kickback that did more than Bill indicated.

Re: good to know it can happen

Sgian Dubh

Yes Bill, it can happen. I've experienced it, but only once. In my case I was feeding thin stuff through a thicknesser (planer), and the cause was either a knot (unlikely) or short grain, I don't really remember now. The wood flexed and then sprang back and cut the end of a couple of my fingers which were in contact with the end of the wood.

It's one reason why nowadays I seldom hold the wood at the end as I feed: I hold it with fingers (bottom) and thumb (top) of the wood with the palm of my hand parallel to the edge. My reasoning being that if there is a kickback the wood will slide between my fingers and thumb with the assumption that I'm less likely to receive an injury.

The funny thing I can't recall ever experiencing another thicknesser kickback incident that since that time perhaps thirty years ago, ha, ha. Slainte.

Re: good to know it can happen

Bruce, a MN Galoot

I haven't had a kickback but I've experienced a piece getting trashed inside the planer. It was short grain on very thin stock. It made a very nasty sound but nothing shot out.

Thin stock a risk

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

The two instances reported here involved a piece of wood that didn't have much mass, and hence little inertia resisting flight. So far no one has reported flight from feeding staggered full sized boards. But Powermatic must have invented the segmented cutthead for some reason.

Thin stock on a large machine (large cutterhead) is dangerous. I don't put anything in my big machine less than 3/8". After various thin stock exploded in the course of planing I concluded that anything that can set up a vibration under the cutterhead is to be avoided.