snipe in the Planer

gsimbu · Post by **gsimbu** » Sun Mar 23, 2008 3:27 pm

I have just begun setting up my Shopsmith shop. I used the information in this forum to make the jointer knife adjusting tool and it worked beautifully. No more snipe and no hangup on the outfeed table. I read the suggestion about putting a slip of waxed paper between alignment fixture and the outfeed table. Since I was making mine out of plexiglas, I simply left the majority of the protective covering that came on the plexiglas.

Now onto my qestion. after adjusting my jointer I of course next went to the planer. I am getting about .005" snipe along the last 2 inches of the board. The manual says this is normal. However, when I went to the traveling academy, I didn't notice this during the demonstration. Also, I don't really understand how it happens. My test piece is soft pine, just a 1X2 from the local Home Depot. It is short enought that it does not fall off the end of the outfeed table. Is the outfeed roller pressure too light. I did notice a mention in the manual concerning soft woods, would my problem dissapear with harder woods?

This is my first post and I hope to be more active both in the forums and in my shop. Thanks for any advice.

a1gutterman · Post by **a1gutterman** » Sun Mar 23, 2008 3:45 pm

Hi, gsimbu,
Glad you joined the forum. I am sure that if there is a solution, someone will come to your rescue. I have never operated a planer that did not leave some snipe. That does not mean that I always get snipe. Occasionally I do not get snipe. I can't say why, it just happens.

robg · Post by **robg** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 12:50 pm

I have the same experience with the snipe. It's frustrating, to say the least. I used to cut boards to size to be able to handle them easily - now I cut them oversize and then cut them again. It may just be the way things work.

ryanbp01 · Post by **ryanbp01** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 1:03 pm

Don't forget a bag and a club to hit 'em with!:D

BPR

charlese · Post by **charlese** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 9:05 pm

gsimbu wrote:Now onto my qestion. after adjusting my jointer I of course next went to the planer. I am getting about .005" snipe along the last 2 inches of the board. The manual says this is normal. However, when I went to the traveling academy, I didn't notice this during the demonstration. Also, I don't really understand how it happens. My test piece is soft pine, just a 1X2 from the local Home Depot. It is short enought that it does not fall off the end of the outfeed table. Is the outfeed roller pressure too light. I did notice a mention in the manual concerning soft woods, would my problem dissapear with harder woods?

This is my first post and I hope to be more active both in the forums and in my shop. Thanks for any advice.

Hi gsimbu! Glad to have you on the Forum! - - - Although I don't have a SS thickness planer, I have read where all planers produce snipe. I'm lucky that mine doesn't, usually - but when it does occur, it is VERY difficult to plane it out.

Here's what happens to produce snipe: The back end of the board passed by the front hold down roller, with no longer any downward pressure on the back end of the board, that end is free to move into the blades. The upward movement of the wood into the blades causes snipe. There are two other reasons snipe can occur. 1) The brake holding the cutter head in place allows a small movement in the cutterhead when there is no longer downward pressure from the front roller. 2) When a slightly warped board is fed through with the ends of the board extending upward. Again when the front roller is no longer in play, the board will tend to move into the cutters.

Remember, any cutting blade (eg. router, planer, jointer) will always pull itself into the board, not out of it as you might suspect. This force of the blades pulling into the wood will cause a deeper cut and snipe. This is why a thinner board will snipe more than a thicker one. The thinner board will flex enough from the pull of the blades to lift slightly off of the table.

You can relieve some of any snipe by receiving the board as it exits the planer. Actually, If you can put upward pressure on the board as it passes the front roller, your chances of snipe are reduced big time.

Another way to keep snipe to a minimum is to remove only small amounts on each pass. I am speaking of less than 1/32".

After all of this, you can probably get your .005" snipe down to .002" and that amount should be sand-able, so it no longer shows on the board.

Again, I don't have a SS planer, so I am not aware of what kind of locking mechanism it has on the cutterhead, if any.

a1gutterman · Post by **a1gutterman** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 10:55 pm

ryanbp01 wrote:Don't forget a bag and a club to hit 'em with!:D

BPR

In our part of the country, we had the Neophyte Snipe Hunter walk around banging two sticks together to attract it. And only in complete darkness of course.

gsimbu · Post by **gsimbu** » Tue Mar 25, 2008 1:31 am

Well it appears that my dog and the neighborhood stray cats have eliminated the snipe problem in the backyard, no need for the club. But I still have some roaming around the shop. Thanks Charlese, for the explanation. Being an engineer by trade I wanted to understand the cause and your explanation makes it clear. I knew, from experience with hand held tools, that the cutting blade pulls into the material being cut, but I didn't apply that information to the planer. Now it's obvious and also explanes the lack of discernable snipe in the thicker hardwoods that were used in the class.

This seems to argue for aquiring a sandflee or other drum type sander for milling thin boards if I don't want to lose the last couple of inches.

Thanks again

charlese · Post by **charlese** » Tue Mar 25, 2008 11:43 am

gsimbu wrote:...This seems to argue for aquiring a sandflee or other drum type sander for milling thin boards if I don't want to lose the last couple of inches.
Thanks again

Hi Gary - You're welcome! Goodness, I'm surrounded by engineers! All of my male ofspring have turned out that way! Don't know what went wrong!

(Kidding, of course)

Seriously, hand planes are a good alternative. They work pretty fast. Think the sand flea is for finishing only. A hand scraper would even work faster!

gsimbu · Post by **gsimbu** » Tue Mar 25, 2008 12:58 pm

Charlese, I appreciate the advise on the hand plane and scraper. However, both these alternatives are not a good fit for me. Back,(way back), in high school I made a mahogany bowl in woodshop using a gouges and sandpaper, no lathe. or other power tools. I loved the feel of working with wood and thought that this would be a great hobby. Unfortunately it turns out that I am not a skilled craftsman. I have proven to myself over and over that I can't bore a straight hole with a hand drill, can't cut a straight line will a skill saw, can't even draw a straight line with a ruler. I would hate to see the mess I would make of an almost flat surface with either a hand plane or scraper. Wood isn't really safe from me if I have a power sander. I am hoping that the precision of the Shopsmith finally frees me from uneven miters, wavey saw lines and glue joints, and any other of the multitude of sins I can perpetrate on some poor unsuspecting project.

ryanbp01 · Post by **ryanbp01** » Tue Mar 25, 2008 1:08 pm

What I use to lessen/eliminate snipe on boards is that have my outfeed table set at the same level as my portable planer.

On a related note: Hey Tim, any truth to cooked snipe tasting like chicken?

BPR

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snipe in the Planer

snipe in the Planer

thanks everyone

Hand tools?