Advantage of a planer with a pressure bar?

[Geoff Crimmins]

I'm wondering what the advantage is to a planer with a pressure bar, compared to the Taiwanese 4-poster planers which have a chip breaker but no pressure bar. Does it reduce snipe? Are there any other advantages? Thanks,

--Geoff

[glenn bradley]

Larger TaiChi machines do have pressure bars. The Grizzly G0454 is an example whereas the G0453 does not have one. Part of the function is to keep larger stock that is hard to control from bouncing up into the cutter head once the material has disengaged from the infeed roller. A poorly adjusted pressure bar (or the lack of one) on stock that you are not able to control with a little hand pressure may yield chatter marks, washboarding or snipe.

All of this assume you are one of those folks who just kinda shoves the material into the planer and lets it fall out the back. This is common in rough stock preparation. In my shop I am planing blanks that have been broken down to oversized pieces that are only a couple of machine steps away from heading to the bench. I feed these blanks with some level of hand control and receive them at the outfeed side with some downward pressure again provided by hand control.

This technique provides me a good surface without snipe troubles. This method is almost the opposite of what I use with a lunchbox planer where I am lifting the stock as it exits to prevent snipe. On a floor machine the tables and feed path have been carefully aligned so pressing the stock to the table is your control method here. The importance of a pressure bar will vary with your intended use; will you be doing rough stock prep or will you be doing parts sizing?

[Ron Citerone]

Larger TaiChi machines do have pressure bars. The Grizzly G0454 is an example whereas the G0453 does not have one. Part of the function is to keep larger stock that is hard to control from bouncing up into the cutter head once the material has disengaged from the infeed roller. A poorly adjusted pressure bar (or the lack of one) on stock that you are not able to control with a little hand pressure may yield chatter marks, washboarding or snipe.

All of this assume you are one of those folks who just kinda shoves the material into the planer and lets it fall out the back. This is common in rough stock preparation. In my shop I am planing blanks that have been broken down to oversized pieces that are only a couple of machine steps away from heading to the bench. I feed these blanks with some level of hand control and receive them at the outfeed side with some downward pressure again provided by hand control.

This technique provides me a good surface without snipe troubles. This method is almost the opposite of what I use with a lunchbox planer where I am lifting the stock as it exits to prevent snipe. On a floor machine the tables and feed path have been carefully aligned so pressing the stock to the table is your control method here. The importance of a pressure bar will vary with your intended use; will you be doing rough stock prep or will you be doing parts sizing?

I just learned something there, well written response!

[Darcy Warner]

I wouldn't want a machine without one. The pressure bars on my busses are quick adjust via a lever.