Planer Jane is causing me heartache

[davidtu]

Newbie alert!

My new Planer, Jane, is sniping the leading side of my workpieces. I've read this is due to tables not aligned. HOWEVER I have spent an inordinate amount of time trying to get these exactly lined up and I don't see how I can get it any better. She is sniping a little less now but she is still doing it.

Is sniping just a fact of life (to some degree) or can it in fact be adjusted out of the machine. Is there a best technique for aligning the tables? I assume the tables and the inner platform should Ideally be all exactly level.

I ended up laying 48" level across it and shined a flashlight on the reflective inside base to detect any separation... I adjusted the stop bolts and also the side screws to change the table angle.

This is on a Delta TP300, btw.

Thanks in advance!
David

[Warren]

For what it's worth, and this advice is free, I have the leading edge of my infeed a hair higher than the back. The trailing edge of the outfeed is also a hair higher. A hair being equal to a skoosh or tad. Actually about a 1/16 of an inch higher. I find that this minimizes the snipe.

I tend to use the planer to take out cups and twists out of dimenisional 2x material and I suspect that this can really torque the planer head even though I'm doing very light passes.

[ryan.s]

For what it's worth, and this advice is free, I have the leading edge of my infeed a hair higher than the back. The trailing edge of the outfeed is also a hair higher. A hair being equal to a skoosh or tad. Actually about a 1/16 of an inch higher. I find that this minimizes the snipe.

I tend to use the planer to take out cups and twists out of dimenisional 2x material and I suspect that this can really torque the planer head even though I'm doing very light passes.

I do the exact same thing and it helps tremendously with the snipe factor. Something else that helps is locking the cutter head in position if possible.

[Pappy]

Set the ends of the infeed/outfeed tables so a nickle on the center table will fit under a straight edge laid across the ends.

[Knottscott]

You're TP300 is sniping primarily b/c it has no cutterhead lock. Proper alignment and good techniques can help, but it's the nature of the beast without some mechanical assistance.

If you put a sacrificial piece of scrap through followed end to end with your workpiece, you should be able to isolate the snipe to your scrap. Of course, you'll need to get your scrap to the same thickness as your workpiece first. Since this technique is a bit tedious, you can save it for the last few passes. Or you can get the good face of the board smooth and snipe free using the scrap piece in front, then flip the workpiece and plane to thickness with the underside of the board facing up to catch the snipe where it's not going to be visible. It's a good idea to plane both sides anytime you're making multiple passes anyway...it helps reduce the "carrot peel" effect.

[Thom2]

Set the ends of the infeed/outfeed tables so a nickle on the center table will fit under a straight edge laid across the ends.

I've also heard/use this method, but it's twice as expensive to do it the way I do. I use 2 nickels , lay one at the infeed of the platen and one at the outfeed, then lay a straightedge across the nickels and adjust the tables until the tips just touch the straightedge. I still get a little snipe, but this setup helps quite a bit.

[davidtu]

Set the ends of the infeed/outfeed tables so a nickle on the center table will fit under a straight edge laid across the ends.

Hope I'm not being too thick here, but when you say "set the ends" do you mean that the tables should not be flat, but be sloped downward towards the center platens--higher on the outer edges? AND, if so I presume the table height alongside the center would be AT the height of the center?

[mpc]

You got it. Planers have rollers inside that push down on the workpiece pretty hard. That can bend the infeed/outfeed tables slightly... so installing them biased upwards counteracts that. Most planers are set up something like:

roller-cutter-roller
-->--feed direction-->

so there are rollers pushing down on either side of the cutter head... when the ends of the workpiece slip past the roller you now have a somewhat unbalanced situation:

cutter-roller
-->--feed direction-->

and the workpiece might want to tip/rock slightly leading to snipe.
Having the infeed/outfeed tables tipped slightly fights this. You can imagine the workpiece acting like a teeter-totter when only the outfeed roller is pressing on it... the heavy end sticking out of the planer wants to tip downwards, lifting the end of the workpiece into the cutter head. Having the outfeed table angled upwards slightly helps this.

mpc

[davidtu]

Thanks MPC et al... I have tried the tilt and it didn't fix the problem, tho it is pretty minimal (1/32nd off?) ... I have also reset to everything level... even more level than before as I had help this time... and its about the same. The sample piece is about 1.5ft long... BUT my actual pieces are smaller.

SO... if I try both methods and still get a slight snipe is that par for the course or is this brand new planer defective or are there other adjustments?

Also, it says you should not feed less than 1' long boards... why is that? What bad thing can happen? Is there a REAL hazard or is this lawyerly advice?

[Warren]

Question: Are you surfacing before cutting the wood to size?

I plane and joint before cutting. Or, at least cut oversize before surfacing. This way the sniped ends are usually waste and I don't have to spend a lot of time sanding.

Planing short peices puts your fingers too close to the cutters for the comfort of the manufacturer's lawyers. I also find snipe appears more regularly and more pronounced in short pieces.

[davidtu]

[quote=Warren]Question: Are you surfacing before cutting the wood to size?
quote]

Yes, I earn my newbie alert at the top of the thread... I did cut the pieces down before surfacing... someone advised me to do that but didn't realize how small my pieces were (for a box, and not furniture!) so I went ahead and did it first. Will get it right next time.

I was at the shop here at Univ Wash. and they had a planer w/ a straight wide board laid out across all three surfaces (2 tables & platen)... They made guide rails on either side and have a stop block to keep it from being sucked into the planer w/ the workpiece.

I will try that too!

[Thom2]

Also, it says you should not feed less than 1' long boards... why is that? What bad thing can happen? Is there a REAL hazard or is this lawyerly advice?

generally the distance between the feed rollers is 'roughly' 1', if you feed anything shorter than the distance between the rollers, it WILL jam and/or possibly explode as the cutterhead forces the now loose (neither roller is pushing/or pulling it through the planer) workpiece back against the infeed roller which is now trying to lift the workpiece off of the platen. I STRONGLY recommend following the no less than 1' rule.

JMHO

[hitekrednek]

The biggest reason that I found for snipe with the TP300 that I had was the lack of a cutterhead lock. When I bought the TP400 with the lock, the problem with snipe was virtually eliminated.

[davidtu]

Thom, thanks for the info on the danger involved. "Fortunately" I didn't read that until after I've already made my planes on the short pieces w/o incident and now I know for the future.

Even the long baseboard stretching from one table to the other (and beyond) didn't eliminate the snipe. Seems like sometimes it was better when I took a bigger bite at a time (in terms of not getting that much snipe initially) but as it added up it over several passes, seemed like taking a smaller bite at that point would sometimes smooth it out. Some of it may be technique... was able to have the piece enter more smoothly sometimes than others.

However, if I am unable to get it reduced sufficiently--etiher by using longer boards, or any of the forementioned techniques, sounds like I should look to upgrade to a locking cutterhead.

Thanks very much everyone.
David