Basic planer operation questions.

[SettleThePuck]

I'm a beginner woodworker, and I just bought my first planer today. It's a Ryobi AP 1301. I have a ton of questions to ask about the best way to use this tool. I appreciate any input.

1. Is it best to only remove 1/32 of material at a time? I saw this number in an instructional video online.

2. If I was to cut a 6' or 8' board into 2' sections for a project, should I plane it first or cut lengths first?

3. When you buy rough cut wood and want to plane it down, should you alternate sides of board on each pass, plane only one side down and sand other side, or plane half total depth and turn over and plane other side?

Thank you
Brent

[Uncle Cracker]

The AP1301 does not have a cutterhead lock, so you may get some snipe (that's a waffled appearance on the wood surface, usually near the ends of the board). This is caused in part by the cutterhead "bouncing" as the board enters and exits the machine. As you strategize whether to cut the board up before planing, you may need to allow some extra length to the pieces, to give you the chance to cut off the sniped areas and leave cleaner surfaces. Cutting the board to more workable lengths will help you handle the piece in a more manageable length, as long boards can be a pain without the addition of substantial infeed and outfeed tables.

As for the increments, 1/32" is recommended for that machine, as it doesn't really have the grunt to hog out much wood at one time, but you may find with trial and error that you can take a little more each pass on softer woods. Another consideration for thin passes is that you will make a lot of chips (shreds, actually), and your dust collection setup can easily clog up on you.

Opinions vary on the process, but I always like to make a couple of passes on one side, and then turn over and finish on the other side. Then, I usually sand both sides.

[LCHIEN]

shorter pieces make it easier to handle them but longer pieces help you reduce loss to sniped pieces. Probably the sweet spot is around 48 inches but its up to you and your setup.

there is a limit to how much you can take off in one pass. it varies, you can take off more for softwoods than hardwoods, and if you have a narrow piece like 5" you can take off twice as much than if you have a 10" wide piece. My Delta manual had a suggested chart showing these combinations. I put it in a spreadsheet and taped it to the side of the machine for quick reference.

[Bill in Buena Park]

Brent,
Welcome to the forum.

Good advice from UC and Loring. I own that planer, and loss for snipe is definitely something to plan around. The manual says to use leader & follower pieces when planing shorter stock to minimize snipe, which does work o.k., but the lack of the cutterhead lock and good infeed/outfeed support is the problem for longer pieces.

1) UC has it right - 1/32 is good; too much and you might have tearout issues, and DC becomes a problem.
2) Plane longer, plan for snipe loss (~2.5in each end, so a good board length is 53in for two 2' segments), then trim off snipe on one end and cut your 2' segments
3) For rough cut, you'll need a good reference side for the planer bed, which requires jointing one side. If you don't own a jointer or it is not wide enough, search for some threads here on using a jointing sled to do this.

[mpc]

To add a little to what the others have said:
Do you have infeed/outfeed tables with the planer? If so, make sure they're perfectly even and flat with the center platen... or maybe slightly tipped up at the far ends. Some planers seem to snipe a tad less if the tables are angled slightly - making a very shallow "v" when viewed from the side. If you don't have the tables, you'll probably want roller stands or some extra help when planing long boards.

When I use my thickness planer (a Dewalt, not the Ryobi but the fundamental usage is the same) I do swap sides of the board every few passes. Watch the surface grain patterns; you may find one side has a much more pleasing pattern - especially when looking at the center of the board. If one side has the usual "U" shaped grain patterns planing that side more may get you more of a flatsawn look. After every couple passes, let the board "rest" for a minute or two and then see if it's trying to cup or otherwise warp. It's rare but I've seen it happen. If it does, there are "trapped" stresses in the wood; planing the other side more may offset it. Folks often discover these stresses when cutting the board on a table saw; the kerf may widen or more commonly tries to pinch shut --> grabbing the rear of the saw blade leading to kickback. That's why splitters or riving knives are so important: they keep the wood from pinching the blade.

