Planer Adjustments

[Mark W Pugh]

In another thread I started, I was looking for info on a certain planer. All good info received by the way. One of the statements got me thinking, which could be dangerous. It concerned dealing with snipe, and that's where my new questions come from.

Statement, "I wasn't able to stop the snipe until I abandoned the bed rollers by lowering them all the way down, leveling the tables perfectly flat and then made a bed with 1/2" melamine."

This totally makes since to me. So, with that said, what is the purpose of the bed rollers to begin with? If I substitute melamine, for the bed, what am I losing?

Thanks.

[Erik Christensen]

the bed rollers are so you can plane rough cut boards - the rougher you need to handle the higher you want the rollers above the bed - if you only plane smooth stock you can dispense with the rollers as long as you keep the bed waxed and pay attention to feed speed - you can stall out a board if it is too rough

[Matt Day]

Rollers give you much less friction and as Erik said you can feed wide rough lumber through. At that stage, you're not worried about a little snipe at the end.