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Snipe strategies

1K views 17 replies 7 participants last post by  AlaskaGuy 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
My Porter Cable lunchbox has terrible snipe. I can usually manage it with sacrificial pieces. But what do you do if you need to run a ton of boards through that may not be the same thickness? Some could be 1/8" or more thicker. Should I sort them from thickest to thinnest? Would be really time consuming. Some may also be unequal thickness on the same board lengthwise.

My pieces are about 40" and I really don't want to lose 5-6" per board because that's like 12%-15% of all my wood.
 
#4 · (Edited by Moderator)
1) Purpose of planer to make all boards same uniform thickness. So ignore the variation going in, and focus on final thickness you want to achieve coming out.

2) Only 1 choice when feeding different thickness boards: Sort the boards thick to thin. A difference of 5-15 thousandths won't matter, but try to stack them from thinnest on bottom and thickest on top.

Start with maximum thickness board to set planer height, and then work stack down.
Run the 'train' of boards one after each other, removing what ever thickness is best for your planer/wood type. When boards in stack become too thin to remove wood, they will just pass thru planer, or not feed into planer at all. Stop, reduce the planer thickness setting, and re-run the entire sorted stack again (should have X boards all same on top and rest thinner). Repeat until are boards same thickness.

easy peasy lemon squeezy.
 
#5 ·
This post is a little confusing-perhaps it could be worded better. I don't think you have any questions about snipe or want strategies to reduce it.

You seem to be looking for suggestions on how to get different thickness boards to the same thickness without running them through from thick to thin and adjusting the planer? The only suggestion I would have is to use a bandsaw to resaw all your boards to the same thickness-then run them through the planer.
 
#6 ·
Sorry, the correct title should have been something like "How to feed different thickness boards while still avoid snipe"

If I just feed them as is, because of the different thicknesses I get snipe on some boards. Most likely because if a thinner board is in front of a thicker board, the feed rollers can still move and give the thicker board snipe. Some differences in board are up to maybe as much as 1/4" thicker/thinner. This is because after jointing some needed more work than others.

I will try to feed from thick to thin.
 
#7 ·
I wouldn't advise setting the planer and then just feeding them all through at one setting.

I think you need to work the thicker pieces down to the same thickness as the thinner pieces. If you try to remove more than say 1/16" then you're probably going to get snipe. Put aside the thinner pieces until the thicker pieces have been planed down to about the thickness of the thinner pieces. Eventually you will get to the point where all the pieces are the same thickness. At this point reduce the amount you take off on each pass to about 1/64" and continue to feed them through head to tail so that the rollers stay in contact with stock-this should help reduce snipe.
 
#9 · (Edited by Moderator)
I avoid (most) snipe by simply lifting up on the end of the board (the opposite end that's being fed into the planer) as I start feeding it in, and then do the same as the last few inches come out the other end. Snipe is simply when the roller stops pressing down on the wood and the wood move up into the blades. So by lifting on one end of the board, you're essentially creating a lever out of the wood with the one roller that's in contact still, keeping the wood pressed against the bottom of the planer. When both the front and back rollers are in contact with the wood, you don't have to do any lifting. I hope that's clear. Kinda hard to explain. Here, maybe a picture can help.

Rectangle Font Handwriting Parallel Pattern
 

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#10 ·
I've been eyeing a DW735x perhaps, because this snipe stuff is really annoying. I've read that one doesn't have snipe, but don't always have a clear answer. What do you think about that planer? I don't really like dealing with grizzly's freight. Really annoying having a full time job.

I've tried the lifting, and even created a giant melamine feed table for the entire planer (and bolted the planer to the melamine). It's extremely solid, but I still get extensive snipe. We're talking .02 -.03.
 
#11 · (Edited by Moderator)
A lot of people rave about the Dewalt 735. I personally own the DW 734 and have also used one for years in the cabinet shop. I actually prefer the 734 over the 735. However, if you're willing to drop money, I'd go with a Grizzly 15" planer, instead of the Dewalt. Of course each person has his opinion, and that's just mine :)

https://www.grizzly.com/products/Grizzly-15-Heavy-Duty-Planer/G0815
 
#13 ·
I do not know of a way to completely eliminate snipe-but to reduce it or minimize it:

(A) make sure that the infeed and outfeed tables (if you have them) are on the same plane as the planer bed-definitely not below the plane of the bed.
(B) check your planer knives to make sure they are set at the correct height-my planer came with a tool to set the knife height)
(C) -take a very light cut (~1/64")
(D) -precede and/or follow with scrap stock to keep the rollers steady
 
#15 ·
If you have infeed/outfeed tables on the planer… and they're adjustable… raise the outer edges slightly. As viewed from the side the tables should form a shallow"V". This provides an automatic "lift" every pass.
If your planer doesn't have extension tables, it will probably always have snipe.

The Dewalt 735 is a good tool. I use one of those with a Shelix head. It does the job with little to no snipe.
 
#17 · (Edited by Moderator)
Okay I said screw it and picked up the DW735 and what do you know almost no snipe. Infeed had zero snipe and outfeed had maybe like .001 or .002 easily sanded away. This is without even having the extension tables.

So moral of the story don't by cheap planers :)

Only con is that thing is LOUD. I'm going to need to double up on hearing protection.
 
#18 · (Edited by Moderator)
Separate stock into several piles depending on thickness . Then start planing the thickest pile first . When that pile get near the thickness of the second pile run run the first and second pile until they are close to the third pile and so on. Once you are ready to make the last pass on all of them keep them butted up end to end to help with snipe.

Hope that makes sense.
 
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