Look at the sides of the board for the grain pattern. Ideally you'll feed the board so any grain that's NOT parallel to the edge being cut is oriented to minimize tearout. Imagine the spinning blades coming to a grain line: if the grain line is starting and gets thicker as the board moves through the planer you can see/imagine how that whole chunk may get ripped out by the blades. If the board is flipped end-for-end, so the grain is "fat to thin" as it passes through the blades, there is less risk of tearout. It's the same rules/guidelines used for jointer tools and hand planes. For boards with lots of grain reversal (like curly maple) you probably won't be able to satisfy this rule. Sharp blades and thin cuts per pass minimize the risk... though it may be better to run the board through the planer a few thin passes... stopping while the board is still thicker than your desired final result. Then sand it to final thickness, use a scraper or hand plane (tools that you can steer to match the local grain direction), or - in an ideal world - run it through a drum sander to get to final thickness.

As you use the planer, watch the chips. If any stick to the rollers inside the unit, they can get pressed/squeezed into the workpiece... causing dents especially in softwoods. A good dust collector or vacuum system helps a ton. If nothing else, make sure to clean out the sawdust/chips before the final passes.

mpc

[cabinetman]

As they say...In addition to what's been said, if you don't use a DC, you'll have a pile of chips on the floor PDQ. Reasonable lengths for some planers aren't always convenient. I prefer to run the long lengths and cut back as I need to size up the stock.

There may be times you'll need to plane long boards. Could be material for trim where length is a benefit. If you don't have a "catch man", that is a buddy to handle the outfeed, set up an infeed and outfeed support, as you'll be doing some walking...or maybe running from one side to the other.
.

[JimD]

My planner is a Ryobi AP-10, the first portable planner. It is pretty old but works fine. The guy I bought it from had the Ryobi rollers for infeed/outfeed support so I built some detachable tables and use them all the time. I find that keeping the board flat as it exits the machine minimizes snipe. It's harder on long boards. I do not have the DC hooked to the planner yet so I sweep chips into a trash can as the board is exiting the planner and then between passes.

I think getting a feel for how much each revolution of the depth handcrank moves the cutterhead and then just moving it in appropriate increments referencing revolutions - or parts thereof - is more practical than trying to set depth for each cut. That's what I do. I keep a fractional dial caliper handy as I get close and check between passes. It's best to take really light cuts as you get close to finished dimensions. My Ryobi holds the thickness more constant that way and there is less tearout.

Jim

[DustyandLefty]

plane first, cut later

Lots of good advice - Let me say that cutting the boards into 2 foot lengths first would be a mistake as those pieces are getting too short to run through your planer without snipes making the ends unusable. And if you encounter any bad spots in the longer boards you can cut them out and use the rest.

I've also got a hard-working original AP 10 I still use. (Not counting the backup one I inherited from my father-in-law.) I made a long extension that fits on top of the infeed and outfeed trays to handle long boards. It reduces the maximum thickness of the boards I plane by about an inch, but that is not a problem with what I use it for. The plans for the extension are floating around the internet somewhere...maybe here at BT3Central?

Enjoy your planer! Yes, having a catcher at the other end makes the job go more than twice as fast.

I hooked up a Ridgid vac to a special AP10 dust port and save the chips for garden mulch. The vac fills up very quickly. Before that I used to carry the planer out to the yard and let the wind blow the chips across the lawn.

Still Dusty and Always Lefty

[natausch]

Imagining using a pair of AP10s to take 1/16" out of a board at a time.

[jabe]

All good advice, I like to keep my boards long while planing only 2 snipe ends to cut off. Plane in 1/32 increments with hard or soft woods, reason for this is it keeps your knives sharp longer and less strain on the machine. Feed lumber with the grain, as it exits the planer, flip the wood end over end and feed that oposite end/side in, it'll keep the grain aligned + less tear outs. The surface grain on 1 side most likely goes in the opposite direction on the oposite surface. I like to plane my stock to 15/16 thickness then glue up to the required width + 1" extra also 1" longer on the length. After the glue has dried, I plane it to my finish thickness. If your laminated wood is wider than your planer, then rent time on a wide belt sander planer @ a cabinet shop. After the thicknes is set, I cut to finish width then length.