# I thought I fixed my lunchbox planer snipe but I made it worse need help!



## Davynurse (Feb 20, 2013)

I am in the process of getting my new basement shop up and running (tons more room than before) and Im trying to upgrade and fine tune my tools now that they are in one spot. I wanted to try and eliminate the snipe on my fairly new Ridgid lunchbox planer so I cut down a piece of melamine to fit the width of the planer bed and made it as long as the table that I bolted the planer to about 42'' long, then ran two jointed and planed 2×4's down the length of the planer bed melamine to give it strength so it wont flex and then put riser blocks at each end that attach the melamine and 2×4 sandwich to the table and both are the same thickness.The problem is I have worse snipe than I did before! I thought that having a level surface would eliminate the snipe as seen recently on the Rocking H Woodshop youtube channel. The third photo is when I skewed the board and it was perfect with no snipe at all, but the work piece is only about 12 inches and it would be hard to skew a 6foot long board, So guys I need some help, can I adjust the pressure rollers? or any other tricks or anything I haven't thought of? Thanks for all the help in advance.


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## Dal300 (Aug 4, 2011)

TO reduce or get rid of snipe I've found that I need to pick the board up on the outfeed side bay about 1/4"?


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## Davynurse (Feb 20, 2013)

My issue also is that Im getting snipe on the front and back of the board, never had it on the front till I built this jig?


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## Davynurse (Feb 20, 2013)

I guess my real question was, is this jig a waste of my time or am I missing something?


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## Dal300 (Aug 4, 2011)

Lift it on the side going in. You have raised the deck by 1/16" This is an ongoing question on many forums. Try it, it may work for you. Then again, it didn't work with my Craftsman planer.


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## BillWhite (Jul 23, 2007)

Lift the back end on in feed, and lift the front end on out feed. Keeps all the irregularities out of the equation. Been doin' this for years, and it minimizes snipe as best as can be expected. Won't eliminate all of the snipe, but if ya have the workpiece a bit longer, the snipe can be cut off.
Best I can help ya with.
Bill


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## firefighterontheside (Apr 26, 2013)

Are you getting snipe in the middle of a board? I think I would stick with the existing tables and then make infeed and out feed supports. You can adjust the factory out feed so that it a little high which on shorter pieces will serve to lift the piece as it comes out. On longer pieces you can either build your auxiliary out feed high too or just lift up on it which keeps the board pressed against the surface under the knives. Of course as already suggested, the most sure fire method is to plane it a little long so you can cut off the snipe.


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## gfadvm (Jan 13, 2011)

I have had the best results in minimizing snipe by raising the end of the board when starting and when exiting the planer. I tilted both the infeed and outfeed tables up a lot more than usually recommended.


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## Davynurse (Feb 20, 2013)

No I don't have any in the middle of the board. It's starting to sound like I wasted my time building this lol


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## Momcanfixit (Sep 19, 2012)

I have the Ridgid planer also. Only time I get snipe is when the outfeed table is too low. 
My suggestion would be to take off the jig for now, and adjust your outfeed table a bit higher.


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## cutmantom (Feb 2, 2010)

Is your stock flat so it will not rock as it passes through the planer , joint one face and put it down, did you check the bed with a straight edge


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## Dabcan (Feb 1, 2011)

Is the board really necessary? I had the old version of this planer and with very minimal adjustment to the tables it was cutting snipe free for several years till I sold it.


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## RobS888 (May 7, 2013)

> No I don t have any in the middle of the board. It s starting to sound like I wasted my time building this lol
> 
> - Davynurse


You could still use it for thin stock.


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## Redoak49 (Dec 15, 2012)

I believe that it is difficult to eliminate all snipe with most planers. I have had boards that I thought did not have snipe but when measuring carfully with a digital caliper found around .002 to .003" snipe. I think that short boards are the worse for snipe as it is difficult to pick up the ends of the board going in and out.

One thing that I do when planing a bunch of boards for a project is to feed them end to end through the planer and that works great both on my DW735 and a 15" Jet planer.

On my DW735, I ran some tests changing the way the in-feed and out-feed tables were set. These were run with 3/4" x 3-1/2" x 32" long pieces of both hardwood(Oak) and pine. I tested having the tables completely flat versus having the ends of the tables up 1/8". Surprisingly, there was not a lot of difference in the snipe for the two setups and I could only measure from less than 0.001" to 0.002" of snipe. There was less snipe on the front end of the board than the back end. I ended setting up the tables at 1/8" up.

I also ran similar tests on my Jet 15" planer with standard straight blades. It does not have cast iron in feed and out-feed tables. It has three rollers on each. I found a similar result as with the DW735 that having the tables up 1/8" on the end was the best. I also tested various settings of the table rolls on the bed of the planer and the location of the pressure rolls relative to the cutting circle in the head of the planer. I followed the mfg recommendations and then went varied it about 0.0012" in both directions from that and ended up finding that the mfg settings worked the best.

I did the setups using a straight edge from Lee Valley, dial indicator, feeler gauge and digital caliper. I spent a lot of time to just prove to myself that the mfg settings and the general rule of having the in-feed and out-feed tables up 1/8" worked the best.


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## Davynurse (Feb 20, 2013)

Thanks everyone for all your help and ideas, I think im gonna go with your idea redoak I will take it off and adjust out the difference in the tables, wish me luck lol.


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## firefighterontheside (Apr 26, 2013)

Good luck!


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## kaerlighedsbamsen (Sep 16, 2013)

I dont know the insides of your specific planrer but here is an explanation (and a suggestion for a solution) on what causes planer snipe: http://woodgears.ca/jointer/planer_snipe.html


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## Finn (May 26, 2010)

> I have had the best results in minimizing snipe by raising the end of the board when starting and when exiting the planer. I tilted both the infeed and outfeed tables up a lot more than usually recommended.
> 
> - gfadvm


This is what I have done. Convince yourself of this by lifting the end of the wood on the inlet side of the planer and on the outlet. Level does not work!


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## bigfootphil (Mar 19, 2011)

I'm using a lRyobi unchbox planer, I raised both by infeed and outfeed by 3-4mm high. I get zero snipe, at keast its small enough that I caanot notice.. I also removed both rollers from my infeed and outfeed.


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## fuigb (Apr 21, 2010)

+1 on the end-to-end trick. It's the only reliable technique for my Dewalt 735. Trimming off the snipe also works, but you end up with expensive tooled firewood and kind of stings.


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## wseand (Jan 27, 2010)

It shouldn't be all that hard to get rid of snipe but it can be. Adjust tables, hold the board up, take real light passes, It can be a real "B" on some types of planers. Why does every damn tool need to be adjusted, molested, and calibrated prior to using it.

I take real light passes on the last pass or two and it seems to give the best results. Also, I normally cut off the snipe anyways because I usually don't need the whole length.

Anyways, to really eliminate the problem is to cut the board longer then you need it and trim to the size you need. There is also several other posting of this exact problem, you might find some better answers if you search a bit on the site.


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